Episode 295: How Comedy Helped Me Find My Voice On and Off Stage |Morgan Lorraine Gallo | Comedian, Podcast host My Body, My Jokes!
Stand-up comic and eating disorder recovery advocate Morgan Lorraine Gallo joins Kara for a powerful and refreshingly honest conversation about healing, humor, and finding your voice. They talk about the highs and lows of the comedy world, the challenges of reshaping your identity mid-career, and what it means to choose recovery when the world rewards perfectionism. Morgan shares her journey from marketing to comedy to podcasting, how she's rethinking her relationship with social media, and why building community, online and in real life, is a critical part of recovery. This episode explores vulnerability, body image, and how women are reclaiming space through storytelling and shared experience.
“I’m turning my trauma into something that can help other people. It’s both scary and empowering. ”
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Follow along using the Transcript
Chapters:
(00:00:06) - Introduction to Morgan Lorraine Gallo
(00:00:47) - Morgan's Journey into Comedy
(00:02:41) - The Cathartic Nature of Comedy
(00:06:08) - Discussing Body Image and Eating Disorders
(00:13:14) - Shifting Online Presence to Advocacy
(00:21:09) - Defining Powerful Ladies
(00:45:00) - Rating Personal Power and Aspirations
It's almost like trauma bonding. Like, I don't know how else to explain it. It's like almost a chance for us to talk about these issues in a safe place, in like a pretty little studio set, and For me, it's very cathartic. It's very like releasing.
That's Morgan Lorraine Gallo. I'm Kara Duffy. And this is the powerful ladies podcast. Welcome to the powerful ladies podcast.
Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Before we go any further, let's tell everyone who you are, where you are in the world and what you're up to.
Yeah, my name is Morgan Lorraine Gallo. I live in beautiful Denver, Colorado, and I am a stand up comedian. I'm a podcast host. I am an eating disorder recovery advocate. And yeah, I spend a lot of time hanging out with other comedians, going to, you know, women in business, fun, happy hours, volunteering and hanging out with my dog. So that's kind of my life right now.
Sounds like a good life.
Yeah, I can't complain.
How old were you when you knew you wanted to be a comedian?
I don't know if I ever really knew. I think. I grew up as a dancer. I always thought I was going to be a dancer, went to college, you know, got a degree in marketing, went into marketing, never really thought that there was another track, but COVID hit and I was living in Florida and I just like had a friend tell me I was funny and we were working at home.
And so there were like some classes happening that were like super social distance. So I think as soon as I started comedy, I, Knew I wanted to pursue it, but I really had, like, no idea beforehand.
It occurs to me as terrifying. Like, I'm totally fine to do public speaking. Doesn't matter how many people in the room.
Like, I'm fine to talk about things, but the idea of making people laugh, I just do not think is my skill set.
Yeah, it's, I mean, it's definitely, like, terrifying at times. I think when you first start it is probably the worst amount of anxiety you'll get. But yeah, it's. It's fun. It's hard. It's crazy. It's all of the above. Honestly.
How are you battling that? Like what makes you keep doing it despite the fact that it can be terrifying?
I mean, well, I'm taking a bit of a sabbatical at the moment. Mostly because I've realized that I have a few other career aspirations that Don't exactly match up with the comedy track, but I think what's kept me going in the past is just the high of being in front of a bunch of people and knowing that they're laughing because of you, knowing that they are connecting with you because of something you said, there's an unexplainable feeling you get from being on that stage and connecting with people with just words.
So I think even the nights when it was. Absolutely awful, terrible. I always knew that there was going to be another set in front of me. There was going to be another date I could go to and it was going to be like, fine.
Yeah. I've also really appreciated within your podcast, you reading your DMs that you get.
Are people starting to submit their DMs to you yet? Because this is a whole, there could just be endless amounts of conversation around that specific space.
No, people don't really submit anything unless they just like message me and say, Hi, can you feature me on what's on my DMS? But then they don't send anything funny. So I'm like, no it's mostly just like gross men that I screenshot their message and then I block them and then I make fun of them. That's the formula.
I'm glad that you're doing it because I think no one realizes how bad it can be.
Yeah, you mean like women getting messages online?
Yeah, and I don't know what it like some of my friends equal level of attractiveness equal like what they're sharing on Instagram, for example. But one of them will get the most horrendous DMs ever and the other will get more normal ones, I would say. I can't figure out why. Like, my friend was like, what am I doing that is inviting this? I'm like, I don't think you're even doing anything that crazy. I think there's something about the algorithm that has put you just in front of people who are gross psychopaths.
Like, I don't know.
