Welcome back to my blog, I wanted to document my very first experience with being interviewed for television, but it was for Japan!!!
Okay, so, during the pandemic times it has been a little "boring" for lack of better words in the sense that the world had been shut down and I couldn't travel for work like what was originally planned for the year of 2020. We ( Cheri and Teri from Tangerine Mountain Imports and Designs) were actively planning the month we were going over to Japan for business when everything happened! When I say "everything" I mean the pandemic. And I know that we weren't the only ones planning to travel outside of the United States that had their vacations cancelled.
As time as gone by we made educational content for Anime Expo Lite 2021, recorded content for their Youtube channel, and plan out what the next some of years were going to look like! Not only were we doing all of that; Cheri had been keeping in touch with her acquaintances over in Japan who work for TV Tokyo! Cheri and Teri have previously been on the show “YOUは何しに日本へ？" which translates to "Why did YOU come to Japan?" Because they have been on the show before, the producers sent a camera crew over to the new headquarters in Rolling Meadows, IL to get an update on how the business has survived the pandemic and what the "kimono sisters" were up to! (Kimono sisters are Cheri and Teri)
Teri (center left) and Cheri (center right) being cute sisters as they answer questions for the film crew.
Now, what does this have to do with me? Well, because of the friendship that the girls and I have developed and the fact that I am their contracted model, they formally invited me to be over at the headquarters for this great opportunity!!! Filming was on February 4th, 2022.
The Day Before, outfit planning!
The day before the event I drove up to meet up with Cheri and Teri at HQ to discuss the plan of when we needed to be here and ready! (I'm going to shorten it to HQ instead of headquarters) We planned our outfits and we styled ourselves differently to show the different ways you could blend Japanese garments with western clothing. We agreed to have me go for a 90's fashion style with: black turtle neck long sleeved shirt, blue and black plaid skirt, black leggings, knee high boots, a blue men's Juban that had Daruma as an all over pattern, with a black belt at the waist to cinch it in. Cheri wore her favorite pin striped kimono tied up to a harajuku length, an obi with chickens on it, jeggings, and a men's haori. Teri went traditional with a beautiful black kimono with vines and leaves all over it with a complimentary green and tan obi.
Filming Day!!!
Okay, it's the day!!! The film crew arrive to the HQ. It was two gentlemen from Chicago that are connected to TV Tokyo, one of them ran the camera and the other one held a phone up. And on the phone was the director, Nagasawa san and the translator Miyuki san all the way from Japan on a business zoom call so they could be there as best as they could. To be real, I stood on the side lines as I watched Cheri and Teri get interviewed by the team. That itself was a learning experience! I have never been on tv so to see this happening in real time, was fascinating to say the least. They were asked dozens of questions that sometimes were repeated so that they could see if they liked a sound bite better of if a response was better worded. It's funny because it can make you second guess "did I do good?" but it all made sense! SOOOOOO much B-roll was done to help show context to the topic at hand and guide the story.
Me taking a selfie with the awesome film crew.
I was at the side taking photos of Cheri and Teri getting interviewed because, why not, when all of a sudden I hear , "actually that is a great question and I think we should bring in our model, Tiffany, to help answer that!"
I had literal "Deer in headlights look" I wasn't mentally prepared for this! I mean, I know I was but at the same time the adrenaline kicked in and started smoothing the nerves after I was in front of the camera. I was nervous because "what if I don't answer the question right" or "what if I miss understand the question?" I was a first timer for this kind of thing, I have been interviewed for podcasts a few times but never for something like this!!
But with Cheri and Teri at my side to help me relax and bounce jokes back and forth made it fun! Nagasawa san really liked my outfit and was so surprised that I chose to wear a men's juban; which if you do not know what that is.... it is the garment you wear underneath your kimono, technically it's men's kimono underwear! But I love the designs on them and I explained that the designs on men's juban are some of my favorites and I wanted to show that these pieces can be statements in a modern outfit! We spoke about my time filming all of the content for Anime Expo Lite and what I liked about that experience. We spoke about a few more things then it was time for me to go back to the sidelines; I was perfectly fine with that! Because I had my moment, my first time being interviewed for TV!!
We ended the night by having some of our beloved customers over for coffee at the neighbors business for some fun, pastries, drinks (did I say coffee?), and to bond over kimono! The film crew came over and filmed our customers and all of us having a great time! ^_^
Filming in action behind me!!
We took a couple group photos and that's all she wrote!
Is it over?
Now, I know that there is a chance that my content that they filmed may not actually make it into the episode. But just being able to say I had this experience is something that I am proud to say! If I do get to be on the episode then that is going to be absolutely amazing; and Japan I hope you approve of me! But, is it over? You never know, I pray that this opens the door for me for more opportunities and to meet more people.
I learned that you need to be flexible with this kind of thing. You can't just "stick to the plan" like I usually like to do. But to have options of what could be even better than the plan, or if someone has to get swapped out, or even if the interviewer loves the direction of the conversation! Thank you TV Tokyo for the opportunity! Thank you Cheri and Teri for being great friends and business partners!
In the final picture the two gentlemen were the film crew with Nagasawa-san on the phone. then women from left to right ( Teri VP of Tangerine Mountain, Anna who is co-owner of the coffee business, Cheri the CEO of Tangerine Mountain, Kathy who is known as Tangerine aunt, Patricia who is known as Tangerine mom, and myself)
Ladykage
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