Speaker 1: One of my favorite cast members from Love Is Blind,
Speaker 1: Nancy Rodrigues. It was a leap of faith that I
Speaker 1: was willing to take on love specifically, like is love
Speaker 1: truly Blind? He was talking about how Raven was more
Speaker 1: of his type? What was it that kept you that pom?
Speaker 1: That was me being confident within myself. Yes, she's hot,
Speaker 1: but I'm hot to the way I thought of it
Speaker 1: was I already loved myself enough. Do I need you
Speaker 1: to validate me as a partner? Yes? Is it required
Speaker 1: for me to feel good about myself? No? What help y'all?
Speaker 1: I hope you're all having a really great so far.
Speaker 1: Today I'm going to be joined by one of the
Speaker 1: cast members of Netflix's Love Is Blind Season three. If
Speaker 1: you're not familiar with Love is Blind, it's a show
Speaker 1: that gives strangers a chance to get to know each
Speaker 1: other and fall in love without ever seeing each other.
Speaker 1: I love to show you guys, some couples get married
Speaker 1: and some of them don't. We're going to get into
Speaker 1: everything from dating a younger man to lessons learned from
Speaker 1: the show. So stay tuned. This is cheek, ease and chill.
Speaker 1: So it's promised we have one of my favorite cast
Speaker 1: members from Love is Mine with me right now. It's
Speaker 1: none other than Nancy Rodriguez. She's a speech language pathologist
Speaker 1: and a real estate investor. So welcome, Nancy. I am
Speaker 1: so excited to have you. How are you? Thank you
Speaker 1: so much for having me. I am so good. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I just feel like it's one thing to envision, like, oh,
Speaker 1: what's going to happen, you know, after we've been waiting
Speaker 1: for so long for the show to air. But um,
Speaker 1: there's no way that I could have imagined this or
Speaker 1: even like the feeling of so much love, Like I
Speaker 1: never thought that that was a thing. And I'm just
Speaker 1: so thankful that it has been such a positive experience
Speaker 1: for me and um overall, like my family and my friend,
Speaker 1: I just feel so loved. That's so good. You are loved.
Speaker 1: I definitely love you. You're one of my favorites. Thank you,
Speaker 1: you really really are, and which is why I was like,
Speaker 1: I need to talk to her. I have so many questions.
Speaker 1: You're Latina. I thought your mom was super badass on
Speaker 1: the show. Your brothers too, so it was nice to
Speaker 1: see that, and so thank you for allowing us to,
Speaker 1: you know, see your life I'm a huge fan of
Speaker 1: the show, and I think that it Love Can really
Speaker 1: be Blind? Do you feel like Love Can is Blind? Absolutely?
Speaker 1: I mean I think for me, like the concept of
Speaker 1: going on a reality TV show was never really my agenda.
Speaker 1: It was not like, oh, one day, I want to
Speaker 1: be on a reality TV show. So for me, it
Speaker 1: was specifically Love is Blind, and it was the fact
Speaker 1: that it was a social experiment, the concept of it.
Speaker 1: I watched season one. That's that's the only season we
Speaker 1: had access to. So just watching season one and knowing
Speaker 1: that I could potentially be a part of this, like,
Speaker 1: it was truly just a leap of faith that I
Speaker 1: was willing to take on love and specifically like, is
Speaker 1: love truly blind? You know? Yeah, No, I think the
Speaker 1: experiment is amazing and whoever invented it is I think
Speaker 1: it's just it's great. I've learned so much. I've watched
Speaker 1: all three seasons, so I I have really enjoyed it.
Speaker 1: We'll get into the relationship with artist. I know there
Speaker 1: were some lessons that you learned while on the show,
Speaker 1: but I want to start with something you mentioned in
Speaker 1: the first episode. You said you wanted to find a
Speaker 1: husband and wanted to start a family. Uh, and you
Speaker 1: said that some people have asked you when you're going
Speaker 1: to have kids, and sometimes they assume that something's wrong
Speaker 1: with you. That's something Withina's deal with, like what can
Speaker 1: you talk to us a little bit about that? Yeah.