Yeah, I I don't feel like there's a rhyme or reason to it, to be completely honest. I know plenty of other female comedians that are in the exact same boat as I am. They're, you know, in their late 20s. They've been doing it for a few years. They post just as consistently as I do. And they have way larger female followings.
They have a lot more women supporting them. I think it just, It literally is just the way that the algorithm categorizes you the second that your content starts to perform well. If it starts to perform well with a very specific subset of people, then the algorithm will clamp on to that and they'll be like, Oh, you're really popular with incel men.
So we're going to send everything you post to incel men and their explore pages. And then you just get stuck. It really sucks. Honestly.
You're also one of the, I think, few female comedians who is using It and the podcast to be really honest about your body, body image issues, the eating disorder space.
Was that purposeful from when you started or is that just how it evolved? Like, this is what I feel I need to be talking about.
That's a good question because I think at first there were a lot of moments where I really wanted to talk about my eating disorder and I really wanted to talk about the body image space, but I wasn't yet a good enough writer to be able to make something that, you know, deep funny and I struggled with it for a long time.
It wasn't until last year when I actually started recovery that I started kind of rethinking my whole relationship with. comedy, my online presence, the way that I present myself in social circles. And I realized like, I don't want to just be a comedian. I don't want to just make jokes about my boyfriend or not wanting kids or whatever.
Like I actually want to say something. And I had always done jokes where I made fun of myself. Like I made fun of, you know, having big boobs and how annoying it is or having really long hair or like, like talking about myself in that like self deprecating way. And then it wasn't until this year that I kind of was like, well, I already have all these jokes about my body on stage, and maybe I can use a podcast to talk about the more serious stuff.
So it really kind of snowballed, I think, once I started my own recovery and realized how important it is to talk about it.
Yeah, though I, being someone who has large boobs. It's, they're ridiculous. Like I laugh on a regular basis, especially when I'm trying things on. So I was like, Oh yeah, like this top will look great on you. And I'm like, I'm real suspicious. Like.
Yeah, I have no idea.
No idea. And then even like trying on swimwear, you're like, I don't think anyone's ever made a swimsuit who actually has boobs.
Yes. Yeah.
I don't know what this is doing other than creating a shelf for them to fall out of. Yeah. It's, it's actually something I laugh at often because it's the only thing you can do.
Well, and it's really relatable to a lot of women. I mean, even if you don't have big boobs, like, you know what it's like to have your thighs rubbed together. You know what it's like to have love handles. You know how annoying it is to be in a dressing room. Like, I always tried to write material that was relatable. To everyone, but also especially to women, because those are the people I care about.
So yeah, you spoke a little bit before about your recovery journey and how it's kind of changed what you want to say in the world. What made you embrace recovery?
And how is that going for you?
Well, I kind of it had to embrace it out of sheer like panic and fear because I went on this really big tour last year where I opened for someone and so I was in like 17 different cities over the course of two months just bopping around new airplane, new hotel, new club every day, like going and being away from home, being away from my boyfriend.
And I. for 15 years had not sought recovery except for when I was really young and it didn't stick. And so it, my eating disorder got really bad on the road cause it went unchecked. You know, I didn't have anyone there to like really keep me in line or, or make sure I was okay. I spent a lot of time in my hotel room alone.
And so when I came home from the tour, I was talking to my therapist who is an eating disorder therapist. Like she works specifically with people with eating disorders. She has all the certifications and she literally said to me, you know, Morgan, what do you want to do about your eating disorder? Like I was telling her all the stuff that had happened on the road and she's like, so yeah, what do you want to do about that?
And I, I had to kind of realize like, oh yeah, I need to actually. start recovery. So she got me with a nutritionist. I worked with a few other people in the recovery center that I go to. And I just felt like it was time after so many years of avoiding it. And because of that tour and coming home and being exhausted and just feeling like I just did the biggest thing of my career so far and it kind of imploded in my face because I couldn't take care of myself.
I was like, okay, clearly I need to do this and I think it's been going well. Obviously, there's a lot of like obstacles. I still have days where I feel like I haven't made any progress. And then there are days when I feel like I am a completely different person. So, It's definitely not linear, but it's definitely worth it.
And there's been women who I don't think would have, like, qualified classically or historically as having an eating disorder that recently have been openly talking to me in my circle about I don't know if I like my relationship with food. Yeah. And there's so much right and wrong right now about what is healthy, what's not healthy, do this, don't do this, let alone whatever we're putting on top of it ourselves from our own experiences, trauma, et cetera. It's feels like a landmine.
