Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Tracee Ellis Ross on Broadway Debut and Solo Traveling

Episode Date: August 16, 2026

Tracee Ellis Ross had her breakout television role in Girlfriends 25 years ago. Since then, she has starred in Black-ish and created a haircare brand called Pattern Beauty. The Golden Globe winner got together with Willie Geist in the New York City apartment building she grew up in to discuss her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated show Every Brilliant Thing and the new season of the Roku show Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross and why she always follows the Mantra “B.I.A” or Bring It All when she packs. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks as always for clicking and listening along. I am truly excited to bring in my conversation with one of my favorite people, honestly, that I ever get to sit down with. Her name is Tracy Ellis Ross. You know her and love her from things like girlfriends and from Blackish, of course. And now she's in season two of her Emmy-nominated show, solo traveling with Tracy Ellis Ross.

it appears on Roku. She's this season going to Thailand. She's going to Australia, going to Switzerland, doing exactly what the title suggests, traveling the packing to the traveling, to the seeing the sights, to eating alone. What does all that look like? She says she's been doing that since her 20s traveling by herself. She knows other people who do it, people who are thinking about doing it. And this is kind of an introduction into her life on the road.

A big hit in season one, as I say now she's into season two. she also, as we sat down, was just coming off literally two days earlier, the solo play, as they call them now, or one woman play, one person play, called Every Brilliant Thing. She did a five-week run, 40 shows of that, standing on stage alone for about 90 minutes. The play performed before her by Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter, and Mariska Hargitay, Olivia Benson, big shoes to fill, and she was awesome, called it the experience of her life. So as we sit down, she's just kind of taking a deep breath and exhaling from that run of doing eight shows a week and now contemplating her next move. I should point out that we are sitting down together inside a hotel room at the Sherry Netherland

Hotel. It's an iconic New York building on Fifth Avenue right at the bottom of the park at 59th Street, where, believe it or not, as a young girl, Tracy Ellis Ross lived on the 31st floor. Her mother, of course, Diana Ross. She was there filming The Wiz. They lived there for several years and brought the girls with her, including Tracy. So a bit of a homecoming for Tracy Ellis Ross as we get together to talk about solo traveling with Tracy Ellis Ross, about her run on every brilliant thing, about pattern beauty, the hair care brand for curly textured and coily hair that she founded and is the CEO of that has really taken off a lot going on, such a smart, charming, funny person to be with. I hope you enjoyed as much as I did. Here now, Tracy Ellis Ross on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.

So happy to see you, Tracy. I'm so happy to see you. I feel like we've already had an entire interview. We did, but, you know. There's more to talk about. There's always more to talk about. Can we start by talking about where we are right now? Yes, can we please?

So we were talking to you and your team about what would be a cool place, and you brought up where we are right now. Yes, so we're at Sherry Netherlands. We're at the Sherry Netherlands Hotel, which is where when me and my family, like I moved my family, when my mom and her three girls moved to New York in 19, this is where we lived. So I grew up here from 79 until, I don't know when my mom sold the apartment, but we lived here until I moved, we moved to Paris and Switzerland. And then we still had this as our apartment in New York, but we moved into a place in Connecticut. And I grew up here. I did. And when we came, when I walked in, I mean, when I start driving down 5th from about 64th, because I went to Dalton.

This was a regular walk down fifth. My whole body sensorally is like, you're home. And the staff that's here in this building, usually the hotel world in New York takes care of their team really well, but they're mostly people who have been here forever. And George, the elevator operator, has been here 45 years, and I recognized him and he recognized me, and he brought me in the elevator for many, many years of my childhood.

It was Ernie at the door. Victor was also an elevator operator for years until he retired. So it was Victor, George Ernesto, who was Ernie at the door, and Frank, the four of them. And George, you came up, you said, I just saw George from my childhood. I met George in the way up, not realizing he'd been there. As long as you had lived here. It's just incredible.

It's incredible. It's a testament to the building. It's a testament to how they take care of their people. And, yeah, he'll probably be here until he decides to retire. But it's so amazing to see him. So sweet. And you feel it all when you walk in the lobby, you get that rush. It's just like you're, it's a, you know, in solo travel season two,

solo traveling season two, I went back to my boarding school, Le Rose. and I hadn't been back in 40 years. And it was like walking into a time machine. I have been back here since then, numerous times. It's still like walking into a time machine. The elevator is exactly the same. The little stool that's in the corner. Exactly the same.

I mean, as I said that, I had like multiple memories. I just had the memory of when I had lice. That's right. That's the first thing that came to mind. That's the first thing that came to mind because I was sitting in that thing and I was like, and I was like dying and they were getting me,

trying to get upstairs from school so that we could get my hair washed with that lice shampoo. But yeah, yeah. Amazing. I mean, just the memories and the thoughts of this building and being in this for so long. You know the story, Eloise? Of course.

Right there. And the pigeon that came from the Sherry Netherlands, I thought it came from my bathroom window. It was definitely. Of course. Eloise, it was the pigeon that came from my window to go to Eloise. And you were kind of your own version of Eloise. Absolutely.

Sweet little girl here at this beautiful building. Yes. So cool. A little snotty glasses wearing, like crazy-haired little girl with my sisters. Yeah, Rhonda Tracy and Chudney. Well, thanks for sharing it with us. It's so cool to be here with you. It's very cool.