Speaker 1: So I think for my background specifically, I'm the only
Speaker 1: girl three boys in my immediate family, and then I
Speaker 1: do have girl cousins and guy cousins, so we are
Speaker 1: a big family overall. So I think for me, I
Speaker 1: did a lot of first things. So like I was,
Speaker 1: you know, first generation to graduate high school, first generation
Speaker 1: to go to college and then finish and then get
Speaker 1: hired t show. I always had this like first kind
Speaker 1: of um experience in my family, and so I think
Speaker 1: for me it was like I'm doing all these first things,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, the pressure from my aunt
Speaker 1: and uncles of you know, oh, but you're twenty now,
Speaker 1: so like when are you going to get married? And
Speaker 1: then you know, the next questions come about. So I
Speaker 1: think just really finding it to where I knew my
Speaker 1: identity came from my experiences and what I wanted to
Speaker 1: do and who I wanted to be and not necessarily
Speaker 1: the pressure of that question at the birthday party or
Speaker 1: about these more or the you know whatever gathering we
Speaker 1: had together as a family. And so it's funny because
Speaker 1: as the years went by and I started appliring more
Speaker 1: properties and my real estate portfolio, and we'd go to like,
Speaker 1: I don't know, Kincaneta or something, and I'd haven't thea
Speaker 1: asked me like, oh, so what's going on with your relationship?
Speaker 1: Status would be like or when are you having kids?
Speaker 1: I'd be like, well, um, I have two properties now,
Speaker 1: so those are my kids. And then the next year
Speaker 1: would be like, oh, well, now I have three kids
Speaker 1: because I have three houses and you know, um, And
Speaker 1: so I think for me, it's just kind of it
Speaker 1: was an interesting upbringing because it was really that pressure
Speaker 1: from the family side, but then also knowing where I
Speaker 1: stood and what I believed and what I wanted for
Speaker 1: myself and that didn't necessarily line up with what my
Speaker 1: family was asking me about or wanted me to write.
Speaker 1: I love that answer, And that's crazy, because I mean
Speaker 1: I get that question all the time from family. It
Speaker 1: stopped from family a long time ago, but like in
Speaker 1: interviews and when you're gonna have kids and and it's
Speaker 1: like for a long time I felt that pressure, I
Speaker 1: was just talking about it and now like, you know what, Wait,
Speaker 1: I'm busy doing other things and and I'm fine with that.
Speaker 1: I'm fine with that decision. And I love to hear
Speaker 1: that from you because you feel the same way, like
Speaker 1: I'm accomplishing things and I'm good with that. And when
Speaker 1: it's time to have kids, that will happen. And that's
Speaker 1: I love that about you. That's another thing. I was like,
Speaker 1: she's a freaking intelligent woman, and I love that. I
Speaker 1: love to see that you were like on your ships,
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, shout out to you. I
Speaker 1: want to give you a round of applause because I
Speaker 1: think that's awesome. That's that's one of my goals to
Speaker 1: see is to invest in properties. And I think it's
Speaker 1: just it's time, you know what I mean it stop
Speaker 1: spending money on all these other things. Yes, And I
Speaker 1: think that's one thing to like again being a first
Speaker 1: in my family to do so many other accomplishments that
Speaker 1: I found valuable. Um. I think like as the years
Speaker 1: went on, I was now being praised by my family
Speaker 1: or my cousins or the women in my family to
Speaker 1: be like, oh, Midasa, you know she's in Bali and Indonesia,
