Call Her Daddy - Ayesha Curry: Marriage, Motherhood & My Identity

Episode Date: August 20, 2025

Join Alex in the studio for an interview with Ayesha Curry. Ayesha opens up about navigating her early 20’s, how becoming a mother impacted her identity, and how to adapt when your timeline changes. She also discusses her relationship with Steph, how she’s handled public scrutiny, and finding her passion as a business owner. Enjoy!

What is up, Daddy Gang? It is your founding father, Alex Cooper, with Call Her Daddy. Aisha Curry, welcome to Call her Daddy. Thank you for having me. I am so excited to meet you. How are you doing today? I'm hanging in there right now. I'm really nervous to be here. Wait, why? I'm so excited. Oh my God, Aisha. Yeah, so I'm just grateful. I'm excited. Hoping I don't get in trouble for the things that I say. I feel like we're going to have good girl talk. I'm not going to put, you're not in the hot seat. Yeah, I know. I know. Is it good that I'm catching you in the off season or okay, good. It's great. So you're more chill during the off season. Super chill. Yeah. I mean, it's still chaotic. It's always chaotic, but we're like learning to live in that. What do you guys

usually do during this time of year? Are you traveling? Are you staying at home? Well, right now, because it's July it's always the most chaotic of the year actually of the whole calendar year because three of our kids' birthdays are in July our anniversaries

at the end of July and it's like if you do if you play well like for my husband if you play well you play until June and he usually plays well he usually plays well

this year we had a little bit more time which was nice but usually it's just two months and that's it Okay, four kids. Did you always knew you wanted a big family? No. So I didn't want kids. I didn't want to get married. I thought I was going to be career girl and that's it. And I had my eyes set on my goals. And I was never the little girl that like dreamt about the wedding dress and all of that. And then it happened so early in my life. So it. It's one of those things. Like you don't, you don't know what you. You actually don't know what you want.

Well, it's so interesting you say that because I want to talk a lot about that today because I relate to you in that way. Like, I really, really never thought I was going to get married. I'm like, there is actually no way that's ever going to happen. And then it happens and you're like, maybe I didn't know myself that well. And it's like, no, you knew yourself when you were young. And then life happens. And then you grow up.

And then you have different wants and needs. And that's okay to change your mind. Yes. But it's still shocking. It's still shocking. Okay, wait, quickly back to parenting. I'm going to ask you a couple of random, like, parenting manual questions. Okay.

What is the time one of your kids embarrassed you in public? My daughter, Ryan, we were in a very public place. I'm trying to remember where I'm blanking because I think this just, like, overshadowed the whole thing. But she yelled out, like, mommy, do you have weaves? Is that a weaves? Like with an ass. Do you have weaves in your hair? I don't like

Yes I know crying You're like Ryan Thank you so much Mommy loves you Kids will humble you Every fucking day Okay what's a bribe

You used recently To get your kids to do something Oh I paid my daughter My 13 year old Riley And my niece Eva I paid them $20 To clean up the kitchen In the living room

Back in my day, I wouldn't have had that opportunity. I would have just had to do it. Okay, what is the weirdest thing you found in your kid's backpack or pocket? I just found, okay, I found my nipple covers in my son's pocket. He must have found my purse or out the counter. And he's like, you can always tell like what he's like. And then he walked in and he goes, mommy. Do you know what's under here? And I had forgotten that fast that he had put them in his pocket. He's like, do you know what's under here?

And I'm like, no. Cannon, what are you doing? And he goes, I said, take them off. And he's just like smiling ear to ear. He thinks it's hysterical. Oh, my God. That is actually, though, hysterical. You're going to leave the room.

He's like, this is not happening. You don't want to laugh too hard because then they'll just keep doing it. He was like, Steph is like, I am leaving. You're like mortified. It's so bad. Okay, can we talk about? So you graduated high school early. Yeah.

To move to L.A. to start your acting career. Yeah. Tell me about like, coming out to LA, what early ambitions did you have for yourself? And like, what did you want? It's interesting because I don't ever, I think, get the opportunity to kind of talk about my life before my life now. And so, yeah, I graduated high school a year early at the time was living in North Carolina. And I had been in the industry since I was three years old. I was always working. I commercial print like doing TV stuff always so other kids were at like soccer

doing the extra curriculars and I was on a set working and so it was second nature for me and quite honestly growing up the only thing that I thought I could do and so I would enter all of these competitions I entered this one in North Carolina and they were like hey move to LA and I grew up I think it's really important to preface I grew up in like these most strict environment like didn't get to go to high school football games didn't get to really hang out with my friends damn sure I couldn't like walk around the mall by myself but when these people were like hey you want to move to LA they were like yeah go your parents really have fun honey you're Like, go. Like, you're going to do it. And I appreciate it because that means they believed in me so much. But at the same time, our entire family was like, this is crazy. Like, you can't even carpool. Okay, wait. You starting at three, did, was it because like your mom just saw something in you? Like, we, we, the story is, because obviously I have no recollection, we were in a grocery store and a talent agent said, oh, she should be in commercials. And so it's.