What a nice way to start an interview. There's a theme to our conversation, which is solo. We're talking about solo traveling in a second, but I've got to start with the solo play. Yes. You finished about 36 hours ago. 36 hours ago. Something like that. Yeah. It's a miracle that I can speak words. You're doing great so far. We'll see how it goes.

Well, I'll let you know. Or you let me know. Yeah, I'll give you a little wrap it up. You did 40 shows standing on stage by yourself. For people who didn't get a chance to see it during your run, what was the experience like for you? I'm still processing what it was like. But it was one of the most life-changing, extraordinary experiences of my life, my career. the whole thing. You know, there's things you dream of doing that you think conceptually I'm capable of, but you don't know until you get into it. I think it's hilarious that I decided to make my Broadway debut with a Tony-nominated solo play. The thing to know about the play, though, is it's not a solo act. It's unlike any play I've ever seen in my life. It is a play and a story about mental health,

but it is told through this magical, beautiful list of both ordinary and extraordinary things that make life worth living, brilliant things. And the person, the actor who plays it can be any gender, any race, any age. You don't have a name. You're the narrator. And you do it in participation with the audience. And the way that I like to explain that is it's not a free-for-all. It's not a concert. It's not a stand-up show. I'm telling a story, and I can do it with everyone.

people are given cards and they say what is on the card when I say the number that corresponds in the list. And then there's also five audience members that during the pre-show, we choose with consent. People are willing participants and they play certain parts of the story because there's certain parts of the story that come to life better with someone. And so it was a magical experience that both used my craft and my skill and my discipline as an actor for my many years of being an actor. I started as a theater actor. And then also my improbability because every show is different because the people that are playing those roles do different things, say different things. And then it's still my job to keep the story moving on course with the lines that come next.

And then also this sort of athleticism of being on stage for an hour and a half on my own and sort of conducting the room from a metaphysical place, honestly, because it's not like I'm conducting an orchestra. It's, you know, and in the pre-show, one of the things that I would do, because I was in the audience when we'd open the doors as I start scanning for those audience members that are willing. And in that moment, what I do is really anchor the space as a warm and safe space where we can all flourish. And that, to me, was the most life-changing part of it because that is the metaphor for life. Is that when we do it together, we can all flourish. And the same thing I say to everybody in those moments is everything works when you're kind in life and also in the play. As you said, this was your Broadway debut, dove in headfirst. I was joking to you before, a lot of actors from screen, they'll take a supporting role,

or they'll just kind of feel their way around and see what the experience is like. Was there any apprehension about diving in the way you did when you got this? No. No. I'm one of those people who likes to, I mean, I said this metaphor before, but it's like I'm a base jumper. I'm one of those people that, like, as I'm jumping, I'm like, wait, I think, I think there might have been stairs. Like, is there an elevator I could have taken?

I don't know that I needed to jump off the cliff quite like that. As I'm flying down, you see the stairs. Exactly. I mean, you know, the nice part is that if we use the metaphor of a base jumper, my parachute is the discipline and the repetition and the craft of what I do as an actor. And when you do that, the rigor of what it takes in rehearsal, the fear is there. It remains. There's no way it's not going to. It is like jumping off a cliff. But I get to remember that I can trust the terrain, that I actually know what I'm doing. I know the story. I know where my feet are. And so it started for me about two and a half weeks before rehearsal. I really, in a very concentrated way, started learning the material. And there's a really wonderful fun way that I do that. I don't learn lines and memorize. I actually create the story. So what I end up doing is not searching for words of lines, but I remember experiences that my imagination is created.

So I started, I stopped social media about, I don't know, maybe three weeks before rehearsal. No more reading books because I needed my imagination. Bortem is incredibly important when I'm building a role because it allows my subconscious to sort of fill in the blanks. and connect pieces. And by the time I got to rehearsal here in New York, I was off book and felt really, I would say about 80% comfortable with the language of the material.

And then became the rigor. And that's when I felt like swallowing a whale. I kid you not. I was just like, what's happening? And then you just dive in. And because of the nature of the play, we started bringing an audience at the beginning of the second week, started with 15 people that I didn't know in the rehearsal space,

then 40. By the time I got to the theater for dress rehearsal, it was 150, then 400 people, and then all of a sudden you're like, here we go! Yeah. And there's something about, I find maybe you do too, about a challenge where when you succeed at it, as you did clearly with this play,

you teach yourself something. Yeah. about yourself. You learn, oh, I can do that and maybe I can do other things too. Do you have that feeling right now on the other side of it? I do. I'm not totally clear on what those things are. I actually feel excited to see who I am on the other side of this because I definitely felt something major happen. I felt there were younger parts of me that honestly got healed, which was really interesting. I think that from this vantage point, 36 hours later, maybe it's more than that. What is it like, two days? It's about 36. It's not that many. Yeah, I'm still sleeping. It's just so

you know. I learned that even when, you know, when you're afraid you leave your body, there's like a sense of disassociation. I learned that even when I leave my body, I can still be with myself loving. that I don't, that I'm, the beat-up that I have spent so many years doing, that like, sort of, that fear of, as I referenced, that scene in Game of Thrones when the mother is walking through the town square and everyone's saying, shame, shame, shame, that that's the, that's the, that's the nightmare of what you imagine is on the other side of the fear, right? but to discover that even in those moments of even on stage in front of everyone having to go, I'm lost for a moment, but to stay with myself, to stay with myself lovingly with grace and with professionalism, just was a visceral sort of somatic learning that like I don't know that you can learn without being in that fire, you know. I also think one of the other things I really genuinely learned is people are so good.

