Lucy, how did you develop passion for music, which was always your first love?

I was a child who loved escaping in my head and had a huge imagination. I lived and breathed for Disney movies and I would make up these plays and sing songs in my room. I developed a love of singing as a child and started taking singing lessons in Tennessee where I'm from. I just loved putting on a show and entertaining. And I kind of had this feeling, even as a little kid, that that would be my life. I really followed music for a lot of my teen years. I thought that would actually be the avenue that I wanted to pursue, but then I sort of realized that I loved people, I loved observing people, I loved impersonating people and finding characteristics of people that I found were interesting, so I thought maybe I could be an actress. That's when I started taking acting lessons.

How would you describe yourself as an artist? What usually inspires you?

Maybe even to expand on that, just who I am as a person. I'm very heart-centered, I'm always trying to lead with authenticity and as I've gotten older, I feel more rooted in who I am as a human and I think I can lead from that place. Whereas when you're younger, you're trying to follow the crowds and the trends. I think because I'm such a heart-centered person that bleeds into the work that I like to do too, because I'm now at this point where I just want to do things that have an impact or matter or I want to be a part of projects that have a bigger message. And sometimes that message can just be to spread a little joy. I feel really lucky that I'm a creative and that I have that outlet for me because it's almost like therapy.

As an actress, you get to experience being in touch with fashion all the time. How exciting is it to wear all these different outfits and explore different styles?

It's so fun. I always say if you're building out a character for a job and getting to pick out that character's wardrobe, that's so much fun to me. As people, the clothes that we put on each morning is such a reflection of who we are as a person inherently and also how we feel about ourselves. If we want to be seen, if we kind of want to hide in the crowd, all these little details matter. That part of my job is super fun, but then I get to go to New York for Fashion Week, where I get to wear these really beautiful clothes. The craftsmanship that goes into some of these clothes is truly incredible. Behind every beautiful dress is hundreds of people that have put in hours of work to hand sew. Everything is art. I look at it as everything is someone's dream come to life. And so when I'm here for fashion week and getting to wear these clothes, that was a dream that was on a page that then came to life.

Would you say that you have a beauty or wellness ritual that is on your everyday schedule?

I am a self-care queen. I will make the time always. And by that I don't mean go to the spa and get the mani-pedi. I definitely do those things as well, but by self-care I mean it's vital for me to take the time out of each day to check in with myself. I am big on a mindfulness practice, so that could be meditation or journaling or going for a long walk or just really getting clear on how I feel. It's so hard for us sometimes to even pinpoint how we feel on any given day.

Who or what has been the biggest influence in your life?

I feel like the biggest influence on my life has been my life experience, if that makes sense. All the things I've been through and all the people I've met within that old version of myself have been the biggest influence. I think that goes for everyone. The past 20 years of my life in LA have been sort of a chess game of getting to this point. I'm constantly learning and growing from my family and a solid group of female friends that really have helped build me up when I needed it and supported me.

Is there a specific moment that you could pinpoint as the one that has taught you the biggest lesson in life?

I've never had like aha moment where it was night and day, but we have these micro moments all the time, where the world is showing us what we want or what we don't want, or what works for our lives or what doesn't work for our lives. And that's where social media and our phones can get a little confusing because we all know intuitively what we want. We all have that inner guiding light. But when we are on our phone or we see all these things, it gets a little confusing to differentiate what's mine and what's theirs. We all hit that moment where our intuition is really strong and we can be like "This is who I am. That's what I want. This is what I want out of my career. These relationships don't work for me anymore".

I guess I did have a pivotal moment a couple years ago where I was like "I've got to start setting boundaries in my life". And that can simply be saying no to going to dinner or it can be something bigger. And that would be my biggest advice to anyone really, get clear on what your boundaries are. When you start respecting your boundaries, other people will respect you and the right people will enter your life and the people that don't work for you will exit. I do remember that moment vividly and that was almost kind of like a light switch, but those like little hints are there all the time for us.

This summer, you teamed up with PetSmart to champion pet adoption. Why did you decide to partner up with them?

I love animals so much. I have always advocated for animals, I have always gravitated towards the dog in the room. I'll go to a party and I'll be on the floor with the dog. I have two dogs of my own, Elvis and Ethel. I think that all animals, but especially dogs are just the biggest gift. We don't deserve them, they're amazing. And they don't have a voice, so having people step in to advocate for them is very important. Elvis was a gift from someone I love very much and he's seven. And then Ethel is three and I adopted her from a rescue in LA. These rescues are so overloaded with dogs right now, there's so many dogs that need a home.

You have been open about your own journey through mental health and wellness. How did your dogs help you on this journey?

I don't know if they're aware of it or not, but they can, without saying words, remind me to be gentle with myself and to be patient and to show myself compassion. My dog Elvis can give me a certain look and when he does, I know I need to chill out, calm down. It's also funny because Ethel will leave when I get a little too anxiety driven. There's a reason animals are called emotional support. I can't really even articulate what they do, but there's something about it that just calms my spirit and reminds me that I'm okay and they help me stay really present. There's something about a dog that keeps you in the moment and it's nice to have that responsibility and accountability towards them.

Lucy, what are your plans for the future of your career?

Every time I've tried to have plans for my career, somehow my career keeps surprising me. I do have all these big goals and dreams, and I believe in manifesting and getting really clear on the things I want to accomplish, but then I'll always be thrown a surprise that I never saw coming. So my whole thing is remaining open. A couple years ago I said no more music and now I'm considering I'd love to do theater. I feel like I'm in a phase now where I'm developing some stuff behind the camera, producing more. I have goals of writing. I really have a story that's very personal to me that I want to put on paper. It's just having the bravery to start or complete that.