Photos Andrew DeFrancesco | Words Tamara Rappa

Non-binary content creator of Iranian descent Cyrus Veyssi has hundreds and hundreds of devoted followers across social media. Their likes on TikTok alone total 48 million, and now they have the ultimate platform on Amazon's Prime Video. Breaking new TV ground is Influenced, from none other than Reese Witherspoon's Hello Sunshine, a fresh format talk show-variety show of sorts, led by five distinct social media figures. Veyssi brings their palpable passion for all things beauty and wellness to the individually themed, ten-episode series geared towards Gen Z but packed with pop culture insights that are universal. To uplift is at the core of their content, and Cyrus does just that with every episode. For Veyssi, it's all about celebrating the beauty of individuality and how, always a work-in-progress, confidence is a rocky road you tend to and cultivate---no matter who you are. And to that we say, yes please. Read on and discover how self care and care for others coupled with a sunny outlook is what Cyrus is serving when you tune into Amazon's appealing new reality forum in the first of our features to drop in our new Screened Unscripted series. The cream of today's influencer-crop who garnered a juicy follow from Reese and who has been featured in Forbes and Cosmo and worked with brands such as Dior, Maybelline, and MAC discusses vulnerability and visibility, shares their favorite episodes, talks tantalizing topics, shares the BTS backstory, and much more.

Influenced is a talk show-variety show with five co-hosts. How were you chosen?  I had been creating content centered around my version of beauty and confidence. Hello Sunshine, [Reese Witherspoon's] production company reached out to me about some other projects, and they sort of just soft-sounded that they had a talk show for Gen Z in the works. It was very alluring to me, but I really didn't think anything of it. During that time, Reese followed me on TikTok and I could tell that things were getting a little more serious. We all got called in before the show filmed to do chemistry reads and given topics to talk about. I basically had to talk to a wall for a day! Then they selected a group of us, a group who had great rapport. I think each of us reflects a certain passion; one that we lean into and focus on for the show. I just keep calling it an 'orchestra'. We bring something really valuable to the show, each within our own lane.

Were there any mandates from Reese Witherspoon or Hello Sunshine about what needed to be captured in order to realize the vision for this series?  Not from Reese directly, but we worked with producers and what they really wanted from us, was to really lean into transparency and vulnerability. That was to be the biggest focus. For example, I was to talk about beauty and skincare and fashion...the subjects I've built a platform around discussing...but to make sure I'm doing it in a way that speaks to my identity. It's such a massive platform that Prime Video gave us (and me, being first generation and non-binary) for talking without feeling filtered. Don't have a filter; talk about the things---and the conversation would be guided. That was really the energy around it.

What were the conversations like with production about hosts and guests getting personal for the show and how far to take it? On set there was a universal sense of respect for everyone's boundaries, which is so important.

Deeply personal and sometimes tough-to-talk-about stories are a core part of the series' content. How transparent were you and are you planning to be on Influenced? That's a good question. I've very much decided that I'd have boundaries for certain topics, topics that I think are healthier for me to navigate in my world offline, but generally for Influenced, I was all-in.  I was so vulnerable with my dad. Even though we'd been posting on social media, it was so different. For me the biggest thing was, I am going be really unapologetic about being non-binary and being brown and being first generation. It would've been really easy for me to think maybe it's a little bit too much for the audience. The team kept reassuring me that it's the reason why they wanted me. Frankly, it was a wake up call for me to tap into my vulnerability and be okay with sharing that part of myself. There are people who watched, and because of the transparency, I resonated so much with them. I'm so happy we were all so honest.

Can you share some BTS around the episode where your father was brought in, and as a surprise to you, to talk about your relationship and how the two of you have shared that relationship on social media. I think a lot of people will think it was staged. It was not. I was truly shaking. I was shocked. I couldn't believe that they flew him in. I'm sure they prepped him, but the funny thing is, when we sat down on the couch, I was like, 'Oh my God, this is really happening!' I was so worried because he isn't media-trained. He's not the most confident when he's not prepared, you know? The part that happened off-camera that was so special, was when I brought him inside my trailer. It was one of the first times I saw him get very emotional; he was able to see my dream, physically, in person. To him, it was Hollywood, on set, in a trailer. I don't think he ever thought he would see me do something like this. We were both really emotional. Oh my God, it was amazing. It was a lot. There was a lot for me to process, but most of it was just joy, pure joy.

Your father is terrific on the episode. I'm so proud of him. People assume he's not as shy as he is. He's a shy person. I think he did the best that he could. There are like forty people on a set. I really do commend him how he did, and for how he reacted to the situation. It was just such an amazing moment.

