MADETOLEAD
MADEXXX
I really think it comes from that inner love that the
confidence will exude because I don't care who’s in
the room. I’m in the room, you know? I'm blessed
to be in a room with the greats of our time and I'm
blessed to sit at the table but at the same time I'm
not coming to take, I’m coming to give.
And I think if many women adopt this place of
giving, that they would feel even stronger because
I know that there are different actresses that are
coming under me that I have poured into that I'm
seeing myself duplicated and I can be proud of that.
And that gives me another confidence. I'm always
you know in a place of creating something that's
bigger than myself. And then there's a piece of it
that you realize it's not you. My character Rondell
Lancaster realizes it’s about her but it's bigger than
her. It's about her community. And so when you are
speaking out on behalf of a whole community, you
better have some confidence! When you have a
passion in your heart and you realize if you don't say
something no one is going to say something, and it’s
riding on you, then you kind of get the confidence
from out of nowhere. It just kind of falls on you.
MADE How did you prepare for your new role
of Rondell Lancaster in Ambitions? What can we
expect seeing it for the first time?
BRELY When I say (laughs) there was no time to
prepare for the role, I mean it! When I tell you I was
born to be Rondell Lancaster…I have been blessed
with this role literally by walking to my lunch
[break] on my first series regular which is called Last
Call - it’s on Bounce.
When I tell you that night I had to go home and
prepare all of my scenes for the episode that we
would be shooting that day, I didn’t know how I
was going to pull that off. When I read Rondell,
I thought, “I know this woman.” Like, “I would so
stand up for my neighborhood, I’m that girl.” And
so, it just gelled.
MADE So, being in the right place at the right
time seems to be a consistent theme?
BRELY Yea, I guess you could say right place
right time, that’s cool. But Lord, if I wasn’t in the
mode of not aspiring but pursuing and having an
animalistic, go get it attitude… like I’m doing the
impossible thing. There would be some people
that would say it would be impossible to be on one
show and book another one on your lunch break. I
keep proving that impossibility - it really means “I’m
Possible.” I really speak what I live. Gosh, I’ll say a
thing and a thing will happen.
MADE What are you doing to keep your mind-
set in that space of constant positivity?
I think it's my faith in God number one that I know
even all the bad works out for my good. So the jour-
ney becomes enjoyable no matter what happens.
Because obviously there are things up days and
down days that will come but I realize what I stand
on is that it all works for my good no matter what.
But my inner work is language. I'm so drawn to
language. It is part of my life's work is to (at least one
of them) get people to stop saying “Girl, you killin’
it.” I’m like “Am I killing it or am I giving it life. I
took the words on a page and I took the breath in
my body to [blows air] … to give it life. I didn’t kill
nothing.” And their like, “Whoa!” And so I’m like,
imagine if we really checked our language? There’s
something to be said about frivolous talk. If we
get real on purpose about what comes out of our
mouth, imagine what we could create.
You’re successful before you even get started if
your mindset is right. We’re thermostats and not
thermometers. A thermometer tells you the tem-
perature of the room right now and it could go up
or down. But if you a thermostat, you’re like, “I’m set
to success, baby! There is no failure. So even when
I lose I’m winning!” Because there was somebody
in that room that was supposed to see me or I left
someone in that room with a smile in the moment.
My team, my agent no longer uses the word “audi-
tion” around me. Oh, no no no no no. I don't go on
auditions. And there like, “What?” I said see, “I use
[proper] language. I take meetings.” And they were
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