Speaker 1: but she's also buying properties. So really just opening up
Speaker 1: that avenue for my family and for my cousins. My
Speaker 1: younger cousins now to be traveling and my cousins now
Speaker 1: like seeing that, like we don't have to keep the
Speaker 1: same tradition. And if and if those cousins want to
Speaker 1: keep the same tradition, that's great too. But you know,
Speaker 1: it's kind of like stand for what you want and
Speaker 1: and really just pushed through. And if that's acquiring you know, properties,
Speaker 1: and I think that's a great avenue, but it could
Speaker 1: be something else. It could be traveling, it could be
Speaker 1: just doing the things that maybe um, we weren't surrounded
Speaker 1: with as a Latino could sure um and then just
Speaker 1: exploring whatever that adventure could be. Right, I completely agree
Speaker 1: with you. And Okay, so now we're going to get
Speaker 1: into Bartis. Spoiler alert you guys, for anyone that hasn't
Speaker 1: watched the show. If you haven't, I don't know where
Speaker 1: you've been. Um, but you and Bartis were engaged but
Speaker 1: didn't get married. And he was the one that said
Speaker 1: know what the altar and you also said that you
Speaker 1: trusted your gut. Did you like, did it make you
Speaker 1: second guests your good or is that something like that
Speaker 1: you struggle with like now meeting other men, or how
Speaker 1: do you feel about that experience, Because I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you straight up, I didn't think that he was going
Speaker 1: to say no towards the end, especially when you gave
Speaker 1: him that beautiful gift, and I think it touched his
Speaker 1: heart and he cried, So I was very surprised. I
Speaker 1: was very upset. But anyways, yeah, no, I think that
Speaker 1: the way that our relationship unraveled, it truly was one
Speaker 1: hour together was like dating for two weeks, and so
Speaker 1: imagine ten hours together, it's like dating six months. So
Speaker 1: every day that we were dating, we were not just
Speaker 1: normally dating. We were dating with the intention of potentially
Speaker 1: getting married, and so um we had our up center
Speaker 1: downs and and at the beginning of our relationship a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks in off camera, I set him aside
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, I'm going to say no
Speaker 1: to you. You're not the person that I wanted to envision,
Speaker 1: like the person that you promised me to be, that
Speaker 1: you were supposed to make me feel safe and comfortable
Speaker 1: and as my partner as my best friend, my future husband.
Speaker 1: This is not who I'm getting. So I'm saying no
Speaker 1: at the altar, and he asked me for a second chance.
Speaker 1: And I think in that moment for me, like we've
Speaker 1: all been there in relationships, whether they're platonic friendship families,
Speaker 1: where people make mistakes and they want to learn from
Speaker 1: them and they want to grow from them. So I'm
Speaker 1: a big believer of giving someone a second chance and
Speaker 1: not holding anything back, like truly giving them a clean
Speaker 1: plate as a second chance. Not oh, here's a second chance,
Speaker 1: but I'm also going to bring stuff up from the past,
Speaker 1: you know, like truly second chance. So the last two
Speaker 1: weeks of leading up into to the wedding, it was
Speaker 1: all positive. Everything that you got to see from us
Speaker 1: private lessons, dancing and having the best dates off camera, um,
Speaker 1: just really building and nurturing our relationship together. That's the
Speaker 1: feeling that I got leading up to the wedding day.
Speaker 1: So when he said no, it wasn't so much that
Speaker 1: he said no because I knew it was a chance.