started from there and then kept going and when you started working that young and then kind of became aware of it like did you love it like I loved it I loved it I loved it eat sleep breathe okay so you come from the strict family then you get on a plane after graduating high school early so you're what 17 yeah I was 17 my dad set me up for like a month I got an apartment expensive. So I was shocked, had to pick up three jobs. I worked at a frozen yogurt shop. I worked at Abercrombie and Fitch. Farmer's market on the weekends. So like just to be able to make that happen. And I feel like when you have the dream of L.A. and acting or modeling or getting into this industry, like naturally rejection comes with that. Oh, God.

When you came out to L.A., what was your self-confidence like before you started, like, really getting maybe some nose? I think because I came from the small town, I was like, oh, I got this. And then I got out. I got out here. I remember the first couple of, like, cattle call auditions being like, every single person in here looks exactly like me. like there's these are like we're carbon copies of each other like what's going to set you apart and so I think early on I was like wow I've got to diversify my portfolio a little bit because in North Carolina you're like there's like three of us in theater that are crushing

and then you get out of L.A and they're like bitch this is your first audition like this is my 900th like get in the back of the line you're like I'm walking in and I'm like hello and they're all like, why is this girl talking to us? Okay, but like Ayesha, you have like a huge flex. I found out that you were on an episode of Hannah Montana. Yeah. Girl. That was my favorite show growing up. So you know what? I would put that. If I was you, I would put that on my resume. I would put that as my Instagram. It should be the Instagram bio. I was on Hannah Montana, you fuckers. Actually, I have a good story. I have a good story about that. Hopefully you find this. funny. Okay, okay. I'm dead. The one little episode. I was so excited. I remember colleagues. I was like, I got it. I got it. He was so excited for me. I remember going to set and there was this lovely girl who was

like in some of the scenes with me and Billy Ray walks up. And he's like, we're like, oh, hello, sir. Like so nice to meet you. And he's like, you know you guys. It was actually so sweet. He was like, you know you guys can really do this you can really do this and we're just looking at him like do what and he's like Miley puts her pants on the same way you do every day and but it's stuck with me it's kind of true you're like I could be him on Tama he's right he's right you know you're literally like where are you talking about sir then you're like oh you're talking big picture here I got it this is like a little metaphor I see where you're going with this billy right so during that time you and Steph were already dating

with the Hannah Montana. We were dating, yeah. Let's go back. Let's talk about how you met Mr. Seth Curry. You met him in high school? Yeah, so I'm Canadian. Okay. So I grew up in Marca, Monterio, and I moved to the States at 14 to North Carolina,

and that's actually where we met. He's one of the first people that I met in the States, but just friends, obviously, we were 14. Right, right. went to the same church, shared the same friend groups at church. And then when I moved to L.A., he Facebooked me. Did he write on your wall or it was like a private message? No, it was a private message.

But he was like, hey, do you still live in L.A.? That's a lie. The first message was I was in this music video and he was like, hey, who is that in the music video, in the picture that you're in? And I'm like, oh, it's Youngberg. And he goes, oh, I should have known. He always has all the sexy ladies. And I was like, what is happening right now? You're like, Steph, I know.

You're 14. I was 14. What are you trying to do right now? So at this time now we're 19. Okay. 18, 19. And so he goes, do you still live in L.A.? I'm here for a camp.

Do you want to hang out? And I'm like freaking out because this guy, he was like, the guy at church like all the girls loved him i thought you were to say like in high school like on the court you're like at church he was the guy at church was he the basketball guy in high school or no apparently he was but i i did i genuinely didn't pay attention to that because i grew up in such an arts driven family that sports outside of like dug flutie playing for the buffalo bills like it just wasn't a thing in my in my house and so um he said so we've made plans to hang out and then i said where are you staying and he said

anaheim and i was like you're like so you're coming to me because i'm not at this way i still have the other jobs like trying to pay the rent gas is expensive so i was like i'm sorry i can't this time but if you're ever back let me know and we'll go hang out and he's like oh i'm back in two weeks and I'm like oh my god you still in Anaheim and so no this time he was in hollywood so he stuck with it he hit me up two weeks later we hung out and we've literally been together since that day okay hold on you go and you hang out with him what is your headspace are you seeing him in like a could this be something kind of way or are you like no no I was and this is like my first real date

So I was just nervous. I was nervous. It was like years of having a crush. And then years, like, I just never thought that he would like someone like me. I just didn't think it was going to be a thing. I thought we would be friends. Yeah. Did you ever have anything in high school at all or it was legit just friends?