The format is so wonderfully conversational, which is refreshing and feels more organic than traditional talk shows. How much is improv and unscripted, and how much isn't? How does production capture all the good unscripted moments? Some of it was really just luck. We did have the themes to work with for each episode. The way that it worked is that we were given a general outline of the flow. 'We're going to film a segment where Cyrus is talking about beauty hacks, and then we're going go into conversation about it'. We had episode outlines and we'd have to stick to thirty minutes so it was amazing to use earpieces. If we were talking and if I said something on-point, one of the producers would be able to tell me to keep talking about it. It was collaborative...that's the perfect word to describe it. Those moments when me and Tefi and Achieng and Taryn and Eyal take out our phones and decide to post a random video---that's mostly unscripted. We are bringing a side of our social media life onto the screen for Influenced. You'd be surprised how much of the season was ad-libbed and unscripted. If we missed something or someone's mic wasn't that loud, we would just go back and rewind for two minutes. So we'd sort of have a different version of the conversation to bring some authenticity to the topic. The writers were so generous. They'd say, 'If this doesn't sound like your voice, just scrap it, don't even read it'. That was such a testament to how profoundly trusting the writers and the producers were. There were so many different producers producing different episodes of the show. All of them shared that notion that things would sound weird if they weren't in our voices. They'd say, 'Do us a favor, be honest about how this feels'. And that was the best feeling to have, on set.

Were you tasked with choosing topics, and if so, how exactly do you get to bring them to the table?  We did a table read, they told us that there were going to be ten episodes, and they gave us loose themes. We read through each of the scripts---the flow and the outline for what we were going to talk about. I'd then have to opportunity to say that I wanted to integrate a little soundbite about beauty that I think would work so well. We literally had pieces of paper with our own notes for every episode. While we were given the themes, production knew that there were topics that they weren't going to hit when they developed the show, ones they needed to rely upon us to bring to the table. I'm so grateful that we were able to have a read-through of the flow for every episode. We filmed two sometimes even three episodes in one day, but they made sure to leave time for us to talk about everything,

It's a testament to all of you as creators; you know how to do this. You have the group chemistry, but you also know how to have the conversations and bounce everything off of one another to make the topics organically flow. 100%. It's been serendipitous...they told me who the two hosts in my chemistry read would be. I thought, how crazy that they happen to also be two people I've chosen to be friends with in this creator world of ours. It was one of those moments where we were trying not to get too excited. But once I was told who was in the chemistry read, I was like, we got this. I know we're going to get cast. There's no way we're not going to make this happen. Part of it has been luck and timing...being put together for Influenced. Immediately the producers saw the chemistry between all of us. Hopefully everybody else does, too.

Where do you personally rabbit-hole most on social media?  You know what's really funny? It's not beauty and skincare; where I rabbit-hole is a very niche side of the internet. I have a lot of anxiety. For example, l can't travel to very far destinations. I get really anxious about what would happen if I was far away in the Arctic. I watch videos of these bloggers who live in the jungle or who live in the middle of nowhere. Watching them is a way for me to almost live through and work on my anxiety. It sounds weird, but like, there's this one...

...It doesn't sound weird. That's something you should talk about. It could be a topic for an entire Influenced episode: utilizing social media as a next-level self help tool. Yes! Really!There's this blogger Cecilia [Blomdahl] she's in Svalbard, the northern most town in the world, in the Arctic. I watch her forty-minute YouTube videos and vlogs and they bring me so much peace. The thing that gives me so much anxiety...is the thing that this person lives, every day.  It's so impactful for me to know that life like this exists. I rabbit-hole in this illustrious fantasy world that I don't live in. It's interesting, also, to watch the new generation of beauty creators who have always been told they're 'non-traditional'---such a coded term---and seeing them thrive. There's this one creator who is South Sudanese. She has extremely dark skin and went viral for calling out a lot of brands for not having shade ranges for her in 2024, brands that we historically have thought were inclusive. I rabbit-hole on that kind of content because I find it so profoundly impactful. When people use the term 'influence', that is influence. I tried to bring my own version of it to our show by talking about my specific experience with beauty.

How has this new format of communication expanded you as an artist and creator? It's definitely shown me that I'm capable of so much more. The medium of of a talk show makes me think about the goal of maybe having my own one day. What would it look like? Also, frankly, it's given me a lot of industry credibility in terms of, look at this beautiful show; here are these amazing topics; look at these things that are resonating with people: this is what happens when you platform diverse and intersectional people. It's proven all of the people who said it was never going work, wrong; it's proven all the people who said I was too niche, wrong. It's been affirming. Hats off to Prime Video and Hello Sunshine for casting a first generation, brown, non-binary, queer person on their first talk show. That's a big deal. It's also shown me that social media has democratized many people's voices, though I do still think that there are a lot of boundaries in place in the industry that still prevent people like me from having opportunities in tv and film. It's shown me that I am worthy and deserve my opportunities, and that the only way the industry moves forward is if it continues to democratize opportunities for people who look like me, who come from where I come from.