Yeah. And it's diet culture is a really like, tricky area to navigate because I think there's so much nuance and there's so much gray area in terms of like, what does it mean to be body positive? What does it mean to be healthy? What does it mean to live in a larger body?
Like, and there's, really no, in my opinion, there's really no like black and white to it except for things like anti fatness is really fucked up and we don't need to like continue weight stigma. We shouldn't be encouraging people to eat like insanely low calorie diets just for the sake of being thin.
Like there are things that are clearly wrong, but I think overall, a lot of women can relate to the idea of like, yeah, I don't have an eating disorder, but like something is off and I don't know how to fix it because that type of relationship with food isn't addressed all the time. It's either you have a great relationship with food and you're awesome, or you have an eating disorder, go get treatment.
Whereas most people actually live in the middle.
Yeah. And just the human optimization in general, I think, is causing people more stress. Yeah. Yeah. Because otherwise you're tracking everything, like, did I drink enough water? How many hours of sleep did I get? Yeah. Like, the ORA ring seems cool, but if you're anyone, someone who's triggered at all by, tracking and be meticulous.
You can go into the deep end so quickly and your whole life is now that. So I'm really excited to hear about like, where do you see your career going? Like, what are the new things that you're working on?
Yeah, I really am into my podcast right now. I've made some like changes and improvements. I'm really lucky that my boyfriend owns a podcast studio.
And so I work with him to kind of like, you know, make sure it looks as great as possible, sounds as great as possible. And then outside of that, I am trying really hard to shift my online presence to do more advocacy. And what I mean by that is like my online presence for the past few years has been dominated by a huge male following.
Almost all of my platforms have a 90 or higher percent male following. And so unfortunately, When I started talking about this stuff online, I lost a lot of followers, which to me was like, awesome. If you don't want to hear about this, then leave. But it also means that it's harder for me to reach the people that want to listen, whether it's women, men who are allies, men who have been affected by this non binary people, like I just keep getting sent to the same people.
So my goal right now is to like shift my audience or find a way to accumulate a new audience on another type of platform or something so that I can talk about this stuff and I can post resources. And you know, I volunteer with the Eating Disorder Foundation and I do events with them. So I want to be able to like be a presence online that is helpful.
And then I think long term, I have really lofty goals. Like I really would love to write a book one day. I would really love to do some public speaking. I think eventually maybe I would be interested in doing a comedy special that is all about like my journey. It would just definitely take a lot of time to write and to like, make sure it was, you know, funny.
But yeah, those are kind of the big things that I think about every day.
Well, my mind jumped right away to like, you could write a book right now. I got people you want people.
Yeah. Yeah. Well, and that's the thing is like, I have so many goals that I feel like I want to do, but there's a part of me that's like, well, you're a year into recovery.
You just kind of started doing this, like focus on what I'm very bad at focusing on one thing at a time. Like, I'm like, right now I should be putting a good amount of energy into my podcast and just really focusing on that and honing in on that. Whereas the other half of my brain is like, you should start a blog.
You should start hosting events. You should do all these other things. Oh, why don't you write an entire new 30 minute set about your butt? Like. And so I have to, like, calm myself down.
I mean, that sounds very much like an entrepreneur's brain. So the what I'm often coaching people on is because I have to do it for myself, too.
I have a whole doc where I'm just writing all those things down. And then my role is like one project. for business one project for life at a time. It like keeps me sane.
One project for business, one project for life.
Per month, max. And like, I can't move on until it's done. Cause otherwise we'll try to do all of them at once. And you'll take like two hours. You move each project forward, maybe two hours, maybe 10 and nothing feels like progress. And you want to throw them all away. So one at a time. And the only way you're allowed to have more than one is if you're delegating it to somebody else.
Hmm. Interesting. Okay. What if your project is like Not something that has a deadline, you know what I mean? Like, what if it's a podcast and you have to do it every month? Like, how do you manage that?
That's a great question. So for me, a project is something that we're creating for the first time, building it or launching, and then it kind of has to go into Like, all right, let's make the SOP, the standard operating procedure.
So we can move it into what I call maintenance phase. So like launching a podcast is a project, but like once you're doing it every day and it's in your routine, now it's just maintenance. You've got the kind of system down and then if you're going to Come back to it. I don't like people to change their strategy more than once a year.
Ideally. So when you go back into, okay, I'm going to work on the strategy for 2025 for the podcast, that becomes a project again, but the ongoing stuff is part of what I would call maintenance. So I sort everything into maintenance versus projects. Wow.
That's really smart.
I'm glad you like it because there's too many fun things to do and too many interesting things to look at how it could apply for anyone's area of expertise or interest.