No, just friends. Just friends. Yeah. I get what you're saying of like you never saw him as something. But I'm like, when you look back, is there any memory that you're like, maybe there was something or no? No, never. I had a friend over who had a crush on his brother at the time. And she decided to call him.

And they were giggling. And then they put, we're maybe like 15 at this time. And they put Stefan on the phone. And somebody said something about Canada. And so I was like, oh, I'm Canadian. And he's like, oh, do you like Canadian candy? and I'm like I love Canadian candy And so my aunt was coming into town

From Canada and so she brought some for me And so I was like oh I'll bring you a bag to church The next time we're at church So I bring it was meant to me I bring the bag and I literally Everybody's watching I hand it to him and I don't say anything to him I just like shove it and walk away

Like that's how shy Are you shy? I was And did you like him at all? Like in your heart? You're like, oh, I wish I could. Yeah, it just wasn't. It was high school.

I thought he was so cute. Okay, so fast forward. You go on this first date. Yeah. What are the vibes? It was one of the best days in my life. Honestly, it was so innocent and young. And like, I wish I could relive that or at least watch it from like a bird's eye view.

It was so cute. We did Hollywood Boulevard, put our hands in the Maryland hands, and like got chai-lates. We went over to the Grove and walked around and they were filming some Eddie Murphy movie that we, like, I don't think it ever ended up coming out. And just had checking cop cars to see if they had donuts. Like, just like real young love.

I don't know. I remember it like it was yesterday. I feel like when you have. have one of those first dates though like I feel that way about my husband I always say that to him like oh my god what I would give to relive that night or at least I say the same thing just watch it like I wish I could just yeah because it's so romantic and cute to know then what comes from that story so that's really cute because it is so innocent you would no idea what it was going to lead to and nobody could predict like what the future no held holds did you guys kiss first date no

Did he try? No, he tried. So shortly after that, I got a really bad bout of laryngitis. Stop. This is so random. And my throat was so swollen. It was like, and I panicked. And I was like, mom, dad, I want to come home.

And so I went home and he was like, I'm home. And so. You're laid up with laryngitis. So I got a little bit better. And then we like continued dating from there, obviously. and like I want to say it was maybe like the fourth day he came like I was mid-sentence and he like came flying at my face and I I turned to the side I'm still nervous at this point like I you it's like butterflies and he's like oh oh and I just look at it and I'm like I didn't know that's what we were doing like I didn't know you liked me like that and he was like he was like yeah I've just been coming over to your house for the past two weeks to play video games or they're your brothers. Try again. Try again.

One more time. Wait. And so did he try again? Yes. Oh, you did. Okay. So you did. Okay, cute, cute. I'm like, this poor man gets rejected. No, no. It was fine. It was like a split second. But it's cute too because like in that moment, you're still the girl with the candy, like handing it to him and running away. And meanwhile, he's like, I like you. Can you sit there and like accept it for a second? That's really, really cute. Okay. So when you're living in L.A., you guys reconnect. He didn't live in L.A. at the time, right?

No. So this is like a light long distance situation. It's a light long distance. Yeah. He still had a year of college left. So it was pretty long distance. When you were in that beginning stage, did you have interest in a long distance? Like how did you think this was even going to work? Ironically, I don't even think I was thinking of how it could work. We were just going through the motions really. And it seemed like the people around us too, like our families. were into it and so they were like a really good support system through it i don't know it sucked now that i'm thinking about it um i remember i drove back to la um after he started his junior year of college and the season had started for him but i had to go back for something i don't remember what it was for and at the time you could get like his college games on the radio and so I'm and it was a big game and so I'm like listening sobbing like I'm not there to support you're literally driving home like the classic girl like out the window like so sad you're like fuck my life oh my god but then it obviously ended up working out tell me about the moment

that he gets drafted to the golden state warriors because now he's coming full-time west coast yeah yeah so he had like a big decision to make because he had a year last he had a senior year left. So it was like, do I stay? Do I go? And like, I think what a lot of people don't know is he really, like, he really thought about it. Like, it was like a torment for him. He called me like crying behind a tree. Like, I don't know what to do. And I, and I'll stand like 10 toes down on this. Like, I don't, it's not a secret. I was like, stay in school. Wait, and why? Because then he was going to be far away from you still. Why? So the why is, is I didn't grow up surrounded by people who went to college.

That for me was like, wow, what a blessing. Like you get to go to college. You get to have an education. Like, why would you leave? So, and then not coming from that sports background and understanding how, like, rare the opportunity he had was, I was like, yeah, stay at school. You're like, college is so much cooler than the NBA. But I'm glad.

