Beauty Spotlight on Wendy Molyneux

Welcome back to the Maya Chia Beauty Spotlight, our blog series where we highlight amazing women doing interesting things in the world. This month, we got to interview a writer/creator/showrunner/genius who is all over your television (or iPad or phone screen or wherever you consume your media these days!). Read on to get a little peek behind the scenes. 

It takes less than five seconds of talking to Wendy Molyneux to decide that she is likely the smartest person you’ll ever meet. You might feel the impulse to start taking notes while she talks, but you can’t, because she’s so funny and charming that you will definitely be too distracted to write anything down. That’s okay, however, because we had the great honor here at the Maya Chia Beauty Spotlight of having Wendy write down some of her signature wisdom for us, thus eliminating the need for us to break the trance and take notes. Plus, it makes it easier to share with you!

For anyone who doesn’t know, Wendy is the co-creator of the animated show The Great North, which she runs with her sister and writing partner Lizzie Logelin-Molyneux. The pair have also been writers on Bob’s Burgers since 2010. Both The Great North and Bob’s are available in full on Hulu, and air Sunday nights on Fox’s Animation Domination. They scripted the film “The People We Hate At The Wedding,” which premieres on Amazon and Amazon Prime this Friday November 18th and stars Kristen Bell, Alison Janney, Cynthia Addai-Robinson and Ben Platt.

She’s also a compassionate, thoughtful, hilarious mom of four, wife, friend, sister, daughter, etc., and, honestly, we don’t know how she does it. Seriously. Does she sleep? How does she do it all, especially while being so darn charismatic and delightful? What is the secret, WENDY?!?!?! 

Well, she doesn’t exactly spill everything below, but Wendy did give us some incredible pearls of wisdom wrapped in insight, and covered in a fine dusting of relatable humor and wit, so you’re going to want to read this, save it, and share it with a friend. Or eat it? I’m not sure. Either way, enjoy, and then go watch “The People We Hate At The Wedding,” on Amazon and Amazon Prime, after which you will want to binge The Great North.

Maya Chia Beauty: If your 10-years-ago self could see your life now, what would surprise her the most about it?

Wendy Molyneux: Ten years ago I had one kid and now I have four. I’d be happy about it, but what an absolutely rude surprise to spring on someone.

MCB: What is one thing you do every day?

WM: I compulsively tell my kids that I love them. This is probably destroying them in some way that’s yet to be identified. Please interview me again in twenty years to see if they survived their clingy mother. Creating a little suspense here to keep readers interested!

MCB: Where would you go if you could travel somewhere right now, all expenses paid?

WM: I mostly just want to lie down. Where do they have that?

MCB: What are your favorite Maya Chia products - and why? 

WM: I like the orangey oil, the orangey face paste and the cleanser. Essentially before I got these products my face was like the shot of an old dry cracked desert highway you see at the beginning of edgy movies. But now? It’s like a beautiful satin-y pillow. I’m truly surprised people haven’t tried to use my face to take a quick nap. A thousand stars. 

MCB: What's your "sliding doors" moment? Some time when your life almost took a totally different direction.

WM: I actually met my husband at a screening of Sliding Doors! I’m just kidding, but wouldn’t that be incredible? But here is a true story that I swear is one hundred percent fact. Before we went to London many years ago I kept telling my now-husband that if we saw Hugh Grant I’d leave him in a heartbeat. And then our second night in London we RANDOMLY SAW HUGH GRANT at a restaurant. Anyway I got engaged to Jeff on that trip, mostly because Hugh simply did not look at me, but is that not SPOOKY and THRILLING!?!?

MCB: Who is the person you wish you could talk to more?

WM: Hugh Grant.

MCB: What is the biggest challenge you face now or have faced in the past? How did you overcome it?

WM: I’m definitely not talking about that,  that shall remain with me in the haunted confines of my heart, BUT starting and running our own show, The Great North, with my sister Lizzie has been both a huge challenge and a great joy, that I wouldn’t trade for anything. I wouldn’t say we’ve overcome it, we’re doing it, and leaning on another person always makes everything easier. Big believer in partnership. Whether it’s with Hugh Grant or not.

MCB: What do you wish you knew/learned sooner?

WM: There’s a recipe for Oven Chicken Shawarma on The New York Times Cooking site that I’m pretty jazzed to know about now. I know this was probably supposed to be a deep meaningful question, but my answer is: chicken.

MCB: What is one easy thing you do to be more "green" or eco-conscious?

WM: Please see above answer regarding wanting to lie down. I am afraid all I do is recycle. I promise to spend my retirement atoning, and upon death I shall compost the heck outta my corpse.

MCB: What's the best advice you've ever received - and think other people might benefit from hearing?

WM: I’m a big fan of the phrase: Things that can’t go on, don’t. If you are in the thick of a very thorny situation, it might take three hours to resolve, or it might take three years, but if it feels untenable, it’s good to remember that things that can’t go on don’t.

MCB: What is something you're really proud of?

WM: This answer is also, regrettably, chicken.