We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Phoenix Carlson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Phoenix, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

Two Lazy Dogs Media is named after my dogs; Tonks and Remus. It’s simple but it took me time to come up with something that I liked and that gave me joy whenever I said the name. I love names that don’t take themselves too seriously like Bad Robot, JJ Abram’s company, and I wanted something clever and unique. I think there’s power in names even a business name and whatever you name your company it is a reflection of who you are. When coming up with the name I also thought about how it would sound at the end of a movie or tv show, I imagined how it would sound when you say “brought to you by *insert name*” ya know kind of how many of us imagine winning an Oscar or a Grammy or any award. I spent time imagining how my business name would sound in various settings. I wanted to make sure it sounded right to me to hear my company name like that because I want it to be something I can take pride in that will stay with me throughout my career. I was exasperated trying to come up with something good that would hit all the right notes for me. While I was ruminating on a name I looked over at my dogs sleeping on the couch one day and I said out loud, “ya’ll are two lazy dogs” they didn’t move but in that moment I realized I had my name; they are also the two pups in my logo. It’s silly, simple, and wholly me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ll start at the beginning, I have been obsessed with filmmaking since I had access to a camera. Every home video has me saying “I wanna look, I wanna look” b/c I wanted to see what the camera saw. I still have that JVC VHS camera and bag that started it all. This desire to see from a different POV never left and has only grown into what I am today, someone that helps people tell their stories. I started filming and editing wedding videos in high school but quickly realized that is not a part of the industry I want to be in, I do not enjoy weddings but I know many folx who do and it’s a wonderful service to provide for a special day, its just not for me. After I went off to college I studied theatre and film. My journey through college is filled with ups and downs that ultimately lead me to Georgia State University where I finished my degree. While going to GSU I started making connections with fellow filmmakers and even met by best friend, may she rest in peace, who worked with me on a few short films! I’ve always been drawn to the editing part of the filmmaking process, I love stitching together the scenes and making something entirely different. I love that I can tell a story 1000 different ways with the same footage as an editor. I graduated in 2011 with no prospects at all but that year I went to Dragon Con, a massive convention in Atlanta that has a film festival and an entire panel track dedicated to film and I learned and made connections at this convention that I had never thought possible. Dragon Con opened the world of film to me in Atlanta. I met Ace Harney, a local filmmaker, and started working with them editing footage they filmed of local musicians. In this I got plugged into the community and found a group of people that loved filmmaking as much as I do. The Atlanta film community is something very different than Hollywood, its kinder and more compassionate and cares about the story. The community in Atlanta is something different and unique and I’m proud that is where I started.

Unfortunately, in 2016 my world started crashing. I lost my best friend, my uncle, both remaining grandmothers, and some other things that I don’t wish to discuss here. It was rough but it led me to a new world, the online world, of storytelling. I started streaming online on Twitch just playing video games at first and ended up joining a community called GirlStreamers. This community opened up a path to me that I didn’t know existed, podcasting. I wanted to show the world that there are a ton of women gamers out there, one of the main reasons GirlStreamers was created. I spent 3 yrs producing a podcast under the community and have moved on to producing several other podcasts and embracing storytelling online through sites like YouTube, TikTok, Twitch, etc. In occupying these spaces I learned that so many people do not know their own rights in this country which is how Learning the Law, my current podcast, came about. Every step of my journey I’ve learned something new and embraced it and brought it along with me. I’m not making movies but I’m making a difference and I’m still telling stories which was really all my little child self ever wanted to do. I love being a storyteller.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The joy of seeing someone’s story come to life. It’s that simple, People want to tell their story and I want to help them tell it and when their stories get told they feel heard and if I can give someone a voice that otherwise never had one, I’ve done my job.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This is a recent lesson and one I’m still unpacking but I had to unlearn white supremacy. As a white woman, actually nonbinary but I acknowledge what I am perceived as, anyway, it took me a long time to recognize the unconscious white supremacy that I grew up in. I grew up in the south and something that we don’t recognize is the white supremacy culture taught to us as children. It’s insidious. I started unlearning it yrs ago but I think it’s something that all white people have to unlearn. We have to let go of those things that hold us back, the idea that everything has to be perfect, the idea that if someone else gets the job there’s no work for me, the idea that we’re all in competition together all of these things are part of white supremacy culture. There’s room at the table for everyone. We need to acknowledge our history, our place in it and how we continue to uphold these harmful things, and change it. But we can’t change it, if we don’t acknowledge it first. My world has opened up so much more since I’ve started my anti-racism journey and unlearning the white supremacy that was taught to me. I don’t think this is something that is on purpose, in some cases yes, but I think for most white people we’re unaware of what we’re upholding which is why I talk openly about it on the podcast b/c I want us to be aware and to do better and the first place to start with change is myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://twolazydogs.site/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/phoenixnymphy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/twolazydogsmedia/
• Other: Threads: https://www.threads.net/@phoenixnymphy

Image Credits

The male in the photo is my husband Ron Carlson, he’s also my partner and cohost for the podcast Learning the Law. I own all the pictures.