I heard that you just visited Europe, and you’re thinking about going to London.
Yeah, moving to London.
Is that a real thing?
That is real. I just loved it. I felt at home. You are from Philly. Have you been to London?
Yes, I love London.
Oh, man. I mean, I felt like I was home. The architecture, how old the city is. The gray, the rain—I just absolutely adored it. I felt at home. Abbott keeps me in LA full-time because it just is better to live here. But after the show I definitely could see myself moving out of the country.
And you talked about your husband—what do you guys do in your free time? What do you do to unwind?
Watch different shows and movies. Right now we’re watching Ahsoka. It’s a Star Wars show. What else do we do? Go to museums. We’re going to go see a Keith Haring exhibit, hopefully today at the Broad museum. Hang with our friends. We have a really good friend group here, and doing things like game nights and barbecues and eating. We hang in our pool. We hang with our cat.
What’s your cat’s name?
His name’s Jack. He’s incredible. He’s not that cool, but he’s cool because I love him.
Quinta, let me ask you this, and it’s one that has personal resonance for me. How did you learn how to actually be a boss?
For me, I feel like every job I had before Abbott led to being able to manage the show the way I would like to. I didn’t really have an image in my head of who to be like. I thought about what I appreciated every time I was an employee, and I thought about being a good community member. I love people. I love working in teams and groups, and I try to bring that to my role at Abbott. Even though I am the boss and head manager, I still try to just think of being a good community member, more than anything.
And most of the time, I would say 95% of the time, it really does work. I have the huge honor of being able to be number one on a call sheet and also number one of the production, which means I get to set the tone for how this production works. To me, our production is a community. Notice I didn’t say “family” because it’s not, technically. I’m very against Janine-with-the-family workplace. But I do think it’s a community. Let’s hear each other out. Let’s support each other. Let’s meet when things aren’t going well. Which, fortunately, isn’t often because those two things—hearing each other out and also respecting each other—to me, makes it a healthy environment.
It’s a great guiding principle, and it’s a great place to end. It’s been such an honor to talk to you.
Thank you, it’s been an honor to talk to you too.
Photographed by Joshua Kissi
Stylist: Zerina Akers
Hair: Marcia Hamilton
Makeup: Samuel Paul
Manicure: Temeka Jackson
Production: Carisa Barah/Small Battles
Location: Million Dollar Theatre
Braiders: Jehcara Summer Nelson and Dr. Kari Williams
Read all the Glamour 2023 Woman of the Year profiles here:
Millie Bobby Brown
Geena Rocero
America Ferrera
Mary J. Blige
Brooke Shields
Daring to Disrupt Selma Blair
