SEASONS: Finding Your Voice with Jodi Benson (The Little Mermaid)

She’s been a voice that’s been part of worlds since we can probably remember! Jodi Benson, the voice of Ariel the Mermaid, Thumbelina, Barbie, and more joins AllMomDoes host Julie Lyles Carr for a conversation about finding your voice, allowing God to bring you into a season that goes longer than you would expect, and how it’s powerful to do things scared.

Interview Links:

• Find Jodi on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | TikTok
• Jodi’s book: Part of My World; What I’ve learned from The Little Mermaid About Love, Faith, and Finding My Voice

Transcription:

Julie Lyles Carr: I’m Julie Lyles Carr. You’re listening to the All Mom Does podcast on the Purposely podcast network today. I’m very excited to introduce you to someone who I consider a great friend of mine. She and I have sung duets together, I’ve quoted her more times than I can count. She was with me on one of my first dates with my husband, she was involved in my kids’ weddings because you know, her voice was there for them. It’s just that she doesn’t know that she’s one of my nearest and dearest, but I can’t wait to introduce you to her. Her name is Jodi Benson, Jodi, thanks so much for being on the show today. 

Jodi Benson: Thank you, Julie. That’s so sweet. I’m so glad I’ve been such a big, big part of your world. That’s awesome. 

Julie Lyles Carr: Oh, have you ever, my friend. And I feel like a lot of my listeners are gonna go, Jodi Benson’s on the show!! But I wanna back up. If you’re like, Jodi Benson? I’m just gonna throw a couple names at you, connect some dots for you. I don’t know, there was a little someone named Thumbelina. There was another little someone named Barbie. There was another little someone named Ariel. Yes. Jodi Benson is the voice of all these beloved characters, both in their spoken voice and in their singing voice. And so Jodi, you have been part of the soundtrack of my life for a very long time. I always say that, you know, you never know the day that you’ll become a hero in your kid’s eyes, Jodi, I gotta tell you on our family group text, this is the day for me. My kids freaked out when they found out I was interviewing you. 

Jodi Benson: Oh, I’m glad it got you a couple mom points. That’s awesome. 

Julie Lyles Carr: You did. You got me a couple mom points. So Jodi, tell listeners a little bit about yourself and how you ended up going into this arena in which your voice, your presence has become so iconic, and so embedded in so many of our childhood memories. So how did, how did all that happen? Did you always have a love for music? Did you always know this is what you’re gonna do? Fill us in.

