Yo, yo, I'm Yovam Buhha from The Athletic. This episode is the season finale of season one of stargazing. For this

episode, we wanted to look back on all of the advice that was shared by our seven guests, how they

went from dreamers to doers, professionals at the top of their field. Everyone needs a spark.

And for celebrity fashion designer Rich Fresh, the creator behind the Henry mask,

his spark was from a crush on a cheerleader. So it's an interesting story. I think, I feel like

they've made movies about this. You know, I'm in Little Rock, which is not a fashion forward place.

It's just Little Rock. And a super nerdy kid, real quiet, real shy, super insecure. But, you know, a nice kid, real smart. I've just always had but you know a nice kid real smart I've just

always had a thing like my whole life I've always been able to distinguish good quality from bad

quality my mom would tell me I used to go in the stores and I would compare clothes and I would

notice the stitching and notice that this one is of a higher quality because of the

stitch. So my brain's always been on something like that. Even as this kid who like looks terrible, dresses terrible, doesn't really think too highly of himself. I always looked at like the prettiest girls. It was like, you know, if I'm going to look at a girl, it's going to be the prettiest girl. and if I can't get the prettiest girl

is all good I'm just going to keep my focus in that space

so this girl just having to be the prettiest girl at the school, in my opinion. She was a black cheerleader. She was just really cool, but she was, like, nice to me. You know, middle school was not, like, the greatest thing ever. But she was super cool. Like she was always cool She was always nice And it wasn't like a crush

Like a Middle school was not like the greatest thing ever, but she was super cool. Like she was always cool. She was always nice. And it wasn't like a crush, like a crush on the person as much as it was a crush on the role she played.

Got it. Like the thought of her. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. But just the it girl. I could have been anyone, but just like the it girl, the one that's the least attainable. Got it. So my brain was just focused on like, hmm, how do you impress the least attainable one? Then it turns out, you know, I'm really good at math. And so I ended up tutoring her, I got selected by a teacher to tutor in math. I was like, oh, this is not even real. And it was on like a one-on-one situation, like, you know, private classroom.

And it was for, you know, a few weeks.

So we're doing this one-on-one thing. And before we get started, you know, half of my brain is like, oh, my God, I can't believe I'm actually going to be in the class with, you know what I'm saying? so let me see, you know, how I can, what kind of slick shit I can say to me make her like me.

And then part of me was like, dude, what see you know how I can what kind of slick shit I can say to me make her like me and then part of me was like dude what are you doing like that's not the goal like that's not the goal don't do that that's going to make her feeling comfortable stupid like that's not the goal she has more value than that you're not you're going to lose if you do that dumb shit here's the value she knows she's a pretty girl. She's a girl that you would

want to go after. Correct? Yeah. Find out what she knows about girls like her. What do girls like her

actually look for so you stand a chance with them? So my brain was just thinking more strategic

than temporary satisfaction. It was like, okay, long term, what can I gain from this experience?

And I just asked her like, hey, I'm going to put you up on all the mad stuff. I just need you to like, tell me a bit about girls. Tell me what girls like. Tell me what they're into. Tell me what a guy like me would need to do to get a girl in your position. All right. Not you, but someone like you. Just tell me the things that y'all pay attention to because I'm clearly fucking up and um she was like oh cool you know what I'm

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