Wait. That was really the sentiment. Kind of love that for you. But I'm glad I'm glad he decided to leave and then he ended up finishing anyway and has gone on to do tremendous incredible cool shit that we never thought would happen. So it's great. So he comes to the West Coast and at this point when he gets drafted like are you guys like official boyfriend girlfriend? Oh yeah. Who said I love you first?

Me. Take me. Tell me everything. I 100% said I love you first. I was visiting him at school and getting ready to leave to go back to my mom's house. And I said it. And he didn't say it back. And he just stared at me. And my eyes started to well up. And he was like, can I please explain? And I'm like, okay. And he's, oh, wait, not okay. I immediately now know what you're like in those moments. You literally go stone cold. He's like, okay. Mm-hmm. Let me know.

He's like, I said, he's like, I said I love you to somebody in the past and I didn't mean it. He's like, and I regret it. And he's like, I just want to be sure that when I say it again, you know that it's, that I mean it. And in the moment, I was like, bullshit. But now, obviously, I realize he was serious. And a few, like, a month later, we're sitting watching seven pounds. And when they say, like, the human heart, seven pounds, he literally, my whole family's in the room, by the way, sitting watching this movie. He leans over in my ear and he's like, I love you.

And I'm like happy, but I'm also like, what are you doing? Sitting next to my uncle. What are we doing? No, not step in that moment thinking like, this is going to be so romantic and you're really like, I mean, if he's going to do one thing, he's going to make it memorable. So then you did you just not talk the rest of the fucking movie? I had to get up and take a lap. Yeah. Did he follow you?

No. And then after the movie was over, we like went in my uncle's elevator and we're like making it out in there. It was great. That's what needed to happen. I'm picturing him whispering that to you and you just like stone called me like you're like Uncle Jerry just close your ears what I do have an Uncle Jerry it wasn't Uncle Jerry which uncle was it my Uncle Carl Uncle Carl yes Jerry and Carl good names for uncles right okay classic you end up moving to the Bay area yes talk to me about for you what went into

that decision it was exciting I think initially, when they called his name, we were like kicking each other under the table because nobody really knew where that was. But then the next morning, we got on the plane to fly out to the bay and have never looked back. And the vibes in the bay are high. Yes. It's so good. Everybody's so creative. The culture is like rich. Pausing on you as a couple. Now, let's talk about you as an individual though, because you had this dream. And did you feel like in moving with him, did you feel like you had to pick between your career and your relationship at that point? Yes. To an extent that was never presented in front of me that way. It just kind of had to be that way. And because. Because when we, after we got married, we found out we were pregnant with our daughters so quickly. It, I didn't even have time to think about what I wanted anymore. It's so interesting.

I spent my entire life, like trying to work towards something. And then it kind of just disappeared. And I didn't think twice about it. But after my daughter turned one, I remember there being a shift. And being like, I have goals for myself. Like, this doesn't feel right. I love being a mom, but I love doing other things too. And I need to get my shit together and figure out what that looks like for myself now.

Okay. Rewind two steps. Yeah. Married at 22. Yeah. How did you know you were ready for that? I didn't. I just knew that I loved him.

and I'd never, like, experienced anything else. I'd never felt any differently than, like, this is who I want to spend the rest of my life with. And so we kind of just dove in. Did anyone or any, you or Steph or anyone have any hesitations about, like, oh, we're getting married in our early 20s or no? No. And I say this all the time to our family. I'm like, you guys, like, 20. I'm like you guys I'm like not one not a single parent nobody was like hey guys um are you sure

everybody was like no this is what's happening and we love you and we love you and it's going to be great it's just like wow like when I really look at it well and again because there are so many people that may watch this that are like oh 22 for them whether it's because like they watch their parents get married young or whatever it was normal but you in the beginning of this you started by being like, girl, I didn't even think I wanted to get married. Yes, exactly. So it is a big deal that at 22 it was it's a mixture of that and a mixture of like there are levels to 22. Like there's different styles of 22 year olds. But I was like the naive like very young, unpolished 22 year old. Like I didn't have very much life experience. And so it's just interesting.

it is but it's again I think like why I'm excited to talk to you is because as women there's just like so many things that happen in our life that we want to plan for and then obviously life just doesn't go as planned and to hear you at a young age getting married I think like and knowing it was such a success but it doesn't mean the whole ride was easy like that's what I'm excited to get into yeah so what like a few months after getting married you just said you get remun Okay, what was going through your head when you found out that news? I was confused because my obese had expected to take up to a year. And so I'm like, oh, in my head, I heard at least a year. I was thinking we were going to be like bar hopping. It's like, nope, you're pregnant and you're going to be very, very sick. But I'm so grateful. I wouldn't change a thing.

course but um yeah it was not on my bingo card and when all this went down like i guess now looking back what advice would you give to someone listening who of like how to embrace when your timeline suddenly changes oh there's no such thing as a timeline i think is the bottom line things are going to shift like life is ebbs and flows and you just kind of have to roll with the punches sometimes stuff's going to suck like but you can always recover and I think it's important also like sometimes you can feel like you're in your own bubble or like feel isolated or like you're the only person experiencing that thing but there's always like a resource or there's always a community of people who are experiencing similar things.