Jodi Benson: Yeah. Well, first of all, thanks so much for having me and appreciate you and your listeners giving me a little time. Yeah, you know, I kind of came outta the womb singing, according to my mom when I was like, four. And then started playing guitar at church with my sister. And so music was just a big part of our family, and I always, absolutely loved it. And so I, I guess I was about eight years old when I told my mom, you know, I kinda wanna be a, a working actress, singing, dancing, acting, making a living. Don’t wanna be rich, don’t wanna be famous, but just wanna pay my bills. And so I don’t know where I got that idea at eight, but I’d never seen a Broadway show. And, but I was like, yeah, I kind of wanna just see what that’s all about. So I did, I just kind of jumped in and went to college, had a scholarship, started training, left in the middle of my sophomore year professionally to start working. And it was Broadway, you know, Broadway shows, musicals, tours, all that good stuff. And so I was doing a Broadway show with Howard Ashman and Marvin Hamlish. And they wrote a song for me called, Disneyland in my leading lady role, my young character that I played, Doria Hudson. And Marvin you know, wrote this amazing song and Howard did the lyrics. And at that time, Howard had already started working for the Walt Disney company creating The Little Mermaid as the lyricist and executive producer. And so all the powers that be of Disney came to see the musical, to see Howard’s work, of course. And heard me sing Disneyland, came to my dressing room, chit chat, chit chat, very sweet, very nice and lovely. And well, you know, the New York Times’ Frank Rich shut our show down and it was tragic and sad that we all lost our jobs. And Howard felt sorry for us because he felt responsible in, in some way. Which of course he wasn’t. But so he invited a handful of us girls to audition for The Little Mermaid and it was just like, having something to look forward to, something to do the next couple weeks after we lost our jobs. And so it was never a job that I was gonna get. It was, it was just an opportunity to walk in, stand behind a microphone for the first time and audition. And a year later, I got the job and I’m like, are you sure? I mean, maybe you should hire somebody else. Cause I don’t know what the heck I’m doing, that’s for sure. And yeah, just started doing Mermaid, flying back and forth while I was doing a Broadway show, we recorded in Los Angeles. But again, names were just gonna roll at the end of the movie. You’d have to get a VHS, push pause to figure out who’s who, never gonna be announced, you know, just like Walt had planned it. Voices aren’t recognizable, you just talk about the story. And, right before the movie came out, they’re like, we’re gonna send you on a press tour around the country. And like, why, you know. So everything was just this big, huge surprise. I thought it was a one and done. And you know, here I am 35 plus years later and you know, still full time cast member with the company. This is my character and I record her all the time. I sing the song every week and it’s crazy, you know, it’s just, it’s such a wild ride of which I never wanted to, thinking I would do anything like this and, you know, my passion was Broadway in theater and boom, you know, God had another plan, another avenue to treat a, a hard right. And here we are, you know, three plus decades later still chatting about it. So it’s, it’s amazing. It’s been an amazing journey. It really is. And it still is, it still is an amazing journey. I, I tell you, it’s so much fun. I love my job and love going to work and you know, traveling nonstop and it’s just a, just an incredible, incredible. 

Julie Lyles Carr: It’s so powerful to hear people entering seasons that they didn’t anticipate, or that are sort of adjacent to what they thought a certain season of their life was going to look like. And I have to ask you, it makes me think of singing in the rain. Debbie Reynolds’ character, Kathy, who is this voice behind the face, this other character. I myself do quite a bit of ghost writing. It’s a very interesting psychological space to be doing something you love, to be giving of your creativity and your artistry, and yet not always knowing that people are going to associate whatever that final message is to you, right. It’s been a very interesting journey in that way. So in that first little bit that you found out that you were getting the role of Ariel and you anticipated it was just going to live more in that disembodied voice space, that Ariel was gonna be the superstar. What was that like for you? Having been someone who’d been in a season of being on stage, right. Sort of taking this step back behind the curtain. What was that like? 

Jodi Benson: Well, I loved it because I was working with Howard again, Howard Ashman was my director pretty much for The Little Mermaid because of the relationship we had as, as my director in Smile. So Ron and John are feature animation directors for Mermaid were gracious enough to let Howard, you know, take me and kind of direct me. So I was just living my best life, trying this whole new avenue of expression, but I was still doing theater. I mean, I was acting it out fully inside the studio, which is the, the only way I knew how to approach the story. So I just, I just loved trying something completely different and, and learning and didn’t know what I was doing. And I made a million mistakes, but it was, it was really fun to have this new adventure, but I just did not think that it was gonna become such a huge part of my life. 

Julie Lyles Carr: Right, right. And now, it’s quite the moment because I can’t see Ariel without seeing your face too. It’s just all connected for me. It’s all wrapped up in there. So as you were coming through this season of being Ariel, and you are still in that season, so sometimes you know, it’s funny, Jodi, we have seasons that we talk about. We’re struggling to let go of, because they’ve been a really great season and we have seasons that we’re enduring. And then sometimes we’re handed a season that just goes longer and broader than we ever would’ve anticipated. But as that job was kind of wrapping up, cuz you’re still living it, but you also had other characters that you were doing as well. How did some of those opportunities come your way? And what was that like shifting gears from this character who had become so iconic, because as that entire franchise was relaunched for the princess line and it went so big when it came to Ariel, then you have these other things that came up. So how is that shifting between these different roles and finding voice for those characters? 