And I don't want to ever limit people like I, we should be chasing these new ideas because sometimes the ideas never go anywhere and we tried a little bit and we're like, no, that's not it. Other times all five hit and you're like, oh shit. Now I have. Five things I need to figure out how to launch and having that rule of like, get one moved up and put into maintenance.
It kind of protects us without having to limit all the ideas that we're creating. Right. Oh, cool. I love it. I'm glad. Let me know how it goes for you.
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, having a podcast is something that is its own beast. Mm hmm. You know, I think it's clear why people want podcasts and like what attracts people to it.
But I think is more interesting is What are you getting out of it as the host?
Yeah, I'm getting a lot out of it, personally. I mean, I used to have another podcast. I had a podcast called Let's Fight About It, where it was like just comedians arguing. And what I got out of that at the time was I needed content.
I needed you know, I needed to have an excuse to post more online. And so it really helped me build my following. And then it was no longer serving me because it was just stressful. Whereas now I have a podcast that's about something really important and isn't like about comedy and isn't so much for entertainment value as it is for like, it's like, it's almost like trauma bonding.
Like, I don't know how else to explain. It's like almost a chance for us to talk about these issues in a safe place in like a pretty little studio set and For me, it's very cathartic. It's very like releasing because not only am I getting to know each individual guest on a little bit of a different level than what we normally talk about in real life, but I'm also relating all of my experiences to theirs and realizing that I'm not alone and realizing that so many of us go through the same shit, but we don't talk about it because we're afraid of, like, that social, that weird social rule of, you know, don't like dump your problems on other people.
Or if you talk about weight, they're going to, someone's going to give you some unsolicited advice that you don't want to hear. So we just keep it inside. So I think right now I get like, the fun out of it, which is I like to, you know, wear a cute outfit. I love going to the studio. I love meeting my, my guests and hanging out.
And then the kind of therapeutic part of it, that is, they tell me their story. I relate it to my story. We tackle a big topic in diet culture and wrap it up with a nice affirmation to kind of leave with good vibes. And it just, it feels really fulfilling.
There's such a different, I think, Motivation and ability to sustain projects, which ultimately every business is a project that like when we're aligned with it, when it feels like it's bigger than we are, are you noticing that for yourself?
Like there's a deeper commitment, a deeper attachment to it now that you feel like you're using your voice in this way?
Yeah, it's a little scary to be honest, because I've always, I've always thought of myself as someone that, like, I'm going to do big things in life. I just always thought that about myself.
I didn't know what it was. And now I'm realizing the reason I knew that was because I knew I was going to take my trauma and turn it into something peaceful and something to help other people. And I think that's really, Awesome. But it is scary because sometimes I'll get questions or I'll be kind of faced with a problem where someone thinks that they're coming to an expert and I would consider myself an expert in my experience and an expert in being able to be vulnerable and show that like I've been through something, but I'm certainly not a medical professional.
I'm certainly not someone who is like certified in talking about things from a pers a prescriptive like perspective because I can sit here all day and I can say, Oh, intuitive eating is a great book and you should read that. Or, you know, you should read anything by Aubrey Gordon, who is a fat person and who wants to talk about fat, fatness and anti fatness.
But I also can't, I can't say to someone like, Oh yeah, your behaviors are this. You need to go seek treatment here and I think some people need like expect that because maybe they live in a community where there is an access to recovery resources. There is an access to people who are talking about this openly.
So all they have is that kind of parasocial relationship online. And it's scary because I'm like, Oh, I don't really know. Like I can, I can send you to the, you know, National Eating Disorders Association website, but that's about as much as I can do.
Does that motivate you to want to build that kind of back end resource list for the community?
Or are you like, Nope, I'm just gonna, we are not even get across that bridge. This is just the beginning. You know, we're going to stay in our lane and you'll have to find someone else for that.
I definitely want to and I do have resources like I have a hotline number at the end of every podcast episode.
I have resources in my link tree. I definitely would like to be able to help point people into in the right direction. I would love to one day like maybe have like an ebook or something that talks about like the recovery process. However, I kind of have a bit of a qualm with people who have an eating disorder, they go through recovery and then they start selling like online courses to people for recovery.
Because I did that. I took a course from someone who Is a wonderful person and like doesn't mean any harm, but you know, she was someone that is like a certified nutritionist, but isn't a certified eating disorder professional, which is a completely different certification. And yet she was selling courses and like support groups to people for recovery, which is great if your budget only allows for you to do that and not go to a full recovery center.
We need those resources, but part of me is like. I don't know if I could ever put like something like that behind a paywall in good faith because to me I'm like, well, that should just be accessible for everyone. So yes and no, like I'd love to like point to the, to the actual resources. I don't know if I want to like, try to be my own resource in a way, if that makes sense.