Did you have like any friends who were in similar life stages to you at that point? No. They're like, babe, we're at One Oak. No. What are you doing? No. Actually, all of our friends are like just now having babies, like the past four or five years. So we were the trailblazers.

What was the hardest part of being a young mom? I think my identity. So because I have such an entrepreneurial spirit, not being able to call the shots all the time for myself was freaking weird. And then learning how to kind of reset myself to make it all work while still having a family was weird too. But it's made me really resilient and like a little gritty. So I'm grateful for it. Yeah, like even thinking about how you said earlier, like once my daughter turned about one, I was kind of looking around like, I love being a mom. Yeah. But I also have this other side of me that I can feel kind of wanting to come back up. And I think a lot of times women can experience like, or so I've read, because I'm obviously not a mother yet, hopefully. But like women can experience this like mom guilt of like if I have a and I'm not home, like, did you experience that?

I still experience that. I still experience that. I'm almost, like, I'm always in therapy talking about this. What I realized is, like, if you lose, if you lose, like, for me being married and, like, with my husband, if you lose all of those things that were interesting about you, even for yourself like even the things that made me feel confident and cool then what like what are you doing and so for me it's always been important i i mean i'm a little i'm a little ADHD so like i'm i have a million and five ideas i have a million interests i'm very creative i and i like to explore those sides of me

and i think it keeps me who i am to like my family and the people that i love but it also keeps allows me to have a certain level of confidence that I don't think I would have otherwise. Right. It's like you grew up like we've talked about like having this thing that you were so passionate about and to lose that creative side of yourself would just mean that you're almost like doing a disservice to yourself and then therefore to your kids and to your husband and to your relationships like that's who you are. Yeah. And you don't have to be as women were always told like or at least it feels like people just try to have us be one dimensional and you can do more not that it's easy no but it's an option it's an option like i say all the time i'm like

when men do it they're like oh my god you're so multifaceted wow so talented what a renaissance man and i'm like what why can't women do the same thing like what is what is giving you the ick so bad that you feel like i can't do these separate things be good at them or at least try to like what like what is the problem it is really frustrating and then i think thankfully i feel like there's just been an uptick of people being like you know what i don't care anymore i'm just going to do it even if it pisses all of you off so much and it makes you uncomfortable to see a woman succeeding deal with that yeah on your own side because i'm going to keep fucking pushing There are a lot of people in sports that don't obviously have to go through as much of the conversation around, like, fame and spotlight as you and your husband have had to.

How did being in the spotlight impact your relationship in the early days? Because you guys didn't know how to handle it. It's a double-edged sword because... Parts of it have afforded me doors to be open. I obviously have to walk through them and then put in the work to stay in the room. But that, I think, would be the elephant in the room is, like, I'm grateful for that side of things. But on the flip side, I, in the beginning, hated it so much. I, like, did not sign up for that.

I also always thought, like, I didn't know that he was. going to end up playing basketball. Like I, he said he wanted to be a high school basketball coach. Like, I thought I thought I was going to be like the girl out there getting it. So I didn't know. And so it just like, it was weird. And sports fans are so different than like maybe entertainment world fans. And oftentimes it's like very ruthless.

And so I think I wasn't expecting that either. I remember, like, one time right after my first was born, she was whiny. So I was like, let me just nurse her in the backseat. And Stefan was putting a bike or something in the trunk. And this woman, like, opens the car door. And she sticks her head in. And she's like, I just wanted to see the baby. And I'm like, oh, ah, excuse me.

And she looks me dead in my face and goes, oh, honey, you know what you signed up for. And then, like, shuts the door on me. And I was just crying because I was like postpartum. I was just bawling my eyes out and I'm like, what? Like, is this what it's going to be like? Wow. And so that, the beginning phases were kind of scary for me. And as a woman, like, did you ever experience any type of like direct scrutiny over just like you or what you looked like or how you were acting?