Speaker 1: It was the fact that he led me to believe
Speaker 1: that he was going to say yes, and any of
Speaker 1: the doubts that he had at the beginning he had
Speaker 1: specifically told me, I no longer have those concerns. You
Speaker 1: were the person that I see myself with, Um, this
Speaker 1: is the husband that you're going to get. Um. So
Speaker 1: I think for me it was that feeling of being
Speaker 1: blindsided and not almost like asking myself like how could
Speaker 1: I be so smart? But then also like how can
Speaker 1: I let myself down to not know that this man
Speaker 1: was blindsiding me this whole time? Right? Um? And so
Speaker 1: I think I really took that to heart, like after
Speaker 1: the show. Really the recovery part of like the heart
Speaker 1: A was just making sure that I was more in
Speaker 1: tune with like what I was feeling and if there
Speaker 1: wered doubts with people I was dating or seeing her
Speaker 1: first date, second date, just really channeling with like how
Speaker 1: I felt. And one thing my therapist said to me,
Speaker 1: she said, going on your dates, you need to ask yourself,
Speaker 1: how do I feel about this person? Does Nancy like
Speaker 1: how this date is going? Does Nancy like the characteristics
Speaker 1: of this person? Not so much like, oh I wonder
Speaker 1: if he likes me? Because I think a lot of
Speaker 1: the times first second dates, like you want to show
Speaker 1: your best and so you're maybe asking yourself. At least
Speaker 1: I was asking myself, I wonder if he likes me,
Speaker 1: or I wonder if he thinks I'm funny and all
Speaker 1: the stiff. But I'm like, no, Like I I got
Speaker 1: to the point after the show where I really asked
Speaker 1: myself the opposite of how do I feel and like
Speaker 1: do I find them funny? And like do I like them?
Speaker 1: And how do I feel about them? Because I think
Speaker 1: that really will tell you a lot at the beginning,
Speaker 1: so I had, you know, several first dates and then
Speaker 1: that was it because I'm like, yeah, no, it's not
Speaker 1: for me, like thank you, but it's not for me.
Speaker 1: And I think, um, I learned that a lot from
Speaker 1: the show, being that it was a very fast relationship
Speaker 1: that you know, was sped up. But I think that
Speaker 1: just overall, learning more about my boundaries and what I'm
Speaker 1: okay with and what I'm not okay with is what
Speaker 1: I got from from dating on Love is Blind. Do
Speaker 1: you feel that maybe those last two weeks like he
Speaker 1: I don't know, if you know, for the lack of
Speaker 1: a better word, he bamboozled you, like maybe like do
Speaker 1: you feel that it was fake? Like he wanted you
Speaker 1: to like switch around to saying yes so that he
Speaker 1: could say no, or do you think it? Just like
Speaker 1: did you ever get a wife from him? Like? What
Speaker 1: the heck? Yeah? No, I honestly I don't think I
Speaker 1: ever got a wife from him, because I do want
Speaker 1: to believe that he loved me, because I think that
Speaker 1: there were moments off camera that we're so pure, that
Speaker 1: we're so normal for us, like aside from being like
Speaker 1: seven years apart, right, aside from being or six or
Speaker 1: seven years aside from dating on on a show like
Speaker 1: Love is Blind, Like we truly enjoyed each other, match
Speaker 1: each other's energy so well that I want to believe
Speaker 1: that he really did give it his all the last
Speaker 1: two weeks. And the one thing I heard him say
Speaker 1: in an interview, not to my face, but in an
Speaker 1: interview was something like, had we had more time, like,
Speaker 1: had we had two more weeks of the last two
Speaker 1: weeks we had, my answer would have been different for me.
Speaker 1: It was hearing that was like, okay, like, I do
Speaker 1: understand that the last two weeks were good, And that's
Speaker 1: what I was going off with because again, giving you
Speaker 1: a second chance, I was letting go anything else I
Speaker 1: want to talk to you about. Red flags because his
Speaker 1: red flags is something that I've talked about a lot
Speaker 1: on this show because I was in a pretty difficult
Speaker 1: and somewhat toxic relationships. So that relationship taught me red
Speaker 1: flags and not to ignore them, because I got a
Speaker 1: lot of them, and I just chose to ignore them
Speaker 1: because sometimes it's like, Okay, well we love this person,
Speaker 1: or we choose to look past certain things. And looking
Speaker 1: back at your experience, were there any red flags that
Speaker 1: you think you missed? You know, It's funny because I
Speaker 1: think in that moment filming the show, what I saw
Speaker 1: as a weakness of his I wanted to embrace. And
Speaker 1: I think for me, the way I thought of it
Speaker 1: was whatever love I have from you, or whatever love
Speaker 1: we can have together is extra for me, Like I
Speaker 1: already love myself enough, So like do I need you
Speaker 1: to validate me like as a partner, yes, But is
Speaker 1: it required for me to feel good about myself? No?