It totally makes sense. I think, you know, part of in my world as a business coach, as one of the businesses, I know that there's a limit of like, I can advise you so far. Like I'm not a tax professional, not a CPA. I'll tell you everything I do. I'll tell you everything I've learned. But like, I legally can't talk about it beyond that because I'm not licensed.
And so it's actually been really empowering or freeing for me to know that I want to be able to be a yes resource for people and to help. And the only way I can really do that fully is to have all of my experts on speed dial and to be like passing them through.
Right. Yeah.
And it's kind of freed me up because you want to help people in such a big way and you don't need to, like there's, you don't have to be the all encompassing person.
So that's how I've approached it of. Here are my expert partners. Here's the lawyer that's written these templates that we can use. It's a different access point because you also don't want to carry the burden of someone not realizing or forgetting exactly where your lines are for your expertise and qualifications.
But No, it's, it gets tricky when you're like, I just want to help people.
Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Yeah, it's, it's almost like I want to help them by letting them know they're not alone and that I'm here for moral support and that, you know, the podcast is so that you can hear other people's stories and recognize that there's a ton of nuance in the health industry and that it's all valid, but also like, being well aware enough that if you do need help, if you do need recovery, if you do need resources that you need to reach out or that hopefully someone close to you can recognize it and reach out.
Cause I'm also like a huge believer that we're all in charge of our own recovery. And I think sometimes we get into this messiness online where We blame other people and we blame society and we blame influencers for like, not helping us recover or like, Oh, like I'm so triggered. And it's like, yeah, there's a lot of triggers in the world.
And you just have to be able to be like, Oh, not looking at that today. Or, Oh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna remove myself from this situation. I've had people tell me that my content is triggering just because they haven't done their own healing yet. And I always feel bad because that's never my intention. And I never want someone to think, Oh my God, she's posting like her stomach.
Oh, that's so triggering to me. I would hope that they'd get to a place where, Oh, wow, she has a tummy just like I do. Like, that's awesome. But you know, everyone, everyone's in charge of their own healing.
No, I think that's a really powerful position to have. And I also think it's really important to be normalizing all the things that are normal.
We're so good at making ourselves feel weird and the guilt and the shame and the you must be doing something wrong approach.
Yeah.
There's just like no room for it. And I always want, I, I am personally so driven by creating things and having fun and like doing, like, I'm so project driven, like it's bananas that I will almost forget that I exist as an entity.
And I have to remember to come back and like, take care of me. But I'm always wondering, I'm like, I forget I exist. Like how. It's amazing to me for people to be so flipped on the other way, where like, it's, it's all that can be thought about. Yeah, I don't think either are on the, you know, there's a spectrum on both sides of it.
But it's yeah, I just want people to realize how special they are and that we need them and that there's so many things that they could be doing, should be sharing. Everyone is looking for someone. else to kind of point them in the right direction. And there's a whole community that's looking exactly for you.
For sure.
Are you seeing that community speaking up and saying hi and letting you know that they're there?
Slowly but surely. I feel like online is really slow. Like I am having trouble, I think, reaching out to the earth. I'm having trouble reaching the people that I think need to hear the message the most.
I do have people reaching out being like, Oh, thank you for talking about this. Or, Oh, I followed you because of the comedy, but now I'm here for this, which is awesome. I think in terms of like in person, I've been working really hard the past few months to curate my own community, especially like with women, because I'm so surrounded by men all the time in my line of work that I don't really get that feminine energy.
I don't really get that like healing, peaceful space. So I've been going to a ton of like happy hours. I've been trying to like be a part of online groups and meet women in person. And you know, I'm doing, I'm like doing friendships, speed dating, like literally anything to just meet other women and just.
Get that sense of community from my personal life so that when I talk about this stuff online, I don't feel as like scared. Cause I think the internet is like a wonderfully horrible place. And so it's like, it can do so many amazing things for you, but it can also be like the downfall of like so much of our self esteem and mental health.
So trying to work on the online front with the community a little bit, but definitely. in my personal life. It's been awesome.
Well, and a big thing that we've been talking about as we're planning 2025 in my world is moving from very accessible to more curated. And it's a really interesting thing. Part of the reason we're doing it is what you mentioned of how do we use all the online digital tools in a way that not just empowers our community, but empowers us as well.
Because Sometimes using the internet can sound like we're yelling into a void. For sure. And other times it feels like we get sucked in and we, and we're getting pulled into a space that we don't want to be in. And. Like, I know your community exists in many places. I know mine does as well. So we do a lot of blending, like the in person to digital and like using it almost like the red thread, but we're kind of stopping to use it as the way we find new people almost because I want to protect, especially like within the Powerful Ladies community.