Oh, all the time. I feel like I still do. And that's okay. But how did that impact you, though? early on when you were like, I'm still not equipped to handle this. Because now you're like seasoned. Yes, it affects you, but you now have the tools of like, I've been here before. I know exactly how to handle this moment. Doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt. It was so depressing. And also, it was during that time when this like social media thing was just ramping up. And so people were going

fuck wild. And just spewing opinions on things that didn't warrant opinions. And so I, I think for a while yeah I was very critical of myself because of the things that I was seeing it's so hard also to be the woman in a situation where you're like men just don't get as much scrutiny like they can maybe tell him like your fucking shot suck tonight but like the looks and all of that is just like not a factor of conversation as much no did you talk to stuff about it like or did you kind of keep it within yourself so it didn't I have I do not have a bone in my body that can keep anything to myself so if it comes to mind it's coming out and he he's so gracious like he tries to resonate with me but he just can't and he also comes from a place of like

it's effing stupid like it's not true so why and I'm like But wait, like, listen to how it makes me feel. And he's like, but why does it make you feel like that? It's not real. I mean, that's so men where you're like, no, wait, but I want to talk about it for four more hours. Can you just sit down and they're like, you want me to solve it for you? It's not real.

We both know it's not real, blah, blah. He's like, no. Go to bed. Go to sleep. You're like in the bathroom brushing your teeth. You're like, another thing. You like pop out. He's like, quite literally.

Can you share like something? that was said about you in the early days to just like paint the picture no one knows on the spot okay this one's kind of funny now it's funny this one's kind of funny because at a certain point like I do have a round face oh my gosh so like at a certain point this was true because I was a little weightier but there was this thing going around that said there's two things it was like that I look like SpongeBob's mom just look it up after okay I like I felt that way so then seeing it I was like, damn, no. What else? I think because he's, like, known for shooting threes, people will say something all the time, like, oh, he shoots threes on and off the court. And I'm like,

come on. Well, first of all, three plus, like a million. Like, you were like so fucking stunning and gorgeous. Like, I, I don't need to say that to you, but I have to say it because it's also like, the people that are writing it are probably threes, but not you. Um, But also, I feel like it's funny to see any athlete's wife, everyone just first goes for their looks and they compare it. It's crazy. It's so strange. That online conversation is so tired, like immediately just judging a wife of like a man

that is well known and famous. It doesn't even have to be sports. It can be entertainment, actors, whatever it be. It's always at the looks. And it's like, aren't we tired? Just a little bit. I've also gotten the like, and I've gotten this in person a lot, is the like the stigma of being a wife of somebody that plays professional sports or girlfriend, whatever, whatever.

Oh, how does it feel to be said person's wife and also work? And I'm like, what? So I think there's a stigma out there that people don't do, these women aren't doing anything. That's not true. there's so many women doing incredible things a lot just like they do it under their radar which is great like no it's so misogynistic it's like so crazy well your husband makes so much fucking money like why would you ever want to work and it's like god forbid i also have individual interests and needs and wants and goals in my fucking life crazy it's all projection okay wait i want to play a game then

between you and staff of who is more likely to okay who is more likely to okay who is more likely to take a work call during date night stephen do you guys have boundaries of like no we're done with work food i do where is the game you're like do not disturb motherfucker okay who is more likely to call a family meeting me what was the topic of the most recent like curry family meeting these days and I'm sorry you guys is this the camera I look at I'm sorry you guys it's just true these days it's calling meetings about our parents to discuss our parents when you become an adult and then you realize like oh my parents how did I get through an airport when I was younger like how did you get me through to Terminal B like you started like your parents like I love you

more than life, but like, hello? What is going on? Who is more likely to splurge on a big purchase? Me. That is not even a conversation. Good for you. He's going to be so proud of me for being honest, too. He's going to be watching this like, yes, babe.

Thank you for taking accountability. What is like one of your splurges that you're like, I'm really actually proud of that one? Actually, my ring. So I reset my ring. I've been staring at it. So that's a good answer. But I feel like I'll have it forever.

Let's talk about your business now. Because I really wanted to get to individually driven at a young age. You meet Steph. You have this like, oh my gosh, we didn't anticipate we were going to fall in love and then have babies and all the things. And then one day you woke up pretty quickly into having a kid being like, wait, wait, I got to get myself back on track. Steph has his career.

I want my career to get back on track. Yeah. What was the hardest part early days of like, really trying to start your business i think early days it was just starting so i i basically started so i figured i wasn't going to transition back into acting yet um i was going to try to figure out something for myself where i could kind of stay in one place um i've loved food my entire life like I've cooked for my family since I was 11 years old and people would often ask me for recipes and things like that and so because we were the only people at the time in our family on the