Speaker 1: So I think for me, it was really just embracing
Speaker 1: him for his weaknesses, loving him through that, and really
Speaker 1: loving him unconditionally, right um, And so I think like
Speaker 1: that's the approach that I had when I was in
Speaker 1: the show, when I was like Okay, we're engaged. We
Speaker 1: made each other a promise. Not only did you make
Speaker 1: me a promise, but I accepted your promise as a proposal. Right. So,
Speaker 1: I think for me and the show, it was really
Speaker 1: there were red flags, but I chose to follow the
Speaker 1: green flags, and I chose to follow the actions that
Speaker 1: were lining up with the green flags. And I think
Speaker 1: a lot of the times, like in any relationship, we
Speaker 1: talk about red flags, but there's also green flags that
Speaker 1: I think that we can also use as a as
Speaker 1: I guess, a metric, right. I think what was really
Speaker 1: neat about watching it back? It was a completely different
Speaker 1: view for me because when I watched the show, not
Speaker 1: only was I watching it under the perspective of how
Speaker 1: am I in a relationship? Because that's really neat. Like
Speaker 1: I think if anybody had a chance to, like have
Speaker 1: somebody film your relationship and see what you're like, it's
Speaker 1: actually really cool like situation and so, um, what I
Speaker 1: learned from that is I had a different perspective. I
Speaker 1: should have asked more questions, right, Like when there were
Speaker 1: differences that we had, Like I should have um set
Speaker 1: up for myself and and inquired more because I think
Speaker 1: instead of just embracing him and loving him unconditionally when
Speaker 1: I wasn't getting that in return. I think that's where
Speaker 1: my boundary wasn't there. I should have asked more questions,
Speaker 1: and I should have. I think I should. I should
Speaker 1: have stood up for myself in the sense that you
Speaker 1: know at reunion, I told him what you said was disrespectful.
Speaker 1: And you guys didn't get to see all of our
Speaker 1: conversation at reunion, but but I did say everything to
Speaker 1: him that I was in my heart after watching the
Speaker 1: entire show, I said to him what I felt that
Speaker 1: I felt disrespected. I felt like he didn't handle the
Speaker 1: delivery of his feelings. His feelings are fine, like have
Speaker 1: your feelings, hype your thoughts, but the delivery of it
Speaker 1: was really not okay. And so I wish I would
Speaker 1: have said that to him in our relationship because I
Speaker 1: think that maybe that could have allowed us to grow
Speaker 1: more as a couple and allowed him to learn. But
Speaker 1: I think at the same time, like I don't think
Speaker 1: he was ready to learn. I don't. I don't know
Speaker 1: if he was in a place where he truly wanted
Speaker 1: to accept that as feedback. So I think for me,
Speaker 1: I just took it as like, look, this is a
Speaker 1: safe space. Say what you're gonna say. Yes, it will
Speaker 1: probably be disrespectful because you're still learning on how to
Speaker 1: do liver. But overall, like I do, I wanted us
Speaker 1: to have a relationship that was open and honest as
Speaker 1: much as it was in the pause. I wanted to
Speaker 1: create that same environment outside of the pods. This is
Speaker 1: a really weird question, but do you know his sign
Speaker 1: by any chance? Like his horoscope? He's a cancer? Oh shit,
Speaker 1: And I'm a scorpio, And I like cancers and scorpios
Speaker 1: are like they're a thing. They're so compatible. So yeah,
Speaker 1: do you think it had to do with the age?
Speaker 1: Is that? Like you think the fact that he was
Speaker 1: because I have my own opinion on that. As far
Speaker 1: as like a man in his twenties, because granted my
Speaker 1: boyfriend's seven years younger, he's thirty, I'm thirty seven, But
Speaker 1: I feel like a man has to go through certain stuff,
Speaker 1: certain things, experience certain things in their twenties in order
Speaker 1: to figure out what they really want. I feel like
Speaker 1: not only just men women, I feel that we just
Speaker 1: need to use our twenties to learn and experience and experiment.