Jodi Benson: Yes, it was amazing, cuz once Mermaid came out, I was offered Thumbelina I think January, right after the film was released in November and I didn’t, they didn’t have me audition. I mean, I was like, oh my goodness, are you kidding? I was a Barry Manilow, I was a huge Barry Manilow fan growing up. And I just couldn’t believe I was working with Barry Manilow and singing and creating this character. And, oh my goodness. I had so much fun on that. And then, you know, Toy Story 2 called up about Barbie. And again, it wasn’t an audition, it’s like, we’d love you to play Barbie. I’m like, well, don’t you want me to come in and audition and try some voices? They’re like, no, mm-hmm no, we know you can figure it out. And Barbie’s inside there somewhere and we’ll figure her out together. So I went to work the first day and we played with a box of Barbies. I started talking and we came up with what they felt like, you know, sounded real and authentic as it was the first time you know, Barbie for Mattel was ever gonna have a voice. So it was a really big deal. And although I had done the workout video in the late eighties, early nineties, which Mattel had forgotten that that was my voice. So I actually did give Barbie her first voice before Toy Story. Which was kind of a funny time in the studios. You know, there, all this, all the characters are very unique and different. They’re very fulfilling, they’re lots and lots of fun to do. And they’re easy for me to keep them all separate. So, you know, I very rarely am I working on more than one character in a day in the studio, so that’s easy. I can kind of focus on one thing at a time. So, yeah, so it just was a, a really, really fun season. Things just started happening very, very quickly that year. And all because of, you know, the success of Mermaid and the second golden age of animation. And so animation just kind of took off after that, after our film was released and really changed the face of animation forever.

Julie Lyles Carr: Right. Absolutely. Did you ever have times in that season that you began to wonder, okay, is this wrapping up and now I’ve like fully stepped into this role? That what comes after this? Like what goes on the resume? Did you have a season that, did you have a period in that season that you wondered, okay, I hope this is gonna lead to something else or the next thing, or I hope there is a next thing?

Jodi Benson: Yeah. Yeah. Well, because I kept my theater life just kind of going consistently, simultaneously with voiceover. I could do both at the same time. So, I was doing a Broadway show called, Crazy For You during the night, and eight shows a week. And then I was recording during the day on the television series for Mermaid. So it could really work hand in hand quite nicely together. So it, it didn’t feel like one was ending and one was starting. I just kind of blended it all together. And as far as, like Mermaid again, I never expected anything past the release of the film. So all these years have all just been a lovely gift on top of gift. I mean, it’s just more and more icing on top of a cake that I was fully satisfied and, and content with back in 1989. So the work that comes weekly is just always a blessing and it’s always a lovely surprise and I’m grateful for it. You know, as long as I’m healthy and, and can recreate my voice originally, just like the film and sing the song, just like the film and do the lines, just like the film I have my job. You know I can’t really age out of it, I don’t think. And we do have some people in our division at Disney Character Voices who are, who are older than I am. Although I’m, you know, the oldest, well, no, I guess not chronologically, Paige is a few years older than me as the voice of Belle. But my character’s been around the, one of the longest, as far as our character voice department. Cuz like our Mickey right now, Brett I, I, I think he started about 10 or 12 years ago. No, maybe Goofy. Yeah, actually Goofy. And I, Bill Farmer and I, we’ve been around probably about 35 years. So we’re the Matriarch and the Patriarch of the Disney Character Voice Department, I think. But again, you know, as long as I can continue to, to recreate the voice and I, I have my job, which is, which is fabulous. But you know what, it’s been a great ride. So if for some reason it’s like, Hey, you know, we need to freshen things up a bit. I, I would be like, well, you know what I’ve gotten an extra 30 plus years out of something I, I never anticipated. So, you know, I’m grateful and, and very, very thankful. 