It's like, we want to make this space. So safe and empowering that it's kind of like everyone has to be referred in like, are you vetted by somebody like by me, by another person, because we want to make sure that it's, it is a safe space. And there's always the conversation of like, can this guy join? Can this person in, you know, who doesn't identify as female, but wants to be in this.
feminine energy, can they join? And I'm like, I'm not legally, we definitely can't say people can't join. And I also personally, if this is your jam, and this is what you want to be contributing to. Okay. Right. We've also had to remove people from the community because they were hanging out in a space that just wasn't where we needed to maintain the conversation.
And it feels so weird for me to This isn't the right word, but it's the one that's popping up, like having to police the community so we can protect it. Like it's a very weird role that I feel like I've ended up in and being someone who's always like, invite everybody, like come over. Yeah. Like my team's always like, why are there 160 people invited to this small event?
I'm like, well, cause that was everyone I could think of who could. It was in the area, right? Doesn't mean they'll show up, but it's weird to pivot into this more protective curated zone. But I really feel like it's the right thing to do. And I would probably also coach someone else to do the same thing, but it's, I'm definitely fighting that story I have about inclusive versus exclusive.
I think when it's coming, when it's from like a protecting your energy standpoint, it's definitely a different conversation because you can be inclusive and you can, you know, be someone that welcomes everyone and also be like, yeah, everyone's welcome. But your behavior once you're here also determines whether or not you will continue to be welcome.
And even I'm sure you experienced this too, to some extent as well, like always giving outward. And like what's coming in because we really want to meet dream clients and customers and community. It should feel very symbiotic and very fulfilling and for the creator and the you know, community itself too.
I think there's also that component as well.
Yeah.
What, what barriers do we need for ourselves? And when you're on the road, you really feel the lack of barrier probably because there's nothing between you and the audience.
Yeah. Yeah. I, part of the reason I think standup comedy can be really like frustrating for me personally, especially as a woman is, I think that when I go to comedy shows, you know, I'm at work and I'm like ready to put it, put my all in and say hi to my fellow comedians and like, have a good time and like remain professional.
And I hate when People take it as an opportunity to think that I am like their long lost cousin, and they're like hugging me and they want to kiss me on the cheek and like, you know, typically tends to be men that are like asking me if I want to drink. Can I go out with you? Can I take you out? Can I have your whatever?
And sometimes I feel so insulted because I'm like, wow, I'm literally just here to do work and to leave. Like, I don't want to be me. Your friend. And I understand why people think that you go to a comedy club. Everyone's in a good mood. You're having fun. The comedian is probably telling you something about their life that makes you feel connected to them and you want to meet them afterwards.
But I feel like as a woman, I've been put in so many situations where The audience I've been given is not the audience I want. I realized that I wasn't happy with my audience online when I was met with the idea of if you put all of your followers in a room together, And you like invited them to a party.
Is that a party you would want to go to? And my answer immediately was no, because I've had so many men following me for so long that quite honestly don't give a crap about my comedy. And they're just there because they think I'm hot. And I'm like, that's not the energy at all that I want to be around.
Yeah, but I think that's such a great perspective to have and I think that's why I like the word curate more than the inclusive exclusive because I, especially my, my coaching clients, I want to be able to have a dinner and if they all sat around, would they all be equally contributing to the conversation and it's interesting when you're evaluating clients or people who are in the, the online communities that we have and really saying like, I like meeting people in person.
I like having those relationships. I think like you, I've been putting myself out into situations more and doing a lot of networking and because our communities in real life, like our personal communities evolve and transform so much too based on what we're up to in our lives and age and everything else.
And I do, I feel protective about for my, I'm, I used to feel protective just for the clients and the customers in the community, I'm now starting to feel more protective for me. So I'm going to be taking, that's going to be my takeaway to implement for myself of like, do I want to hang out with these followers? I don't know.
Yeah, I love that so much. That's awesome.
When you look at the words powerful and ladies, how would you define them and do their definitions change when they're put next to each other?
When I think of powerful ladies, I think of like, I mean, the first because I have a broken brain, the first thing I think of is a bunch of women doing aerobics and being like, we're powerful ladies. But in a more serious note I think of women that are like, not afraid to be vulnerable and not afraid to be honest in terms of it. Yeah. their mistakes, their triumphs, their successes. I think that what makes women powerful is the fact that we are so willing to listen and we are so willing to, like, change our opinion when we're met with new information or be vulnerable and be honest about how we're feeling or how what's affecting us is affecting the work or whatever it is.