Speaker 1: I don't know. Do you think it had to do
Speaker 1: with his age? Did that ever scare you? I think
Speaker 1: at the beginning, it definitely scared me. Like if I
Speaker 1: had allowed the age factor to really be a factor,
Speaker 1: I would have said no to his engagement, to his proposal,
Speaker 1: Like I I just know that, um, my parents have
Speaker 1: a big age gap, and so like I knew that
Speaker 1: age really didn't need to be a factor. And I
Speaker 1: actually didn't know he was twenty five until the day
Speaker 1: before he proposed, So I had already started falling in
Speaker 1: love with this person. And when when I found out
Speaker 1: his age, I remember I was like, well, let me
Speaker 1: take a guess, and I said, and it was like
Speaker 1: dead silent, and he was. And and so even just
Speaker 1: like the fact that I had no idea because the
Speaker 1: way he carried himself in the pod, like I really
Speaker 1: thought he was more mature. I think what happened at
Speaker 1: least throughout the process. I think that when you say
Speaker 1: like love is blind, I think that is true up
Speaker 1: to a certain point. So I think that love is
Speaker 1: blind in the pods if you can connect emotionally with someone.
Speaker 1: I think what happened in his cases that in the
Speaker 1: real world he allowed other factors to come into his opinion.
Speaker 1: So I don't know if he was mentally emotionally strong
Speaker 1: enough to hold on to like what really brought us together.
Speaker 1: And I think that maybe because I am there. I
Speaker 1: was thirty one at the time, I had already knew
Speaker 1: and loved myself so much that I'm like, anything I
Speaker 1: get from you is extra, so like we can make
Speaker 1: this work, Like we can work through our our differences
Speaker 1: and we can really pull through. So I think he
Speaker 1: still wasn't able to get to that point because of
Speaker 1: other factors in that he was influenced by, whether it
Speaker 1: was his peers, his friend um, scrolling through social media.
Speaker 1: That was one thing. We got our phones in our
Speaker 1: hand when we were coming back to Dallas from Malibu,
Speaker 1: and it was like, I got this weird feeling that
Speaker 1: I ended up asking was like, do you feel like
Speaker 1: the whole type thing, me not being your type came
Speaker 1: from you scrolling on the internet and seeing to blond's
Speaker 1: And he said yeah, He's like, yeah, that's part of it.
Speaker 1: So I'm like, Okay, I get scrolled through my feet
Speaker 1: and see hot guys, but I'm not going to be like,
Speaker 1: oh I wish that was my husband. Because like I
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, so I think again,
Speaker 1: like the influences of the outside world really impacting I
Speaker 1: think his opinion still and and maybe when he gets
Speaker 1: to a point where he's mature enough to hold his
Speaker 1: true value for himself and truly love on himself or
Speaker 1: who he is and not the extra stuff and not
Speaker 1: let the external things impact him. Um, I think maybe
Speaker 1: then things could have been different. Right now that you
Speaker 1: brought that up. I I do remember feeling like when
Speaker 1: you guys were in the pod, so I'm like, he
Speaker 1: seems like such a mature, intelligent year old and I
Speaker 1: think that that's when he you know, when he like
Speaker 1: he said, when he went out to the real world,
Speaker 1: he was like I think he was his true self
Speaker 1: in the pods and then like that's his true essence,
Speaker 1: is what I felt. And then he went out and
Speaker 1: he just was like hit with just so many things
Speaker 1: in different opinions, and it kind of just rattled him.
Speaker 1: It's kind of how I saw it, because I saw
Speaker 1: a different person and I'm like, what, Like, I was like,
Speaker 1: this is I could have that money that he would
Speaker 1: he wasn't this dude, And this is not to talk
Speaker 1: rap about arties because I'm sure he's a great guy.