West Coast everybody's on the East Coast I was like oh I'll start like for the family like I'm just going to launch a blog blogs were the thing at the time and Stefan's actually the one that encouraged it because I would start and stop start and stop he was like just do it so I did it other people took notice and then someone said hey people like to see these things like make a video and so i started making videos and from there it just it grew and i went to san francisco cooking school for a little bit and then the the station that broadcasts the warriors games at the time they reached out and they were like hey we really like your videos like what if we gave you a 30 minute slot before every game locally and we did a cooking segment

and I was like yeah and so that was like my first TV cooking direct to camera and then from there it grew to the book and then the book to Food Network and so it was like I had this robust like food television career very quickly that happened pretty organically and I've I've like enjoyed every minute of it. What has been do you think the hardest situation that you've had to navigate as a female business owner? Um, I, why are you laughing? Sorry, because I don't know if I can say this, but I'll just say it anyway. Um, the, the, the, the hard. there's two. The first is, was hearing the nose as a woman in food. So I didn't realize how many barriers at the time. Now it's very different. There were, I was either too young or too young of a woman

or there was nobody that looked like me. So instead of being like, you don't have a demographic here, let's create one. It was like, no, you don't have a demographic here. And so I think that was shocking to me, getting people to take me seriously, because at the time I think I was now 24 or 25. And so getting people to see me and realize that I had talent outside of what people were assuming, I think has been really difficult. I think also what you were kind of alluding to when you were saying that, you know, people were looking to see if you actually had talent outside of maybe what people were expecting you to be known for. And kind of what we were talking about with the money thing earlier, it's like, yes, I think

there's a lot of people that would be like, you're Steph Curry's wife. Like, go sit in the stands and like he makes so much money. Just be happy. And so there's the one, why are you working question. And then there's the two now that you're bringing up of like people maybe assuming, oh, is she getting what she's getting just because she is this guy's wife. How does that make you feel when you hear those comments? It feels crazy.

And actually what you just said, like, I recall, like, sitting there, you said, in the stands, a reporter actually literally said on live television, she needs to sit there and look pretty like other people. I think people just don't realize that there is a life outside of where we are now in our adulthood. I think people can't see past, like, the surface one sheet. Yep. Or you know what? They don't want to. They don't want to. They don't want to.

Which sucks. It sucks so bad. But I'm going to keep trying. Yeah. We're going to keep going. Yeah. Even if you guys don't like it. Yeah.

Women are just going to keep on coming. And they're like, oh, my God, here they come again. Throughout your career. I'm sorry. That sounds crazy. Well, we may also come again. Hopefully, if you can make us. If not, we'll do it ourselves.

Okay. Here we go. Oh, God. Talking about, you know, these industries that you were trying to break into, having people look at you being like we haven't seen someone like you do it before or also you being too young, all these things. A lot of these industries that you were trying to break into were heavily male dominated. Very male dominated. Also probably controlled by white men. Like how did you get the confidence in moments to advocate for yourself? I didn't. I didn't at the time. I didn't have that. that I kind of was just going where I was told. But it took for somebody to advocate for me. So it took somebody at the network who was a woman who just so happened to have their first child

to be like, no, she's not too young. And I see it and we're going to do it. And I'm like forever grateful. But I think now in my 30s, I've gotten pretty good at advocating for myself. or like just living in that vulnerability of what that means so like even if it's not well received at least I'm satisfied and I know that I've spoken up for myself because I've I have in the past tended to be very timid and shy and reserved for the most part so you saying that a

woman kind of like paid it forward to you and was like no let's give this girl a chance that makes me so hopeful because I feel like even you saying that it the fact that there's she was probably the only woman in the room and then she saw something in you I think it's a great message to there's so many women that will be listening to this and it's like I know sometimes it can feel like as the only woman just be like grateful that you are at least a woman in the room yeah but like to lift other women up with you is how we're going to stop feeling so isolated and alone in those rooms with men. So like what a beautiful moment for you. Now you being kind of maybe more in the position of power. Yeah. How have you been able to uplift and kind of advocate for more women in your

industry? So through all of this, through my culinary background and hospitality and all of that, we've really like realized the power of storytelling and so we had sweet july magazine for a while we have sweet july productions and sweet july books now and so the way that i feel like i pay it forward is by finding badass women in all of those spaces and giving them the platform to tell their stories it's so much more rewarding it's like what you're doing it's so much more rewarding um than trying to go around for yourself you know it's it's when you lock arms with strong creative outspoken women it just it's so much more powerful than doing it alone you know it like changes everything like you're like oh my god and i and we all usually start alone yeah like that's the thing that's so it's so

exciting and eye-opening when you start to work with more women who are like-minded and you're like, oh my God, why was it this hard to get to this place where I finally get to work with women? Because a lot of times it takes you being in a position of privilege to then create that environment around you in a work setting. And it's incredible that you are doing that. Your foundation that you have with Steph, eat, learn, play, can you talk about like what is the most rewarding part of being able to do that together? I think the single most important thing will we'll do in our careers for sure is eat learn play um so basically we provide um access to quality nutrition quality education and safe places to play for kids in the oakland unified school