I feel like Because we're so in touch with ourselves and our emotions and other people's emotions, it makes us more powerful in terms of like business, motherhood, even performing. Like sometimes I feel like as a female comedian, I have a better pulse on the audience than like a male comedian does. I'm like, how are you not even looking in their eyes?
But anyway, and then when I think of like the words separated, honestly, when I think of ladies, I just think of like, very put together women, you know what I mean? Like, I like ladies is always the word that like, my dance teacher would use a ladies, you know, like it was just this, this term. And then when I think of powerful, I think of someone who has.
everything that they want and is still utilizing that to like help other people or to get something done. That probably doesn't make any sense, but I don't think that I don't think that the The terms change when you separate them. I think that's something that, like, working on my own internalized misogyny has really helped.
Yeah, it's, it's one of the most interesting questions I have gotten to ask through this podcast because every, Guest is some people are really triggered by the word powerful or the word ladies. Some people have flat out told me I didn't want to be a guest cause I hate the name of this podcast. I'm like, okay, great.
Let's talk about it. So it's really interesting. I think for the time we're in right now. how everyone has a very different relationship with those words.
You know, what's funny is I, I have done this, I feel like the past few months where I have always been very averse to like the, the terms like powerful ladies, like there, there's a lot of those, um, groups online like boss babes, like girl boss.
Like I hated those words. I thought they were so corny. I thought, Oh my God, this is so embarrassing. It's all just like Gen X moms who think that they're hilarious. And it wasn't until like this year that I, started going to women focused happy hours. Like there's one called what she said. There's one called like the girls group chat, you know, the, I'm part of a group of women called the dames, like, and I actually went to the groups and I was like, Oh, we, Oh, okay.
Like, we're all cool people. Like we're all ambitious. It's just called that because it's like kind of an easy marketing gimmick. You know what I mean? Like I had a show Earlier this year, that was all women. And as much as I hated the name, we called it queens of comedy. Cause it's like the easiest thing.
People know it's going to be women. People know it's going to be like female comedy. And I was like, Oh, I hate this name, but it gets the job done. So I definitely used to have like a very adverse reaction to the terms. And now I'm just kind of like, eh, whatever.
Yeah. No, even you listing off all of those groups, I can feel myself like feeling a little nauseous. Like I come from skateboarding and street wear and like, no, like all that sounds lame. Yeah, exactly. And at the, but there is like this, there's power in women coming together. There is, there, there is a different approach when it's a feminine perspective than not. And yeah, for this anyway, it was, I just hated the fact that people, when I would ask them, them.
Prior to the podcast, we did a one day of giving event. We was more getting them together to have fun and be social and give back at the same time. And I would invite people to host and be the powerful lady of their city. And they'd say, I'm not powerful. And I was like, what the, I knighted you. I've already decided I called you. And I was like, wow, there's like such a gap in, like, we're not powerful unless we're Oprah.
That's, yeah, that's such a, yeah, that's such an interesting way to put it because in my mind, I'm like, you can be powerful in whatever you do. If you're a stay at home mom, okay, you're powerful. You and you influence your kids and how they think and how they see themselves and the way that you treat yourselves is how they see how they should treat themselves.
That's powerful. You know what I mean? Like you're a dog groomer. Like you allow people the opportunity to like give their pet, you're a trusting person. That's powerful. Yes, yes.
And yeah, so I because I just it's we already have it like you're powerful because you were born that way. It's like whether we choose to use it or not, I think is where we get stuck.
And for a long time, the narrative for women has been we're not powerful until someone's given us permission to be.
Or we're not powerful until we're like rich and making money. And like, yeah, there's only one way to be powerful.
It has to be perfect. Like And just the whole, the undoing of perfect, I think is really important. It's what made me excited for our conversation today as well, because it's kind of, it's just gross to how the perfectionist perfect approach that has been put on women, it's impossible. It's unnecessary. And so often it is based on physical attributes or it's based on Completely sacrificing ourselves for anyone around us and when do we just get to be?
Yeah. When can I just be a human existing in the world? Why do I have to be a woman who has big boobs or is this or is that like, why can't I just be a person? Yeah.
Yeah, I went to a workshop on Saturday in L. A. Actually from a recent podcast guest, she shared about this workshop she was doing. I invited myself, which I was laughing at myself about, but it was this really interesting conversation about process, like working through change.
