687 Believe Through Rejection with Jenna Ushkowitz

“You have to keep in mind the right project will come at the right time.” -Jenna Ushkowitz I am a huge GLEE fan. I used to watch all the episodes- I even bought a TV so that I could watch GLEE. I was kind of a freak. That’s why I’m so grateful and excited for you to connect with a new friend of mine, Jenna Ushkowitz. Jenna is one of the original cast members of the show GLEE which was a huge hit for six years. She’s a South Korean-born actress and singer known for her performances in Broadway musicals, and for her role as Tina Cohen Chang on GLEE. She’s also the co-founder of an organization called Kindred which is a foundation for adoption. She also wrote a book called Choosing Glee. In this 5 Minute Friday, Jenna talks about how she handles the pressures of Pilot Season in Los Angeles. It’s not always easy. Learn how to handle rejection in a healthy way on Episode 687. In This Episode You Will Learn: The ups and downs of pilot season (1:30) Jenna’s path to GLEE (2:15) The tools Jenna uses to overcome rejection (2:30) The three truths she lives by (3:50) Get more from Lewis! Get my New York Times Bestselling book, Make Money Easy! Get The Greatness Mindset audiobook on SpotifyText Lewis AIYouTubeInstagramWebsiteTiktokFacebookX

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Lewis Howes?

  This is Five Minute Friday.

• 0:10Lewis Howes?

  Welcome everyone to this episode. I'm so grateful and excited for you to be here right now to connect with a new friend of mine Jenna Ushkowitz. Now, for those that don't know me that well, I am a huge Glee fan, like crazy Glee fan. I would watch all the episodes. I bought a TV just to watch Glee. I was kind of a freak. And Jenna is one of the original cast members of the show Glee, which was a huge hit for six years. She is a South Korean born actress and singer, known for her performances on Broadway musicals and for her role as Tina Cohen Chang on Glee.

• 0:51Lewis Howes?

  She is also a co-founder of an organization called Kindred, which is the Foundation for Adoption, with a friend of hers named Samantha. And she wrote a book in 2013 called Choosing Glee.

• 1:05Speaker 01

  I've been going through it because this is pilot season. And for people who don't know, pilot season is like when all the new TV shows do their pilots and then the networks look and say, we're gonna pick three out of the 10. So, all the characters are being cast right now and I've gone out on a plethora of auditions. And they're great. You know, they're going really well. You're making relationships, even if you don't get the job and you're making good impressions.

• 1:28Lewis Howes?

  But how do you handle it?

• 1:30Speaker 01

  So, it's hard. I mean, literally day to day, it's up and down. I'm like, I love it. And then the next day, I'm like, I hate everything. I'm quitting. You have to keep in mind, the right project's gonna come at the right time. Not every project. I mean, I'm 110% in everything I do, from waking up in the morning and drinking my coffee. Like, you know, it's just like, everything is... Yes, exactly. So, you know, you can't get married to the parts before you book them. I have to like, let it go. Let it go. And you have to remember that it's just the right timing and the right character and it's gonna all happen. Like, there was a pilot I did for Disney years, years ago. And during that time, I would have been for the six years, it didn't get picked up. Well, it did, but I got recast, actually. They brought in different woman to play the role.

• 2:16Speaker 01

  And had I done the show while it was running, I wouldn't have been able to audition for it. So like, everything just, it all makes sense.

• 2:24Lewis Howes?

  Of course, yeah.

• 2:26Speaker 01

  So that's what I keep in mind, but I don't, it's, it's really like a day to day. And I live, I'm living with my best friend Kevin, who plays Artie, right now. And we're both auditioning and we keep each other sane. Uh, here, here in LA, I'm staying with him.

• 2:40Lewis Howes?

  Gotcha.

• 2:41Speaker 01

  Yeah, and we're great. We are, we've always been the best of friends and, you know.

• 2:46Lewis Howes?

  He's very talented, too.

• 2:47Speaker 01

  He's in, he's insane.

• 2:48Lewis Howes?

  His harmonies, whenever he sings harmonies, I'm like.

• 2:50Speaker 01

  And he can dance, and he can sing, and he can write, and he's just smart.

• 2:53Lewis Howes?

  The episode where he got to dance, I was like, yes.

• 2:55Speaker 01

  I know, we were all so happy.

• 2:57Lewis Howes?

  It was amazing.

• 2:57Speaker 01

  And on tour, like, we'd wake up in the morning and go get breakfast, and then they'd go around the city together. So like, everything we did was just, yeah. I don't know what I'd do without him, but even during pilot season now, like, we keep each other in check. We run lines with each other, we.

• 3:11Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 3:13Speaker 01

  When we're having a bad day, like, we'll go and, he's like, let's just go get, like, cheeseburgers or something.

• 3:18Lewis Howes?

  That's cool.

• 3:19Speaker 01

  And, you know, try and forget about it. So it is good to have a support system here.

• 3:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, it's hard, though. It is hard, hard, hard. There are days, we both had one really bad day this time. We're laying on the couch, like, what are we doing?

• 3:34Lewis Howes?

  Especially when you were on the top of the world.

• 3:36Speaker 01

  Yeah, I mean, you go from something and then you look at each other, we're like, I missed that show.

• 3:41Speaker 01

  It's one of those things sometimes.

• 3:43Lewis Howes?

  Amazing.

• 3:44Speaker 01

  My truth is, living for the bigger picture. Living for the greater good. Knowing that what I was doing left a mark that was bigger than myself.

• 4:00Speaker 01

  Number two would be living with the awareness of living with self-worth and self-love. Or trying to every day. And three, one of the, the third one would be.

• 4:21Speaker 01

  Something about living a life that is not led by fear, but led by challenges that allowed you to expand and grow and learn continually.