People are so good at their core. They're so kind. They want, we all want each other to succeed in the most of it. You know, what I would say to the other people in that moment who had willingly decided to participate with me was, the kindness is the thing that works. You don't have to perform, which is also what I told myself. You don't have to perform. You just need to be of service to the story. And I won't let you fall. And you won't let me fall. We're going to do it together. And that is, I mean, couldn't be a bigger sort of life lesson. You know, people are out there rooting for you. Truly. I mean, not everywhere. I'm not a crazy person. All right, we know. There's stuff happening.

But on the most part, people are there rooting for you. And also to think of the world that way makes that be true. Right. Yeah. And you got to see it up close with this. And experience it. When you and I last talked on this show, it was 2017. Jeez, Louise.

I know. I couldn't believe that either. I thought it was like four years ago when I was 2017. Wow. You said in that interview, we're talking about what you might do next. and you just kind of off the top of your head said, I think I might want to do a one-woman show. That's wonderful.

You kind of put it out there. I'm not suggesting we'd take credit for it. I'm suggesting it was on your mind at the time. Here's what's interesting. For my 40th birthday, I'm 53 now. I rented a theater in New York and L.A. And I invited people to a birthday party. And they thought they were coming for a birthday party.

And they had to watch me perform. And I, that's right. That's exactly right. And I did a one-person show. I did my one-person show. I told where it was at the time. And it didn't, nothing happened with it since then. I couldn't have dreamt this up better. Wow. I didn't go looking for this. It came looking for me. And that in and of itself was a good life lesson for me. And in this chapter of my life, for that to come looking for me and for it to feel so divine, and so home, so like home. And for me to have such an extraordinary experience just feels like, thank you for reminding me that that was on my mind. And that was in my consciousness, pulling me here.

Hey, guys, thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear more from Tracy Ellis Ross right after the break. Welcome back now more of my conversation with Tracy Ellis Ross. Every actor I talk to who does screen work and comes to Broadway, talks about the community of being on Broadway and how almost that is as great as the show itself or the play itself.

Did you feel that? For real. Let me say their names. Janay, Fati, Laura, Mandy, Ricky, Matt, Maddie. This group of people, second to none. The theater community is, they're spectacular humans. They will not let you fall.

They taught me so much. They held my hand in the dark spaces and kept turning on the lights. They kept looking at me in the moments when I was like, I can't know if I can do this. I'm lost. And with the expression,

the loving, steady eyes of, you've got this. You've got this. We're right here. And, you know, this show, the stage managers and the associate directors who helped cast

in the beginning of the show, they sit on the stage, with me. And so they're in view. They're calling the show in view. They make it look easy. And they are doing God's work. They are making things happen that you think are just happening. But it's somebody conducting from there. They're such beautiful human beings. That I will miss the most. Which raises the question. Will I be back? Do you want to come back? Absolutely. You have to. I have to. Absolutely. Are we already thinking about what that could look like? Is it a play? Is it a musical?

We are thinking of all of it. We are thinking of all of it. And yes, I will be back. There is no question. There is no. I have been called home, Willie. I have been called back to the stage, even though I'd never been there. You've really changed since you came to probably. Don't you think now I just, right now I only speak like this.

Only from the deepest diaphragm register. Yes, I will be back. Does this sound like my voice? Is it weird? That was perfect. It's great. It's incredible. I suspect they're given the reception of your performance that you will be asked back.

So I can't wait to see what that looks like. I can't wait to see what it looks like I know. There was another cool full circle moment when on opening night of the play, your girlfriend's cast came back. So it was like, here are these mile markers in your career in life? That would be cool. Yeah. I mean, that was. wonderful that they were there. I will say this. Anyone who comes to a play, I just thank you.

You know what I mean? Because it's not easy to make the plan to come. You don't know what you're getting into. Sometimes you're like, oh, God, why am I here? You know what I mean? You just don't know. And so I really, everyone who bought a ticket and all of my friends that bought tickets and came and my family, like all of my siblings came, my parents came, my cousins came, almost all my best friends came. I mean, my sister came three times. Like, that is an extraordinary thing. And what did they say? What are your parents who've seen you do a million things, but not that? What did they say afterward? I don't even know if I could articulate the, I don't even know. I mean, yes, I know, but they were proud. They were really proud. You know, I mean, I think it's the most spectacular thing I've done.

Not because necessarily of the result of it, but what I've done, what they saw me, witnessed me, sort of watched me do and face. You know, I mean, I was a very shy little girl. Singing on stage, being on stage has always been scary for me. I stepped through into a different place when I did the high note and I sang on stage. And I sing in the middle of every brilliant thing. I sing and it wasn't scary because it was a part of this larger thing that I was doing that had purpose and meaning for me. Well, we can't wait to see what you do next.

Me too. We know it's coming. I mean, we will see. I'll wave at you from the stage, Willie. But only that. But only then. Only this close. Only this is the closest we'll ever be.

I mean, by the way, the other thing about every brilliant thing is, you know, there was no curtain. There was no backstage. There was no, like, even my prep before I start the show is on stage. So all of those things, you know, but next time they'll be a curtain. Maybe not, I don't know. No, there's going to be a curtain. I don't know. First appear.

Listen, I got... I'm sure you did, yeah. I got a standing ovation before I started. Of course you did. It was very weird. I was like, on the closing night when that happened, I wept. I wept like a baby, and I was like, now we got to do the, what is? I got to focus.