Has Influenced presented opportunities for you to get into topics you've often wanted to, but perhaps felt you have been able to, because of needing to stick to your personal brand for your followers? That's such a great question. I've learned a lot from being a part of the series. I joke with Tefi all the time, going into the show I really didn't know much about astrology, and we had so much time to get into it on the show. It was a privilege to be on set every day. I did my beauty, I had my segments, and that was great; but hearing Taryn talk about pageantry, learning about the ins and outs of the world of cooking, or all the other topics I've never done a deep-dive into, was great. There were also the conversations I felt very out of---and that's okay, that's healthy. There were conversations that were targeted towards heteronormative and heterosexual couples, conversations around gender rules, for example. I fall outside of that and it wasn't a bad thing. I reveled in the opportunity to be a fly on the wall for those conversations. It was really new for me. ...You don't always have to be the center of attention, Cyrus, I know you're a Gemini... [Laughs]. It afforded me the opportunity to give the other hosts the freedom to talk about things that don't necessarily affect me, like, does the man or the woman pay on the first date? I thought, well let me just listen to what they have to say. I don't ever have to think about it at all, but I'm intrigued. I feel like my inner sociologist came out and I reveled in the opportunities to listen to my co-hosts discuss various topics. It was so fascinating.

What is most important to you, in terms of speaking to your audience? The most important thing for me right now is getting people to understand confidence. It's a huge thing I talk about. People say 'Cyrus, how are you so confident? How do you do this? ' They don't realize that they already have the ability. It's a muscle that's just dormant. Confidence is something I had to work on. Like going to the gym, you flex the muscle every single day and some days, the muscle is weak. Some days it's stronger. I want people to know that. I have non-traditional beauty features. I learned makeup on YouTube. I'm not a trained makeup artist. I want people to know that they are much more capable than they imagine. What happens is that we get sidetracked by what people tell us. I get a lot of hate, I get a lot of negativity. It's been bad recently, especially online, because my videos are reaching a lot of people. I'd said something that resonated with a lot of people. The reason why I stay confident and I'm able to maintain my level of peace is because I don't live in a world where I hate myself. I live in a world where people may say this thing about me or may post a negative comment, but I don't live in a world where I say those things to myself. That has really resonated with people. We don't have to give people permission to hurt us. It's a practice. Part of what I want people to know is that it's not easy. I do have really, really, really, fucking bad days. I do. You just have to keep working at it every day, every day, every day.

What is or are your favorite episodes, and why?  I loved the self care episode because we opened the episode bare-faced, not wearing makeup, no hairstyling. It really hit us: we're really going there. The reason I liked doing that one was because of the transparency, especially for me as the beauty and skincare person. This is my skin. This is who I am. The reason why I loved it is also because I always talk about how being non-binary has nothing to do with how I look. It's how I feel. If I'm not in a full face of makeup, I don't have to prove to you that I'm non-binary. The episode provided a really cool way to articulate that. I also loved chatting with Dylan Mulvaney, who had such a magnanimous year on social media, for so many different reasons. Platforming and talking about issues within the trans community felt so important. That episode was also so fun. I also have to say the most fun we had was when we did our Y2K episode. We got to revisit our childhood photos and some nostalgia. I loved it, loved it, loved it.

What are you looking forward to trying to do on Influenced? I've always talked about hosting discussions and conversation for parents of queer and, trans and LGBTQIA- identifying children. What I used to do during the pandemic is invite parents to ask questions. They could be stupid questions or questions that they would feel uncomfortable asking their kids, or a question a parent might hold back from asking their child for fear of offending them. A you-can-ask-me-anything. You won't offend me. It won't be offensive. Come into this safe space. I would love to host something like that. I think it would be very beneficial for parents to see other parents have the same questions and want talk about the same issues, parents who are looking to become better parents. The soundbite from the episode with my dad around parenting? I'd love to blow that up into its own episode.  I'd also love to do an episode where I curate my co-hosts' dating apps. I'd come into people's lives as their Boyfriend Whisperer. And I think I want to focus on the straight man. Maybe I can offer a little bit more wisdom than they would anticipate. I think that could be a fun segment for the future.