district um the statistics are devastating when you look at um how kids are learning within the school system but then when you pan out and you look from a bird's eye view why that is and you realize it's those three simple things like it's heartbreaking and no child should have to be without that and so we partnered with the school district and founded eat learn play like right before the pandemic started and have been able to make some pretty impactful change so far there's literally so much more to do but I think it's so important to us because it's we're going to start to see a shift for the future generations and if we lay the foundation now it'll be smooth sailing down the road and like a lot of people ask us why we're so siphoned into just Oakland and it's because

you got to crawl before you walk and if we can solve the problems there and create a really robust foolproof model for other communities to take it and run with it. We don't have to be attached to it. That's not why we're doing it. And so if they can just take the model and implement it there, I feel like that's how we'll see the most impactful change. I mean, it's incredible to even hear you talk about it more because you can tell how passionate you are about it. But also it's like, yeah, it doesn't. I love that you're saying like the goal isn't for Steph and I to have our faces on this like it's literally like we're trying to use what we have to make change it's incredible you're doing that um okay you obviously we were earlier talking about sweet july and how you've had

all of these moments but now you have sweet july skin yeah talk to me about well first of all talk me about where did that name come from so uh sweet july started because i realized that a lot of the, like, high endorphin, excitement, happy moments in my life happened at one time. And that was in July because of the kids being born or anniversary, having my man home in the off season. And I realized, like, after the gratefulness would kind of taper off. Like, there was this, like, heightened gratefulness during that. It's like, I'm so grateful. Thank you, God.

And then it would kind of, I'm just being honest, it would taper off. And I was like, no, no, no, that's not okay. Like, you can find so much joy in like the smallest of things. Like, I'm sure you get joy when you drink your unwell. I do. Right. It's like a cup of coffee, putting on a lip gloss. Like, what are those small things that you can just pause for a second and be like, no, I can have gratitude in this moment and just appreciate it a little bit more and find the beauty in the small things?

And so it came about that way. But yeah, we launched Sweet July Skin. We just celebrated our second birthday. And thank you. What made you want to get into the skincare industry? Well, I struggle, obviously, to this day, with my skin. I always have, like my mom and my grandma do not. So I must have got the other side of the genetics.

It's fine. But I started to remember all of these traditional, island remedies that they would speak to to help them with their skin. And so I started to do some research and it was really science backed. And so and I'm just a skincare junkie, honestly. So we started working with a lab and a chemist and formulating sweet July skin based off of these like Caribbean superfoods backed by science. And so that's kind of how it was born. It's so ironic though. there's like things you can control and there's things you just can't so like even right now like I'm having this crazy hormonal breakout and so the confidence of being like I own a skincare brand

and this being out of my control right now is crazy I know there's so many women dealing with like PCOS and like different things and there's just some things that you cannot control and I think what's been so great about these products is they're clean um vegan for the most part and you don't these aren't products that you're going to use on your skin and it's it's going to add to the problem it's going to help keep them at bay it's it's anti-inflammatory it's not going to irritate you and so i think i love it for that reason and i'm kind of like a walking spokesperson right now because my skin ebbs and flows and that's okay i really think it's incredible though that you're just saying it how it is because

let's be real, like so much goes into marketing of certain, quote unquote, celebrity brands, whether it's makeup or skincare or clothing or whatever. And like my frustration in the skincare industry, especially with celebrities, is like, girl, some of us don't have the most perfect skin. And so to act like you got that skin from this line, even though I've seen your skin has been perfect forever, like being real. But I'm not saying you're never going to break out. Because that's just your body lie. Yeah. What do you want your kids to take away from watching you and Steph achieve so much together. And I think I can speak on

both of our behalf when I say, I think we would want them to see all of the successes and failures, triumphs, tribulations. But see, one, that the most important thing was still family, and then two, see that we were better in all of it, regardless of which one of us it was doing it together what do you hope your personal legacy is so i'm big on like impact over legacy and so i think you know like at the end of the day i i guess it doesn't matter what anybody has to think or say like what did i do while i was here and so as long as what i've done and what i've offered to the world or things that i've tried to change have been impactful then that will be good enough for me And as long as my kids are nice people, I get care less what they do for a living when they get older or what path they choose to take.

If they're nice people who care about their neighbor, like I will feel like I've done a great job. I am so happy I got to sit down with you because you have such a warm, kind energy to get to know you as a woman sitting here today, also getting to know you more as an individual. hearing about your businesses, hearing about you as a mother, hearing about you just as Ayesha, not the mother, but the business entrepreneur, someone who took something that she was passionate about and turned it into this like incredible empire that young you probably would have been like, girl, pinch yourself. Like look at your life. It's incredible what you've built for yourself. Thank you. Thank you for just like taking the time. That wasn't that scary, right? Thank you. No. I mean, it was at first. Okay. And then it wasn't.

We're done. No, you're amazing. Thank you so much for coming on Call our Daddy. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I had so much fun.