I'm like, pull it together, girl. Lock in, Tracy. I was like, oh, lock in, honey. We've got a show to do. Let's talk about the other solo in your life. Solo traveling with Tracy Ellis Ross. Season one, a massive hit for Roku. The most watch thing unscripted they've ever had in all the years.

Another hit here in season two. And then I got an Emmy nomination for the show right before season two, which is crazy. Incredible. So well-timed. Emmy nominated and well-described. and such a fun, cool, interesting show. But I feel like different also from some of the other, forgive the term, like celebrity travel shows you see.

It's very, I don't know, it feels more personal. It feels like we're there with you throughout the process. It's not just all the glitzy parts, is what I mean. So how did this idea come up for you? It came up because it's something that I do. Since I was 24, 25, I took my first solo trip. I do it often. And one of the things I noticed is culturally, societally, there's not a lot of examples of women, black women, but people, human beings, thriving in the experience of their own delight, sort of enjoying their own company and being responsible for their own happiness and seeing it.

I see it in my life everywhere, but in the media, I don't see a lot of reflections of that. And there's also so much to be said. I feel like there's a lot between the cat ladies, that stereotype of, you know, the single spinster cat lady and Joan of Arc, right? There's these many, many examples of what it looks like to be a human that is living outside of the cultural norm and choosing their own happiness and being responsible for that. So can you be yourself by yourself out in the world? That doesn't have to be luxurious vacations. It can just be the choices you make in your own life, and it's not just for single people. It's for everybody to sort of own what it is that lights your fire, that makes your heart sing, that moves you forward. Where are the places

in your life that you can choose those things? And discover, those things for yourself and make space for them and make time for them, whether it's a moment in the park on a Sunday or having that little piece of chocolate quietly by yourself or the ritual of your coffee in the morning in that quiet space and time. And so the show is a reflection of that. It sort of came out of that. It came out of my own experience. The truth is it came out of me coming home from one of my solo summer trips that I always take. And the guy that met me at the airport said, Carl, I can't wait. Every year we wait for you to come home from your summer vacations so we can see all your photos and all your outfits. I was like, are you joking? He said,

that is an event. I was like, what? He's like an event. And I got in the car and I called my manager, and I was like, is there any world where we could actually create a show that is a reflection of what it is that I do on these solo vacations? Not easy to create a solo vacation to film. Like, how do you create that intimacy? And that was something that we worked hard on. And part of what we do is I shoot most of it on my phone. The majority of the show is shot on my phone. We do things that I would actually do on my own. It's a very small crew. I do my best as a producer of the show to really, as best as we can, have the crew just be witnessing me versus manipulating moments for me. I'm like, just let me be in the environment that I would be in and you are a fly on the wall so that I can

continue just doing what I would do. Obviously, it's a little different, but the inner monologue I try and share on my phone. And that comes across really well. For example, when you're packing for these trips. Yes. By the way, there's no one. There's no crew there. No, it comes across. There's just like a phone on the floor. Sometimes you're on the floor. That's exactly right. Thinking through the outfits. Exactly. BIA, bring it all. Bring it all. Which we could talk about that. That's a lot.

It's ridiculous, but it's okay. You know what I mean? Know yourself. Know yourself. Know yourself. Know what you need. Because those are hard decisions to, oh, I might need these. We'll see my whole, exactly. And I say, pack for beauty and disaster. Now, don't get me wrong. The places that I was going, I'm not going like on a camping trip where I have eight bags. You know what I mean? But if you're going to stad to ski, do you know what I mean? And you know you're going to be on camera. Bring it. All. And, you know, and then I also have to, for disaster. Like, you just don't know. You've got to have your things. Especially in the climate we're in. You might get stuck somewhere. You know what I mean? And I don't mean the temperature. I mean, like, the airplanes might not be able. able to fly that day. Right. And then what? Then you need your seven steamer trunks to get on the Queen Mary, too. Of course. I do think sometimes that I'm like in the original Sabrina movie and like packing for like something different and there's going to be like people like, I don't know. And then I'm like, I can't roll all these. Anyway. You're a good packer. It's a lot. I'm a good packer. But yes, it is, it is the intimacy of what that is. And that is what I'm sharing.

And I think the show is less a travel show and more a solo show. That's what. why it's called solo traveling with Tracy as opposed to traveling solo. Because I am really exploring the inner landscape of what that experience is and learning how to do that. And yeah, and the second season was wonderful. We went to Thailand. I went to Thailand. I went to Australia. I was with the elephants in Thailand.

I was surfing, sort of, kind of. I tried it. And then I went home to Switzerland to my boyfriend. to my boarding school and visited in Stad and Haag, where I went to boarding school when I was 13. That was a very moving scene in the show. Not on like walking in here today, probably into that lobby, but it'd been 40 years, I think you said, since you'd been there

and looked from your reaction, like almost nothing had changed. No, it was crazy. Well, you know, in Switzerland, like those buildings, well, like this, you know, they've been around forever, those beautiful buildings built so beautifully. And so, yeah, the campus, there's a lot of, new buildings, but the buildings that were there when I was there are exactly the same. The doorknobs are the same, the whole thing. And so it was like walking into a time machine and felt,

I felt really moved by it. Like, I was moved to tears numerous times, revisiting those feelings of being away from home and the anxiety that I had around that. And also the deep gratitude I have for that experience that my mother gave me and my sisters and to live. to be living with other kids from all walks of, all places in the world, and sort of us being in this experience together. It was really moving to go back. Do you do the thing in that moment that I do sometimes, which is what would that young girl think about the woman?