Julie Lyles Carr: That is so incredible, and I’m in great hopes that you continue on for a long, long time in part in what you’re doing. So tell me about your faith journey through all of this, because you mentioned that you started out in your, in your music, playing at church and things like that. How has all of this worked together because Jodi, we’ve had several people on the show that they’ve had to make really tough choices when it’s come to how they’re walking out their faith in the public lot, in the public eye. Sometimes those are choices other people disagree with. Sometimes there are lots of opinions and all kinds of things. What has your journey of faith been like through all of this?

Jodi Benson: Yeah, that’s a great question. You know, I, I really had a faith when I was probably six, seven or eight years old. Really, I kind of on my own, I, I grew up in a, a Catholic family, went, went to church, did mass, did the sacraments. And they, they all had a lot of wonderful meaning for me. And probably in middle school is when I started to have a real kind of one-on-one relationship with Jesus where I felt like I could really talk to him, and he could hear me and I started to kind of get this relationship going. It was, it was different and unique and kind of shocking, I think to my family and to the priest, you know, when I’d say like, why do I have to go to the confessional box? Because I’m good to just talk to Jesus, I kind of tell him everything anyways. And well, no you know, you ask too many questions. You just need to keep coming to the little box, the confessional box. I was like, oh, okay. And say three Hail Marys and two Our Fathers. But even then I was kinda like, Hmm, you know, I just feel like there’s a little bit something more. And so I was always very inquisitive about it. And then when I met my husband, when I was 18, he was 21 and he had that personal relationship, and he was kind of like talking to me about it. I was like, yeah, that’s kind of what I was feeling when I was growing up. So I think it was about 19 when I kind of had like a, a conversion experience, which was really quite powerful and, and, and really, you know, I don’t know, like a real core memory for me. And so ever since then, it’s kind of like you get Jodi as a package and, and with Jodi, you get the good, the bad, the ugly, the messy, the great, you know, wonderful and positive and negative. It’s just a big mixed bag. And in that is my faith foundation. So, you know, I never wanted to write a book, obviously never wanna write a book in a million years. And Tyndale after, time after time after time saying, just, just jot down these stories, please, please make it a letter, make it a, make it a love letter. Make it a thank you letter. Shine the light on others, don’t make it about you. Make it just, you know, focus on Howard and Disney and all these wonderful people. And I kind of finally said, okay, I’m gonna jump in, but I, whew. This is way outta my comfort zone. I really, really don’t wanna do this. But I don’t know, I just kind of felt like I wasn’t ever gonna write a Christian book. I was like, no, that’s not a Christian book. Even though Tyndale is a Christian publishing company. I said, I really just kind of wanna share some stories and you get what you get. And I’d like any person to be able to pick up this little book and feel included and not feel excluded. And I didn’t want anybody to pick up the book and feel hurt. Those were two really important things to me. So, if there is faith, if there is something about God, if there is something about Jesus, this book was not written with pen and paper. This is me talking into a microphone telling stories, and then it’s transcribed. So it’s like, I’m kind of like talking to you, you know, it’s that sort of conversational, make a lot of mistakes, repeat the same four or five favorite words that have all the time over and over again. So it’s not like it’s not a perfect book and it’s not an autobiography. It’s not a memoir, it’s not really a book about me. It was really meant to be snippets of people along the journey that I wanted to say, thank you to, and in that you are gonna get a mixture of faith just because that’s who I am. And it’s, it’s just never intentional. It’s not meant to evangelize, it’s not meant to you know, make people make a decision or, or anything. If my, my hope was, and again, you know, it’s been hard for me to get on board with being excited about this because it is so far out of my comfort zone, and something that was very scary for me to do. But at, I’ve done it now and I feel like was obedient to do it. But I think my hope is that if one person picks up the book and reads one little story and it makes them feel either encouraged, it makes them question and think like, hmm, that’s interesting, I’d like to know more about that. Or three, you can see the many, many mistakes I made, and you might stop and say, I done, I’m not gonna make the same mistakes she did. I think I’m gonna try something different. Then if one person thinks of one of those three things in a story, it will have been worth it to me, you know, to go through the painstaking process of recalling my life, which was really hard for me. I homeschooled, my husband and I homeschooled our kids for 17 years, and I have no brain cells left. And so I don’t remember anything, what I called BC before children. So I don’t remember anything before 1999 when our son was born, honestly, I don’t. And so it was painful, truly painful for me to try to get my little brain to think back 50 plus years, it was hard. It was so hard and painful. And some of those memories are great, some of them are not so great. So it was definitely a journey. But what I am happy about is the, the thing that does make me feel, probably not happy as the word, probably more like content or peaceful is that I did the hard thing while I was scared. And I don’t think I’ve done that for a long time in my life. I think it’s been a while since I’ve been, then I, since I have done something scared, I can’t, I really, it’s hard for me to remember. And this is, this is the time I did that. I did this project feeling afraid, but I did it while I was scared and not feeling brave or feeling comfortable. I did something while I was feeling uncomfortable. And I think there’s a lot of growth in that for me. So that’s a, been a big lesson that I’ve learned from this project. 