What identities we have and we've given ourselves and other people have given us and the process of releasing them and then declaring like what identities do we actually want to Have and live up to and to honor. Cool. Feels it was right on that cusp of being very woo woo, but it was, it was a good conversation to be having. And I got to meet 15 incredible women, all of whom are, they're all business owners. They're all doing more things than most humans are in a day. And it was so. You know, coming back to you and you sharing your story, it was so empowering to hear the red threads. We were all dealing with different stuff, but it was, there were so many parallels.
And if you didn't hear yourself in that person, you heard yourself over here. And it's, it was nice to get in that space and realize, oh no, we're all dealing with something. We all are ashamed of something. We're all avoiding something.
Mm hmm.
If we say it out loud, is it still as scary? Right. Exactly.
Yeah.
Another thing that we ask on this podcast is where you put yourself on the powerful lady scale. If zero is average everyday human and 10 is the most powerful lady you can imagine, how would you rate yourself today and on an average day?
Gosh, that's such a good question because even though I have a lot of my own insecurities and issues. I feel like this year has taught me that I am way more powerful than I ever thought I would be or that I I'm more powerful than I think I am. And so I guess I would put myself as like a seven, to be honest, like, I'd be like, okay, like, I'm young. I'm just now kind of figuring out what I want to do. But I have put my heart and full energy into everything, every single thing.
And I feel like that's really powerful. And on an average day, I would say that, yeah, maybe I oscillate between like six and six and seven, because I'm always doing something that I think is like powerful, whether it's affirmations to myself, choosing to recover from an eating disorder, choosing to maintain my boundaries.
Or even just like working on, you know, my podcast or my website or my comedy. Like, yeah, I think I've definitely stepped into that power recently. If you want to ask me that a year ago, I would have been like zero for sure. Like I'm just a, I'm an internet clown and that's all I do.
I mean, going from zero to seven in a year is pretty amazing.
I think so too.
Yeah. You know, this is also a very connected supportive group and I've been asking everyone like what do you want? How can we help whether it's on your to do list or to manifest list? It can be personal business Feel small feel big What do you want? How can we help you?
I feel like right now, what has been really helpful for me is simply just having the opportunity to talk to other women, to other female business owners, and just kind of ask them, like, how did you get to where you are now?
Because I feel like I'm at that precipice, you know, I'm 29. Like, I have this foundation of comedy. I know how to, you know, manage my social media, but I'm making this kind of gargantuan leap into a new career and like a new season of life. And it's really helpful for me to speak to women who are farther along than me, are older than me, who can kind of be like, Oh yeah, like you're going through what I went through and just having that relatability. And then of course, you know, I think having anyone that can relate to what I'm going through and, and is able to be like, Oh, I know this person who works in this field. Maybe they could give you a, some advice or something. Like I've been having so many coffee and zoom dates lately that have just been filling my heart.
And that's like the best thing ever.
Okay, well, I'm there are lots of people here and probably people I will send you as well. For everyone who is excited to know that you were out there and you were doing this work, where can they find, follow, connect with you?
Yeah, so everything is pretty much Morgan Lorraine Gallo.
I moved it all over from Morgan Gallo comedy because I felt like I wanted to let the internet know that I was a person and not just a comedian. So Morgan Lorraine Gallo on everything. My podcast is called my body, my jokes, and that's streaming everywhere. You can watch it on YouTube and Spotify. And I have a lot of really cool guests coming up. I have a drag queen that I'm interviewing. I have a few comedians. So yeah, my body, my jokes and Morgan Lorraine Gallo everywhere else.
Well, thank you so much for being a yes to me and to this podcast and honestly, for all the work you're doing. I, you know, regularly I'm telling guests that. The to do list that I feel women have for ourselves and our communities in the world can feel overwhelming and it allows me to sleep better at night knowing that you're working in your little pocket and as hard as I know that any of the rest of us will be working. So thank you for choosing to take on a big topic and to use your voice to help other people. We need more people like that. So thank you.
Absolutely. Thank you. Thank you for the kind words and thanks for having me. This was really fun.
All the links to connect with Morgan and her podcast, my body, my jokes are in our show notes at the powerful ladies. com. Please subscribe to this podcast wherever you're listening and leave us a rating and review. Join us on Instagram at Powerful Ladies, and you can connect directly with me at KaraDuffy. com or Kara underscore Duffy on Instagram. I'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Until then, I hope you're taking on being powerful in your life. Go be awesome and up to something you love.
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Instagram: @morganlorrainegallo
YouTube: @morganlorrainegallo
Website: www.morganlorrainegallo.com
Email: morgangallocomedy@gmail.com
Created and hosted by Kara Duffy
Audio Engineering & Editing by Jordan Duffy
Production by Amanda Kass
Graphic design by Anna Olinova
Music by Joakim Karud