I think that was... All she has accomplished since then? I think it was a combination of looking in both directions. Yeah. And that's, I think, what brought the tears. Looking in both directions was... And to be somewhere where... the environment feels exactly the same,

it's like you're having kind of this, like, energetic, like, whoa, what, what, what, what, what, it to me is exactly what I would imagine a time machine would feel like. Yeah. So it was, it was like the little girl looking at me and me looking at the little girl and this combination of like, whoa, look what I've done, look how afraid I was and I didn't know what,

it's just fascinating. And I think, you know, that phone call that happened that I talk about was like a really pivotal moment in my journey that led me towards building pattern. Right. You know, I'm really feeling, calling my mom, genuinely, like, calling my mom and being like, like, I don't know what to do with my hair. It's dead. Like, I had fried it within an inch of its life. And it was that thing where, you know, like that flat iron that or like the heat on your hair where you start to see it singed. Like, my hair was just so dead. And I was like, I'm in Switzerland. My mom's not here, and I don't know what to do with my hair. And the journey from there to healing my hair, learning my hair, and is what led me towards pattern. That's crazy, isn't it?

When you think about, like, that arc? Crazy. If you had told that little girl, she was going to start a hair company that was going to be an 11, have 11 retail partners and be a multi-million dollar business that I was the founder, CEO and like that I run and like she would have been like okay okay where's mom you know what I mean like okay can we buy those superiors sneakers like that has to be so gratifying though to have something that you felt a need you saw to have all these women say oh I need that too or I've been missing that too and for you to fill that void effectively with pattern right yeah I feel like that's been Short of every brilliant thing and debuting on Broadway, one of the most fulfilling of a purpose of my life, truly.

Building pattern and sort of being an active space to love and celebrate textured hair and black beauty feels so important. to me. And something I, it's, the celebration of that is so important. You know, part of what was in the building of pattern was wanting to change the paradigm around how textured hair and black people are marketed to. That marketing in and of itself is based on you have a problem and in order to solve that problem, you need to buy this product. As a shopper, I disagree. I feel like I am, I spend the most. I want the most when I feel good about myself, when I feel empowered and celebrated in who I am, not shamed for who I am. And so I wanted to build a company that not only celebrated the beauty and the power of blackness and textured hair, but also that marketed to those masses of people

from a place of celebration. And so that's what I built. You know, I wanted to build a different kind of beauty company that was really based in love. And to be seven years in and feel like, wow, that's what I made. And you've done it in a relatively short period of time. You founded it in 2019. I didn't even planning it long before that. It was about 10 years in the making. A lot of knows, a lot of people not understanding why an actor had anything to offer in that community.

and part of on the shelves of beauty, part of that, dispelling that myth for me was around so many of us with textured hair have become our own best experts in our bathrooms. And through sort of storytelling, we have shared what works that many stylists knew how to straighten our hair and knew how to do those things, but not to give us our natural texture in its purest form. And so, you know,

the company has evolved in that we exceed the needs of the curly-coily and tight texture community. And we offer superhydration. So anyone who needs hydration for their hair is welcome to buy the products. That's what we offer. But at the same time, there is, there's so much possibility in terms of what you can do with your texture. And that's what pattern offers. And now we have body care and hydration that goes on the skin as well. Got it all. Yeah, but I mean, it's, I think more than that, for me, what it's about is continuing the,

that purpose of exceeding the needs and celebrating texture and black beauty at its core. That's really what the brand is. And a joy for you probably to be able to use your platform to do that, to work hard to succeed at your job and then have the platform to do what you're doing. Yeah, I mean, it's solo traveling pattern, every brilliant thing. Every choice I make is centered through that of me. And what it really is is the message of, I want you to feel safe in your skin.

I want you to feel safe enough to live out loud and be who you are. And whatever version of that I can do in all of these different spaces, of expression that I have access to. That is what I want. I want you to remember how amazing you are so that you can go do the thing that you are meant to do in your life, the purpose that you are put on this planet to do. The same way I am doing my version, you know, of flying with my feet on the ground. I want you, all of us, to have that space. And if in any way I can join the chorus of other people that are doing that as well, then I feel like it's all worth it. Stick around for more of my conversation with Tracy Ellis Ross right after a quick break.

Welcome back now to the rest of my conversation with Tracy Ellis Ross. So with all that in mind with solo traveling, what we do say to someone who's watching this, gosh, I don't know. Traveling Australia by myself or like it feels like what do I do when I eat, all the things you like, old thing? What would you say to somebody considering it? I think what I would say is if you're interested in solo traveling and you are anxious about the idea of it as a concept, start with going to dinner on a weeknight right when the restaurant's open by yourself. Bring a book and see if you can sit with how uncomfortable that feels.