Speaker 1: I'm sure that he learned a lot of lessons himself
Speaker 1: through this process. I hope, um, but I was like,
Speaker 1: what the hell, especially when and I don't know if
Speaker 1: this is out of line, and you tell me, but like,
Speaker 1: because I don't want to talk about anything you wouldn't
Speaker 1: want to talk about, but when you guys were in
Speaker 1: bed and he was talking about how Raven was more
Speaker 1: of his type and you were just listening, like you
Speaker 1: took that so well. And I want to ask you,
Speaker 1: as a woman, do you feel like And I don't know,
Speaker 1: maybe they didn't show that part, but you were just
Speaker 1: very quiet, and I felt like she's observing, she's taking
Speaker 1: it all in, she's thinking I and maybe this is
Speaker 1: me being immature. I probably would have slapped him, to
Speaker 1: be honest, I don't disrespect me, but I'm like, I
Speaker 1: want to know, is it because you love yourself? Is
Speaker 1: it how confident you are? Is it? Like? What was
Speaker 1: it that kept you that calm? Because I admire it,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's admirable. Thank you, thank you so much. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I pride myself and being a good listener, and that's
Speaker 1: something that I've worked really hard to do, whether it's
Speaker 1: listening to something my friends or my the person that
Speaker 1: I'm dating, like just truly soaking in what they're saying
Speaker 1: and allowing that to be a safe space. So I
Speaker 1: think in that moment, I had only known this guy
Speaker 1: physically for days, and so I knew that, like although
Speaker 1: he wasn't a long term friend right or a long
Speaker 1: term relationship, like, I just knew that I needed to
Speaker 1: create a space for him to be able to say
Speaker 1: what he needed to say. And then the next day
Speaker 1: we actually had a follow up conversation about that particular
Speaker 1: conversation and like what it meant for him to have
Speaker 1: these um feelings for for someone else and what that
Speaker 1: what that really meant. But at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: like looking back again watching it, I got a different
Speaker 1: perspective because watching it back like that was me being
Speaker 1: solid and confident within myself and so like I knew, like, yes,
Speaker 1: she's hot, but I'm hot too, So what are we
Speaker 1: gonna do? Like there's nothing to be done about that.
Speaker 1: So like I'm unbothered by it. So I will at
Speaker 1: the party, I will have burgers, and I will have
Speaker 1: like you know, I will enjoy myself. Like you know,
Speaker 1: I was hungry and we were drinking, so like I
Speaker 1: just knew that, like it didn't face me. And I
Speaker 1: think that that's something that when people have asked me before,
Speaker 1: like would you recommend someone going on Love is Blind?
Speaker 1: I I do think that it is a process that
Speaker 1: is much deeper than what you think is Like on TV,
Speaker 1: I learned so much about myself. But I truly would
Speaker 1: recommend anyone who goes on the show to to really
Speaker 1: check in with yourself and be in tune with who
Speaker 1: you are and how much do you love yourself and
Speaker 1: making sure that you're not looking for that validation from elsewhere,
Speaker 1: because I think that's where it gets a little bit tricky. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know what, I think a lot of us can
Speaker 1: learn quite a bit from you, Nancy. And I love
Speaker 1: what you just said, like saying, yeah, she's a hot girl,
Speaker 1: but so am I. I know my value, I know
Speaker 1: what I bring to the table. I love that. And
Speaker 1: have you ever dated a younger guy? No? That was
Speaker 1: my first. And it's it's funny because I joke about
Speaker 1: it like never again because you don't know what could happen,
Speaker 1: but literally like never again, only because I'm thirty three now.
Speaker 1: So it's like there are things that I accepted in
Speaker 1: that relationship that I will not accept in my future relationships.