Julie Lyles Carr: Absolutely. I, you know, I like doing things from a place where I feel a little more comfortable, Jodi. I really do, but wow. Some of the bigger moments of my life have been the things that I’ve done scared and, I, sometimes I spend a lot of energy trying to focus on quelling the scared, instead of just doing the thing. So I love hearing someone else go, you know, it was powerful to just do it. 

Jodi Benson: Well, yeah, it, it it’s kind of like just jumping off, you know, it’s kinda like jumping off. It’s kinda like getting, you know, I, I went down to Florida to open the new our new rollercoaster at old Disney World, Cosmic Rewind at Epcott and I didn’t wanna know anything about it, so I didn’t watch any videos and I didn’t want anybody to tell me about it. And I love roller coasters. Love all kinds of roller coasters, but I remember strapping in and going, hmm. I really have no idea what these next three and a half minutes, cuz it is like one of the longest roller coasters that Disney has. Maybe it’s even four minutes. I, I don’t remember, but, huh? I I’m actually scared. Wow. Okay. This is great. Like I knew what it felt like to be scared, I was strapped in, and I was like, okay, I have two choices. I can panic and scream or I can put a smile on myself, on my face and breathe. Breathing is always a good thing. You know, holding your breath is not a good thing. Breathing is a good thing. So I, I really had that moment and I thought, this is what it feels like to knowingly walk into something scared and still do it, and then come off and go, wow, that was scary and fun. But I did it, I did it. I’m kind, I’m kind of proud of myself, you know. That’s a little bit how I feel, like the book, like the book’s coming out September 13th, and my team is like, are you so excited? Are you so? I’m like, no, I’m frightened. I’m scared, but it’s really not about my feelings. I did what I was supposed to do, and my job is done. Now, it’s just gonna be that one person that picks it up and then it’s worth it. It’s worth it to me. And whether it sells or not, honestly, I, I don’t care. And I don’t mean that in a disrespectful way to the publisher, because obviously they care and I want to help them in every way I can, do their job as publishers, but my responsibility is done. I did, I did the hard thing. I did the hard thing and, and now I just let it go. It’s like, I don’t have to worry about it. You know, like, will you do press and publicity and junks and interviews and book signs. Sure. I’ll do all that stuff for you. Happy to do it. Do I need to do it for me? No. No, I don’t, but I’ll do it for you guys and, cuz you’re all wonderful. And I love my team and they’re so sweet. I’m sure they shake their heads like, gosh, we sure wish you were excited. But I think they know now, you know, like I’m, like just don’t expect me to be a cheerleader. I’m gonna be brutally honest at every one of these interviews and you may not wanna listen, so don’t tune in, in. Because the first thing I said, every interview is, you know, I never wanted to write a book in a million years and you know, and they all go really, really? I said, yeah, it’s on the first page of the book. I added that author’s note, that was added. I just woke up in the middle of the night and I was like, you know what, God, I gotta be brutally honest with these readers. I do not wanna pull the wool over anybody’s eyes. I don’t want to pretend, and I don’t wanna be fake. So I got up and I wrote, I just wrote it. I just wrote an apology; I wrote down I never wanted to in a million nerves ever. And I said, I have BC brain. And if I forgot things incorrectly and I’ve told your story wrong, please forgive me. Please gimme grace. And hey, I hope one person’s encouraged. And I got up that morning and I sent it to the team, and I said, where do you, where can we put this in the book? Yeah, this needs to live somewhere. I put it. I said, this has to show up. I really should be the first thing the person reads. And they were like, ah, Ooh, ah, eeee that’s pretty harsh, that’s pretty strong, that’s pretty… I said, yeah, it is. But you know what? It’s honest. And I certainly don’t want somebody to open up a book under false pretense. You know? Like I just, oh, that would be, that would be horrible for me. So I said, this way they can open it up, read the first three sentences and go, I’m not buying this book. She never wanted to write it. And you know what? That’s totally fine. Like, I want them to save their money. You know what I mean? Like, I don’t want them to read it. So I, I just, I just like, I’m just gonna be honest and I can’t believe that the team, oh, man, we kind of went back and forth and they’re like, well, can we, can we soften it a bit? Can we put maybe not ever, ever? I’m like, oh no. In all caps, I mean like ever! 