If you can graduate past that, you can move to a Friday night at 8 o'clock by yourself, see how that feels. and then maybe tack some time onto a trip that you already have to spend a couple of days on your own, go somewhere you've gone that you know and try it out. But the truth is the invitation is not about solo travel. The invitation is to ask yourself the question and let it be a metaphor for your own life of what is it that you are calling to do and what is it and how can you enjoy and take responsibility for your own happiness? in the smallest ways, in the biggest ways, but start with the things that feel feasible for you

and take that little stretch as opposed to going into making a leap that actually might create more fear or anxiety. Well, I was going to ask you about that. So at dinner, the move, is bring a book, not the phone. Try with a book. There's something really important about the, like I said it, even in terms of what I was doing

in preparation for the play. letting yourself be bored, letting yourself wander, letting yourself your imagination move, those are muscles that we're losing as humans, and they are the things that, they are the bridge to a robust life. They are the things that make relationships and communicating,

being able to communicate what's inside your soul, new ideas, new thoughts, solutions. They all come from using that muscle of discovery. I mean, there's a line. I mean, it's so cheesy, but I just came off the show, I can't help it. There's a section in the dad scene where imagination is what makes life worth living

because that's where mystery, curiosity, creativity, conversation, discovery, and without those things, if you know everything, then there's no imagination. And in order to live in the present, you need to be able to imagine a future that's better than the past, which is such a great line and so true. Still off book. I'm still off book. Yeah, isn't it amazing? And then the last is that hope, that's what hope is, you know. And I think that chat GPT, Claude, all these things, answering all the questions for us, sometimes when you take the time to ponder, there's this great expression, awareness acceptance, action. If you jump from awareness to action, you miss that beautiful

step of awareness, of discovering for yourself. What does it look like for you? Is there a new idea in there? Is there an idea that is maybe not even the one you had thought of that might be the right action to take? And I think that's so much culturally, we're losing that ability. And I think that's, The metaphor for solo travel is really about that. It's about asking yourself those questions and having that kind of curiosity in your own life that allows you the space to actually build and discover a life that is yours. This series is a great case for doing all of those things. So congratulations.

Another hit season. Oh, well, we hope so. We talked about the long list of your achievements. I was just looking. It's been four years since Blackish. Oh, wow. Went off the air. I know.

Luckily, it's still... It's four years? Yeah, 2022. Marcus and Marseille came to the show too. Oh, they did? Yeah. See, that's your family, your community. With four years of distance now,

are you able to kind of put it in perspective why that show became what it did? Why it had such a cultural impact in the way only a handful of shows do? Yeah, I mean, I think it came along. right at it. I don't think actually it would be able to get on the air right now. Really? I don't. Because? Because of the climate of what we're in. I don't think those stories are being told right now.

I think TV, the landscape of television, has really changed. I think entertainment has changed. How we receive entertainment has changed. I think the industry is fighting to understand how to stay relevant in a culture where the cord has been cut and everything is streaming and there's so much. But I think this show's impact was a couple of things. From my perspective, seeing a thriving, married couple that love each other and also like each other was good for everyone's nervous system. Seeing black people be professional

and loving, or have these big professions, is what I mean, not professional. And then the subject matter of what we were addressing, what we were looking at, you know, what I felt like Blackish did was take things off the wall that we all live with, that we don't always talk about and we put them in the middle of the kitchen floor and we watched how this family would trip over them, unpack them, explain them to each other, and learn from them.

And that's what the show did. And it did it beautifully. We did it through generation. There were Pops and Ruby, then there were Drey and I, and then the kids. So it was three generations that were looking at these things that we all deal with, culturally, racially, um, and And we impact them really beautifully. I also have to say from my character's position, seeing a woman on TV that was playing a wife, but whose life was not told as in context of my husband was incredibly important. It was something I fought for,

it was something I worked towards. And I think that in the canon of television, that is not what the wife role on a sitcom is. And so I think I brought something that was incredibly important. It's not that it hasn't been done before. It's been done. But it doesn't happen enough. And it certainly doesn't happen through the beingness of a black woman. And so I felt really grateful to have lent that to television and given it.

And, you know, the other thing is, like, I think about this often at this age. It's hard at this age not to constantly kind of take stock and look at what's happened before. 16 years of my life, eight years on girlfriends and eight years on Blackish. 16 years of my life on television in people's lives, playing roles and women that I feel incredibly proud to have played, that I think have added something to the the world in terms of the canon of television. So it's something to me. Sixteen years is no joke. Yeah. I'm like 170-some-odd episodes for both shows. Wow. Wow. That's what success looks like to get eight seasons of a show that resonates in that way. Yeah, I don't know if I ever looked at it as success, but it's definitely what my career gave me. Yeah. And did you see my brain started to glitch? The fatigue, like, I'm like, it's the... We hit in the wall.

The battery died. I'm like, mm-hmm. Get out the paddles. I'm back. Okay. Yeah, I mean, it's so interesting. I don't know that I ever frame things in that way. The, like, but I guess so, you know, I mean...

Kind of objectively successful. Yeah. I mean, I think the one that's crazy for me is, like, a girlfriends, I've never been to the Emmys. We had never been to the Emmys. I could barely get on a talk show. People just were not checking for the cast of girlfriends. TV was in a different place.

The industry was much more segregated. And that just didn't happen. So when Blackish came, I remember the first time I went to the Emmys, Anthony was nominated that first year. I've now, I think it's eight. How many Emmy nominations? I have nine NAACP awards, maybe 10, I'm not sure. an actual golden globe.

I think four or five Emmy nominations, that for me, because of where my career was with girlfriends and that stuff wasn't accessible in any way, those things, I'm like, whoa. Right. Like, that makes me go like, whoa, whoa, because they felt so out of reach, you know? So, I mean, and now I was, like,

the marquee person on a Broadway stage, like just my name was up there. Like, what? I feel like throwing something at someone. I know you've come a long way, right? I mean, all those steps, you get a seat at the table, you're invited to the Emmys, you're a star of Blackish, now on Broadway.

