May 08, 2023

The Three Best Friends Who Started Mammoth Club

May 08, 2023/ Isa Adney

Molly, Alan, and Max had been friends for years before the August night in 2022 when they launched their new media company. That night their lives changed forever, and to date their videos total over 13.6M views. But this is not an overnight success story.

The countdown began on July 30, 2022, when Twitch streamer Max La Due left a blue, orange, and pink number 7 on the end screen after he ended one of his biweekly Twitch streams

That same day, YouTuber Molly McCormack posted an Instagram photo wearing a fanny pack that displayed the number 7.

Three days later, on August 2, 2022, Alan McCormack, Molly’s husband, posted an Instagram reel of him singing a song by the “imaginary band” 4-Town, emphasis on the 4.

February 24, 2023

When to Hold Tight and When to Let Go

February 24, 2023/ Isa Adney

Professional stunt performer and driver Richard Marrero has been in Marvel films and award-winning TV shows, but sometimes a creative life also means life of uncertainty.

This is a story about how he (and his wife Carly) deal with the ups and downs of a life in the entertainment industry, and what kept Richard going towards his dream even when it felt like it was going nowhere.

It starts with a breakfast burrito.

Years ago, my longtime writer-friend Carly Miller-Marrero mentioned a film project her husband, Richard Marrero, was hoping to be working on soon. She didn’t use any proper nouns, but shared that Richard might be stunt doubling an actor that he would be excited to work with. But of course, she said, you never know with these things.

October 12, 2022

Cookie Rockstar

October 12, 2022/ Isa Adney

“A mob is coming,” said a Disney Springs security team member to Steve Lewis. It was December 2020, and the second Gideon’s Bakehouse location was about to open at Disney Springs in Orlando, Florida. Traffic was backed up for miles, and those who did park ran into Disney Springs before it was open.

By the time it opened at 9:00AM, the line stretched through the entirety of Disney Springs property.

By 10:30AM, there was an eight-hour wait.

By 11:30AM, the wait was 12 hours. For a cookie.

But not just any cookie. A half-pound chocolate chip cookie that Steve, the founder of Gideon’s Bakehouse, spent 15 years creating.

January 22, 2020

Viral Hope

January 22, 2020/ Isa Adney

How digital painter Nikkolas Smith turns grief into art and activism.

I’ll never forget driving by the teddy bear.

It was two miles from where I lived. Where Trayvon Martin was last alive, walking with Skittles from the Sanford, FL 7-11 I got that bottle of water from that one time.

There were piles of flowers and cards, near the grass his shoes last touched, still growing.

There were piles of stuffed animals too. Reminders that this was just a kid.

A kid.

He should have been in school today. He should have been unfurling a day-old Skittles bag to finish whatever colors were left.

I kept driving, but I did not know where to go from here.

May 29, 2019

Stories that Last

May 29, 2019/ Isa Adney

Disney writer and director John Musker on writing with a collaborator, which feedback to take and which to ignore, and how to keep going when you’re stuck.

I almost expect the bunny to start talking to me.

I stare as it hops silently into the greenery outside the home of John Musker, the man who brought to life a mouse detective, a blue genie, a frog prince, an ocean voyager, and a little mermaid. I’ve been listening to John’s words since I was three-years old. I walk past the hiding bunny to John’s door, remembering the first time his art affected my life.

June 01, 2018

Childhood is Better than Awards

June 01, 2018/ Isa Adney

Oscar-winning songwriting team Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez on finding their dreams and what’s even better than winning an Oscar.

Today I saw the movie CoCo for the first time (spoiler alert: I cried 17 times).

Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez wrote the Golden-Globe and Oscar-nominated title song, “Remember Me,” for the Disney Pixar film, and I couldn’t help but smile as I watched the Golden Globes recently and caught a glimpse of them sitting in their finest at a round table with other artists I love (like the director and writer of Frozen, Jennifer Lee). A few months ago I sat at a square table on my porch in San Diego, California, phone in hand, about to call Kristen and Bobby.

April 11, 2018

Making a Living as an Artist

April 11, 2018/ Isa Adney

Disney artist Antonio Pelayo on the importance of practice and how to make a living as an artist.

It was one of those Instagram posts that make you scroll back up and stare.

It was more real than real.

And it wasn't done with a camera.

But with a pencil.

A pencil?!

January 20, 2017

When No One Will Hire You

January 20, 2017/ Isa Adney

Oscar-winning makeup artist Dave Elsey on what to do when no one will hire you for your dream job.

I wish you could hear Dave Elsey’s voice. It’s all kindness and wonder, wrapped up in an accent that makes me long for the two weeks I spent across England in my third year of college, climbing up moors with sheep everywhere, eating jacket potatoes in places called the “Red Lion,” and trying chana masala for the first time in London.

Also there was the Monet room, which I stumbled upon while lost, roaming the giant halls of the National Gallery in London, the art museum guarded by giant bronze Lions in Trafalgar Square. I stood in the exact center of the Monet room, equidistant from each painting, and slowly walked closer until my breath touched the paint.

February 22, 2016

Choosing Your Craft

February 22, 2016/ Isa Adney

Broadway performer Ashley Brown on what it means to really choose your craft and your dream.

My coat is linty. It’s January and it’s one of the first cold nights we’ve had in Florida in years. This coat – my favorite – goes down to my calves, with a long lapel that makes me feel like Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham in Downton Abbey, all dressed up for an ordinary dinner.

I try to get as much lint off as possible while I hustle from the parking garage across the street to Orlando’s new performing arts center. I want to look nice, sophisticated; I’m about to meet and interview a Broadway star, someone who originated Mary Poppins in New York and who’s played Belle on the stage, my childhood dream.