Julie Lyles Carr: We need to like own it and own it big, you know? And it’s so funny, Jodi, because yeah, I, now I, on the other side always wanted to write a book and the day my first book came out, I was terrified. So I’m just saying that no matter where you’ve lived in that scale, it is scary. It is scary to put your words and your, and your ideas and your heart out there. And so I, even though I come from a different place, I completely resonate with the scared of it because it is very scary. It is a roller coaster ride. And I, similarly we homeschooled all of our crew. I’m telling you, Jodi, I have to go way back in the photo albums and re-watch home videos and all kinds of things. And I’m like, oh yeah, we did do that and go there and say that. I actually wore, wow. That’s an unfortunate outfit that I don’t remember. So it is pretty amazing what begins to pop up when you go back into the archives. 

Jodi Benson: So, yeah, I was just telling my friend the other day, I said, she had on a pair of shorts, and I looked at her and I said, I can’t remember the last time I saw a pair of shorts, I think it was in 1991. And I just like this, blurted out, like, I think that’s the last time I’ve worn shorts. That was like going like, that was a whole different person back then. 

Julie Lyles Carr: Yeah. It’s just a whole different, whole different thing. Well, I love in the book, it’s called, Part of My World; What I Learned From The Little Mermaid About Love, Faith and Finding My Voice. Now I gotta tell you, I geeked out on the finding my voice part because of course in the story of Ariel, she thinks she has voice, she gives it away to Ursula that, her, who is, you know, her nemesis in this story. And then she regains her voice at the end of the film. I’m really curious to hear you unpacking your world since you have been voice-forward for so long. I think there are a lot of people who would say, Jodi’s always had her voice, she, she’s been able to, to live in those voices for a long time. But what does it mean to you to say, finding your voice?