So we know about Broadway dreams. You've got a lot of runway ahead of you. There's so much runway. You feel like you're just kind of getting going. Right? What else is stirring? What else is in your mind right now? Honestly, I really would love to get back on television in the right way.

I really loved, I love playing a role for an extended period of time. I do not think that I will do a 25. 24 episode season again. I think that was grueling. But I would love to do that. I really would. I love the medium of television. I'd love to do more film.

I'd love to write a book. I'd love to... I mean, there's all the things. It's so weird to be 53. Like, 53 from 24 seemed like, you know... Oh, yeah, I remember. 53. It's over.

You're done, babe. Get in the canoe and go off to pasture. If you get in a canoe, you don't go off to pasture. That's okay. We got the point. Yeah, it's fine. We're mixing. It's great. That was really not good. Anyway. We're just pushing you down the river. Correct. Yeah. Kind of like something. But then you get here. I get to 53. I'm about to be 54 in October. And I was like, this feels great. Yeah. I wouldn't go back if you paid me. Right. I would not. I really would not.

And so I don't know. And then that's the thing, like even every brilliant thing when I say, like it came and found me, what a delight. I mean, it was a dazzling experience at 53 to just try, do something completely new, like dazzling. Like, I felt like I wanted to look at little me and be like, look at what we're capable of. How incredible, you know. So who knows? I don't know. And that kind of stuff makes you wonder, well, what's around the next corner, right? And you just keep walking and see what's there. Yeah, and it's really, and it's kind of nice that you can't see around the corner. It is. And trusting that, Like, things are conspiring for your good. It's good.

Yeah. Well, I hope so. I hope they don't put you in a canoe and put you out to pasture. I don't really like canoes. I would run into the ground. Do you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, I think I don't want to get in a canoe.

I don't think I'm the, I think it's not good use of me to row a canoe. You know? Next travel show, they're going to put you in a canoe. Not getting in a canoe. I'm not going to get it. And by the way, let's just name it here. I'm also never going to base jump, okay? Okay. I'm not going to do. Let's just say it now. Because we started the interview with a base jump.

And I just want to bring it back just so for clarity for the universe. Since things come to me, I just want to be clear, base jumping is not going to happen. If that's around the next corner, you're going to keep walking. It's a no. Do you know what I mean? And I understand that no is a complete sentence. That's a no. Tracy, congratulations and everything. So happy to see you. So happy to see you. Always. Thank you. After our conversation in the hotel room there at the Sherry Netherlands, we high. popped up, rode down the elevator, and I got a tour of the lobby, of what it was like walking up the sidewalk of Fifth Avenue as a little girl in through those revolving doors, and an introduction to George, who is still the elevator operator. He's been there for 46 years, was running the elevators when Tracy was a little girl. She was overcome with emotion when we arrived at first,

and she first saw that he was still there. She remembers everybody who worked in the building. So a little tour of the lobby in a trip down memory lane with Tracy Ellis Ross. So in this lobby, I've always had, you know, delusions of grandeur. And I always, when I was a kid, I wanted to be a grown-up. And so I had this book that was a really fat book from the library about horses. I never read it. But I would sit on that couch over there. And I would flip through it as if I was just,

you know, don't mind me. I'm just in the lobby reading. Oh, wow. Feeling sophisticated. Exactly. That's what women do. They read books from the library in the lobby. You're flipping photographs of horses. No, it was actually a book you should read, but I wasn't reading it. Now I read books. But I was just pretending. I would look at it long enough to think that's how long that page would have taken to read. Flip. Yeah. And how old would you be at that point? I think it was like eight. Yeah.

And then I also made a key chain. I didn't need a key. The elevator would come off on our floor. But I made a key chain with hairpins. Oh. And I hooked them on the thing. So they would jingle. That's fun.

My keys and my book. You were such a grown-up, right? Yes. Yes. And then I would get on the elevator. And you would see. And I would see. Yeah, there he is.

George. This guy. This is George. I mean, come on. So George, it was Victor, you, Ernie, and Frank. Correct. George has been here for 45 years. Is that right, George, 45 years?

45. Do you remember a little Tracy running through these halls in your elevator? I do. Yeah? I do. And he's not saying a word. It's probably for the best. The NDA still holds.

That's hilarious. It's so. wonderful to see you. It's wonderful. Yeah. Do you think you'll be here until you decide to stop working? Yeah.

You're not going anywhere at this point. Just take it day by day. Take it day by day. Well, I'm just... Dresi's supposed to remember everything including the bench. Yes. It feels like the same.

It's the same. The only thing that's different, George, is this screen that's on here. Yeah, yeah. So, because you guys used to have to do it automatically. Yeah, exactly. So this is a lot easier to navigate now.

Exactly. But they kept everything else the same. Because we used to, if you come back in, you'll see. But we used to follow the numbers up there as opposed to over here. There were two little things up there. Exactly. She calls any trouble? I'm going to get something out of you, George.

Nothing, he says nothing. No, come on. He's not going to tell me. He's not going to tell me. Does this still open into Chippriani? It's only good things. Yeah, Chippiani. It does.

Okay, yeah. These are all the back doors. There's an elevator, I mean, a bathroom up there. there was bathroom up there before. Yeah, before that should be the lady's room. Okay. I mean, you still, you still got the layer of the land. That's the mail shoot.

