This is Heather your Rose World and now you can live in it two times a week right here on podcast one welcome back everybody happy Friday. I am so excited to have my guest on today.

You know they gave they always give me like a bio to read for someone but she does so much more I was exhausted reading all of the jobs she has and has had I'm really looking forward to chatting with her she's an award winning producer former head of video for us weekly the host of the podcast moms exit interview which I can't wait to hear about but I mean so much more performer and I and exactly I mean so many more please welcome Kim Ritford. Thank you so much for having me I'm also welcome.

I also get burnt out looking my own resume I'm like it's crazy but you know what the thing that struck me when I was reading when I was looking into and researching you was that I you started as a performer.

Oh my god that's so funny yes I I I trained in improv comedy at UCB in New York City so my brother Matt Ritter who's now a comedian he was starting to do stand up and someone had recommended a great way to improve your standup skills is by taking improv right and he's like him I was like earning no money like my beginning days in TV I had no money he's like I'll pay for your class in improv if you take it with me and I'm really close with my brother.

I said all right why not.

We take improv class that you see me he's not that into it he drops it after level one or two I stick through it I stick through all five levels of improv and I'm performing improv comedy with the truth in these like tiny black box theaters underground

St. Marks like the East Village very and yeah it was really fun and I'm from a chorus line remember to chorus line that that song where he's like one day cis won't go to dance class and he grabs your shoes and go yeah I love that that's so funny yeah it was really really fun and then some of the people who I

watched they weren't my peers like they were ready way better than me are really successful now and that's been so cool like Ellie Kemper she was performing on the stage is there and she's so talented and such a nice person I just a lot of a lot of cool people bench words and just a lot of cool people I got to see grow there.

But I think that's so cool and so well first of all I'm just curious like did you wake up one day and be like I'm not a performer or it just wasn't working out or you needed to find something to make money like what made what made the switch there.

That's an amazing question because I will say that when you read my resume it sounds like that person's done a lot of stuff that's cool I am plagued by the same self doubt and lack of confidence as other people and I think for many years I thought I wanted to be look at on camera reporter a host and for me I was never to be honest and I got an actress so that's not a thing that I was like I could be do this I was just not that good like I get a part in a high you know it can't play.

I was like I was like the assistant daddy war bucks or whatever.

I was like there are no small parts only small actors I get it exactly and you know I mean I just feel like I kind of peaked at age 11 in acting.

But I did like to host and I was going to do on camera reporting and honestly it took me like eight years of producing for TV to even get the confidence to stand out my real and I did get an on camera reporting job outside New York.

Covering the New York area but I just realized honestly at that point I had been producing for eight to ten years and I really enjoyed producing actually more than hosting and I like doing a mix so for the podcast on the host but I produce it I write it I produce it.

But you know one of the things I love about it it's like you know with my kids we how do your kids.

Seven and five okay great so there's so little still so you're kind of in the stage I was about to talk about like when my kids were little little like that.

You know my whole thing was like put them in everything and let them just try everything so I would see some kids like oh no this kid's going to play baseball and that's always but.

But like I always thought they should try a little bit of everything I think it's so smart.

But like especially when you know you want to be in media to be on both sides of the camera and figure out what it's like I have a friend who's a very successful director and he will go take improv classes and dance and like just things like that to to understand it and and learn from it.

Yeah and whenever I really firmly believe whenever you're out of your comfort zone you're growing and that's going to make you a better professional a better parent a better friend and I think taking that improv at that point I was.

The hand holding the microphone on red carpets but that point was the beginning of my career and I was producing entertainment content for inside addition and definitely doing improv even though I was like complete.

Completely like underground underground like off off off off Broadway.

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