Aging Under the Influence of The Entertainment Industry
Going Gray in tinseltown is a celebration of the radical act of aging in the entertainment industry. Hosted by Actress/Writer Mandy May Cheetham and inspired by her decision to stop dying her naturally silver hair, it features a combination of honest stories and heart to heart interviews with women from all areas of entertainment, beauty and fashion. As Mandy documents her bold decision to go gray, she talks with women who’ve done it, who plan to do it, and who intend to dye till they die.
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One Month Without Dye.
Episode 1: Ditch The Dye
The inaugural episode discusses Mandy’s reasons for no longer dying her hair and is based on her Medium article.
Episode 2: Actress Alice Barden
You’ll Never Work in This Town Again!…and Other Stories.
Alice and Mandy get real honest about the fears they have around going gray as actresses in LA, and the things friends, family and fans say to try to deter you from breaking the code of lying about your age.
Episode 3: The Audition
Mandy talks about her experience at her first series of auditions with her glaring, white roots and her frequent melt-downs on Instagram.
Episode 4: Aging is Not A Problem to Be Fixed
Guest: Beauty Expert Megan Vigil - Mandy and Megan discuss working in the beauty industry as an advocate for aging women, sexual harassment on the street, and how our parents influence our idea of beauty.
Episode 5: The Gym
Mandy talks about her experience during her first visit to the gym with grey roots and her ego’s desire to still be the hottest, and fanciest woman in the room.
Episode 6: Grey Roots May Be A Sign of A Nervous Breakdown
Event planner, Artist and Recovering New Yorker KP Lawless sits down with Mandy May Cheetham to discuss how her inability to train her tresses in middle school has lead to a crippling relationship with her hair. She and Mandy swap stories about how each of their Father's relationships with women have affected their sense of self, and the mortification of going through puberty under the male gaze..
Episode 7: The Meltdown
In order to change the world we must focus on the change and not the world.
Episode 8: Men Aren’t Screwing Our Instagram Photos
Photographer and Photoshop expert Nicole Barton joins host Mandy May Cheetham in a discussion on how Darwin's theory of natural selection has been manipulated to keep women buying beauty products, the differences between what we see as beautiful in other women vs. how we allow ourselves to be seen, and how an Oprah Magazine spread of women with grey hair changed Nicole's perspective on aging and beauty at a young age.
Episode 9: If You Want a Career in This Town; It’s Naive of You to Go Grey w Pamela Hyatt
Hostess Mandy May Cheetham interviews veteran stage and screen actress, Pamela Hyatt. At 83 years young, Pam explains her philosophy of living 'entheos'; an enthusiastic life, why you should never go to a hotel room with Davy Crockett, and Mandy's hopes that her grey hair will have a trickle up effect from the audition room.
Pam is a Canadian stage, screen and voice actress who can be seen currently on the Baroness Von Sketch show on IFC.
Episode 10: Are Selfies Making Me Miserable?
It is making me supremely unhappy to be turning this deeply personal project of going grey into a social media extravaganza, hoping to build a following for my pain, write a book and be able to turn down endorsements from hair dye companies someday. It is also filling me with joy to find empowerment to continue on this journey and connect with others who are walking the walk with me, and those who’ve been listening to my podcast, and I am writing a book that I need to read.
Episode 11: Wabi-Sabi; Accepting Imperfection w Nancy Nigrosh
Nancy Nigrosh, former head of the Gersh Agency's literary department and team member at Innovative Artists has worked in Hollywood since the 70s, and has re-defined herself many times over the course of her incredible career. She discusses working with Martin Scorsese on Mean Streets, re-building after a divorce, and spending her 40th Birthday celebrating the Million dollar sale of a script. She graciously discusses her goal of experiencing aging using the philosophy behind Wabi-Sabi, the Japanese aesthetic centered on transience and imperfection.
Episode 12: Silver Sisters: The Club I Didn’t Think I Wanted to Join.
Sil-ver Sis-ter / ˈsilvər ˈsistər /
noun
A precious shiny woman in relation to other precious, shiny women who has been mined from a pit of darkness and called to shine her light upon the world. She has walked through the fire and harnessed the energy of the cosmos as evidenced by her flickering hair. Those who are privileged enough to look upon her with an open heart shall be forever changed, and those who look upon her with judgement shall be forever blinded by her light.
A group of precious shiny women with open hearts whose magic may only be seen by those who believe..
Karen Rich, Katie (Katie Goes Platinum and Mandy)
Episode 13: I’m Not Asking You To Stop Dying Your Hair. (Are We Breaking the Code By Going Grey?)
Actress Karen Rich and hostess Mandy May Cheetham discuss the gritty details of going gray in a society that is vehemently opposed to aging. They talk itchy scalps, rejection and dirty looks and why it's important for us to keep showing up in our careers and our lives if we're going to change the stigma surrounding this hair color choice.
Episode 14: The Subject, The Object and The Artist.
I am starting to feel disdain for people who tell me to think positive and look on the bright side. It feels manipulative. Like something they want me to do so they can feel more comfortable. There are a few people who reach out to me with their messages of positivity. Some are practical, but mostly they feel weighted in judgement and fear. Their happiness feels aggressive and judgemental, and I resent it, because, ultimately it doesn’t feel like they are really listening to what I’m saying or reading what I’m writing.
Episode 15: Do We Need Grey Hair Advocates w Katie Emery from www.katiegoesplatinum.com.
Blogger and grey-haired advocate Katie Emery of www.katiegoesplatiunum.com chats with host Mandy May Cheetham about her experiences letting her natural grey grow in, the women who have influenced her transition, and the pros and cons of becoming the town crazy lady. Mandy asks the question - does spending most of our lives dying our hair make us sheeple?.
Episode 16: What if I Die and I Have Not Yet Lived? with Brett Paesel, Author, Actor.
Mandy May Cheetham talks to Best Selling Author, Actor, Improvisor, Educator, Giver of Life, Goddess with Piercing Eyes, Studio 54 Voyeur, Seller of Pilots, and Teller of Truths Brett Paesel. They discuss her newest novel Everything is Just Fine, and they don't discuss how big of a fangirl Mandy is of Brett's work in Transparent playing Rita.