But yeah, so this used to be how we watched the floor that it was on. And you see, we got lucky because I was the 31st floor. Right. So ours actually was a number that it would hit. And yeah, but like that little light thing, like it's all the same. The only difference is that now it's an automated fancy elevator. Exactly. Does the letterbox still work?

Do people still send it down or no? Yeah, I mean, basically, I mean, I don't recommend it because it could get caught up there, go to cat a corner. So just bring it down there and just let it do his thing and be sent out. Yeah. And then, so these two elevators do all the floors, and that one only goes up halfway. So that would not get us up to 31. As you can tell, it only went to 20. Yeah.

So these are the... Those were the two. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. How exciting. How fun to see you two back together. Yeah.

It's so amazing. Yeah. Incredible. Thank you, when did you move out? We left here in, we, I don't remember when we sold it, but we moved out, it was probably like 89, something like that when we actually moved out. Yeah. Amazing.

Amazing. Yeah, 79 we got here. Seventy-nine, yeah. Yeah. You got here three years before I said. started. Yep. Wow. Amazing. Amazing. Where were you, what were you born? I was born in L.A. and I was born in 72, so I'm 53 now. Oh, okay. Yeah. I mean, I was like eight and nine. Yeah, so you aren't a baby. Yeah. You were, you know, a little annoying kid with glasses.

We all started young and a little, disciplined until we became disciplined. That's exactly right, until we grown up and being home grown up. Yeah, exactly, exactly. That's how it is. I'm so happy to see you. Good to see it. Thanks to meet you, George. Thanks for spending some time with us.

It's a privilege. The privilege is my. Sure. Sure. Long time. Long time. Old friends. Yeah.

Take care. Take care. Thanks, George. Nice to meet you, George. Nice to meet you, too. That's great. That's nuts. That's really special.

Yeah. So this is, the front desk was the same. There was, there is, there isn't anymore, but there used to be a little, like, shop over there. And then it became where you could go on the other side, and that was, yeah, there still is a little shop there. Oh, yeah. And then on the other side was where you could, because, you know, there were ATMs where you could get cash.

Oh, really? Yeah. They're a little bang. There were no ATMs. Right. It's so crazy. It's pre-ATM. Oh, my God.

That's so ridiculous. Yeah. And this sofa was a different color, but I do think all of this stuff is probably the original stuff. And obviously the floor is. And then the service entrance is that way. Yeah. And then for years, this is another memory I just had, for years, there were two operators because remember you couldn't, it was the house phone, right? Oh, yeah.

Right. So if you called, you couldn't call directly upstairs for years, you would have to call through the operator. Oh, wow. Yeah, and so you would call and they would connect you. And so they knew us. So it was to be like, can you, like, I need to call mom or whatever. That's so funny. Yeah. And they would just plug you right into mom. Wow. Yeah, it was the same two operators day and night. So like, you know, the same way it was the four of them, Frank, Victor, and everybody. Yeah. You had such an extraordinary upbringing for a million reasons. Yeah. Which raises the question how, I think, maybe other kids in your circumstance, maybe wouldn't have come through it the way you have, which is with humility and all the things that you have about you.

Do you feel that being Diana Ross's mom and all the things that came with that were impacted you in ways that changed you for the better even? Yeah. I mean, you know, my mom was a mom first. Yeah. But, you know, at Dalton, I grew up with Robert Redford's kids, Tom Broca's kids, Ralph Lauren's kids. Those are the ones that I'm thinking of offhand. And it was, that was taken off the table for us. So we were just kids doing kid things. And also the way my mom raised us.

that wasn't a factor and we were her priority. So that made my experience in the world not one of fame. There were ways that we had to navigate her fame. I mean, she was at the height of her career during those years. You know, like going to a school function or whatever. Like we had to navigate certain things and there were different safety things. but it was never presented to us by her as something other than just a response to her job. Right.

Not because she was something different. Right. And so, I don't know. I mean, it's definitely, you know, I mean, I have a very, I lived here. We lived on the 31st floor. Andy Warhol painted me. Marvin Gay called a house. You know what I mean?

There's things that are, I mean, you know, my mom. did the Super Bowl halftime show and came in a helicopter and left in a helicopter. And, you know what I mean? There's things that are like, it's not normal. People used to hang on on the car and we had security and all these things. But also, the way my mom framed it is that was her job. Yeah. You know, and so she woke us up for school in the morning.

She sat with us for breakfast. She recorded while we were sleeping. So our life was kids. Yeah, she was just mom. Yeah. Thank you for spending the time. Show us around. Well, I mean, this is like, what is it about 2026?

It's like me doing a lot of revisiting. Right? I mean, wow. Right? That's nutty. It's a good year for you. I mean, yeah. In many ways.

Here's what I'll say. Thank you for keeping me safe. Yeah. This building. Yeah. Such formative years in here. It's crazy. Yeah.

And seeing Frank. How about that? That. Wild. How about that? Wild, right? Incredible. Thank you.

Thank you. My big thanks to Tracy Ellis Ross for that tour of the Sherry Netherlands and for a great conversation, season two of solo traveling with Tracy Ellis Ross is out now on Roku. My thanks to all of you for listening again this week. If you want to hear more of these conversations with our guests every week, be sure to click follow. So you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every week. weekend on NBC to see these interviews with your own two eyes. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right

back here next week on the Sunday Sit Down podcast.