Jodi Benson: You know, I think I, I learned such a big lesson from Howard Ashman in the studio and I, and I share that in the book, in the little book of, of what it does it mean to let go of perfectionism. What does it mean to just be real and authentic and vulnerable? Without a performance-based acceptance, which is what I grew up on. And then, you know, you can have somebody like me who can stand in front of 18,000 people and sing at the Hollywood bowl, who would much prefer to be behind the scenes. I would much prefer to be the cheerleader. I would much prefer to be the team mom standing in the back corner, ready with the drinks and juice and cut up apple slices then be the person. everyone’s eyes are upon. But it’s like, it’s like having, it’s not like having two different personalities, it’s just a different part of who I am. And that part of who I am in front of a large group, I feel like I’ve been able to find that person. I know this can sound, might sound strange, but it’s kind of like instead of 10 different kinds of Jodi’s, I want to just be one Jodi with different facets, and be the same one that stands on stage in front of 20,000 people. The same one that, that drives the soccer van with all the kids in the back. I wanna be the same one that goes to church. I wanna be the same one at home with my family. I wanna be the same one sitting with my girlfriend, crying with her when you know, her child gets a, a, a cancer diagnosis. I want to be the same Jodi in all those different areas rather than 10 different versions of myself. And so I think I have found my voice in being one person, one person the same, no matter where I am, and no matter whose eyes are upon me, even if it’s just me and Jesus. So like earlier today I was having a conversation with Jesus in between appointments. And I had gotten some upsetting news. And so I was on my knees with my face down on the carpet just, just letting him have it literally. I mean, just kind of, I was by, I’m by myself today, my husband was gone, kids are gone. And so by myself, I’m just using a very loud voice, Jesus? Where are you? What’s going on? Let me see what you see. I don’t see this. I don’t get it. I don’t understand. But I’m just gonna say your name out loud. I’m gonna shout it to the rooftops, and I’m just gonna let you know I’m really struggling with this, and, and thanks for listening, you know? And I’m just like on my face, shouting loudly, and I’m like, and I love you and thanks so much for listening. And then I put my mic back on and got my equipment back on and went into my next interview. So I was just like, I wanna be, I wanna be one person. So when I feel like I have found my voice and some of that has come with age, obviously, definitely has come with age, I just don’t care. I know that sounds horrible, but I truly don’t care what anybody thinks anymore. I don’t really care about pleasing everybody, making everybody happy. I’m gonna do my work to the utmost. I’m gonna do everything with excellence. I’m gonna do my best. I’m gonna try to love and serve others super well today. Whoever comes along my way at the grocery store, at the car wash wherever. I, I I’m gonna try to be consistent, but again, I just wanna be like that one person. And that was a big part of finding my voice, finding not Jodi, the performance-based pleaser: say what you need me to say, and then turn around to the next person and be who they need me to be. And then the next day I’ve gotta be the Jodi that they want me to be. It was exhausting. And honestly, it was so frustrating and kept me kind of spinning in circles for decades, I think. 

Julie Lyles Carr: That is so profound. And I feel myself having multiple, multiplicities of voices about what I think people expect from me in different arenas. And I tell you, I see a whole generation of young women who have been raised within the realms of social media and all of this broadcast, if you will, even if you are a stay-at-home mom making your Target runs, we still are all now broadcasting and performing all the time. And the confusion, the difficulty, the heartache that can come when you’re carrying too many voices, there’s not a unified you. I just think that is incredibly profound. Well, Jodi, I can’t thank you enough for your time. I’m so excited about the new book and I hope that readers will go and check it out. And where can listeners interact with you, where can they find you? 

Jodi Benson: You know what I do social media for work, I’m not a huge social media fan for mental health, I think for a lot of, lot of reasons, but I do use it for work and, and, and that’s all good. So I’m on Instagram. I think it’s @jodi.benson. I do Facebook, I don’t look at Facebook, but I have to post on Facebook. And then my daughter-in-love runs a TikTok thing for work. I don’t look at that though. But the Instagram is, is a place where I do try to go through messages. I do. I really do try to to, to read through everything people are so lovely. So, yeah. And then it’s just I think for the book it’s called part of my, yeah, what’s the book called? Okay, partofmyworldbook.com 

Julie Lyles Carr: Well, Jodi can’t thank you enough for being on. I just want you to know that you and I, when we sing the duet of, Let Me Be Your Wings from Thumbelina, we kill it. We really kill it. We’re so, oh, we kill it. Good. You just awesome. Yeah. Yeah. So I’m continue you doing that with you and I just hope you feel the love every time I crank up my echo and sing my lines out with Jodi Benson. 

Jodi Benson: Come on, come on. Let’s go fly together, Julie. Let’s fly together, girl. Absolutely. I love that! Well, it’s been lovely chatting with you, sweetie. Thank you so much. 

Julie Lyles Carr: So good to be with you. Can’t thank you enough. All the best. Thanks. God bless. Bye bye.