Speaker 1: And so I think if I didn't learn from that relationship,
Speaker 1: what am I doing? Like why would I make you
Speaker 1: know the same mistakes and whatnot. So I'm I'm single,
Speaker 1: I'm open to dating. I've got so many really cool
Speaker 1: plans coming up, and so I just feel like I'm
Speaker 1: excited to start dating again. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: like we're putting boundaries up exactly. I think that's important
Speaker 1: from the beginning. From the beginning, just saying hey, this
Speaker 1: is what I'm okay with and I'm not okay with this,
Speaker 1: and it's just like, so we don't waste each other's time.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like when we get to this age,
Speaker 1: I feel like, let's just put it out there. You know,
Speaker 1: are you guys friends? You and Bartises, Do you guys
Speaker 1: have any like do you guys talk at all? Or no?
Speaker 1: I definitely would not say we're friends. And that's something
Speaker 1: that in the last year and a half, like we
Speaker 1: have tried to be friends and we just know that
Speaker 1: at the end of the day with this new like
Speaker 1: when the show actually dropped, it was more of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: no one else is going to know our relationship except
Speaker 1: for us, So we did come in contact again, um,
Speaker 1: more of like hey, polst, check like how are you?
Speaker 1: He was getting a lot of hate and so even
Speaker 1: me just checking in on him for that, like are
Speaker 1: you okay? And he'd be like no, not today, and
Speaker 1: I'm like okay, we'll talk to me like what's going on?
Speaker 1: But then the next day, you know, or a few
Speaker 1: days go by and we're still checking in on each
Speaker 1: other back and forth. Um, but really, just for that,
Speaker 1: I think talking terms is the best way to put it.
Speaker 1: But to say friends, like friends with my ex is
Speaker 1: gonna do in this particular case, We'll do nothing for
Speaker 1: me for my future, you know what I mean? Like
Speaker 1: I hate to say it like that, but like, how
Speaker 1: is me being friends with you going to help me
Speaker 1: with my career? How is it going to help me
Speaker 1: with my dating? Like, if anything, that's baggage. So like
Speaker 1: you know, I'm here to cheer him on from Afar
Speaker 1: and wish the best for him, but definitely not friends. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you can care about people from Afar. So I did
Speaker 1: hear that you donated your eggs in grad school. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I did it in San Francisco, so I think every
Speaker 1: state might be different. So basically, a total of eight
Speaker 1: times is what I donated my eggs for. And so yeah,
Speaker 1: it was in grad school. I want to say that,
Speaker 1: like I might have done the last two when I
Speaker 1: left grad school. So I was already out of school,
Speaker 1: and I think I had flown back. I want to
Speaker 1: I want to say that's actually what happened, is I
Speaker 1: flew back after I left San Francisco to do like
Speaker 1: another cycle, a couple more cycles with the company. Oh,
Speaker 1: I see, Okay, do they inform you once like those
Speaker 1: eggs are fertilized or you or no, like you just
Speaker 1: donate those eggs and that's that you're done with it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So once I donate once, they when it's called the retrieval.
Speaker 1: So once the retrieval happens, and um, the eggs are
Speaker 1: given to the family. If the family is currently in
Speaker 1: the IVF process, that means that they have to take
Speaker 1: my eggs and I hope, I'm I'm not sure if
Speaker 1: I'm getting the terminology right, but essentially they have to
Speaker 1: fertilize the embryos. If that's what they want. UM, if
Speaker 1: the family wants to sync up not only my cycle
Speaker 1: and the retrieval, but also with them, and then they
Speaker 1: would have in betro happened there now out of like
Speaker 1: let's say, let's say I they were able to extract
Speaker 1: twenty eggs. From those twenty eggs, only maybe eighteen of
Speaker 1: them might be viable eggs to be able to be fertilized.
Speaker 1: And then from there then the family can decide, well,
Speaker 1: how you know, you only fertilize one because you don't
Speaker 1: want to fertilize all of them. And then so essentially
Speaker 1: it's really up to the families what they do. And
Speaker 1: I don't know any of this, UM. So what whenever
Speaker 1: I get the information back to me is if the
Speaker 1: family chooses to send me a letter or UM, have
Speaker 1: the agency contact me and say, hey, by the way, UM,
Speaker 1: the family has had a baby. It's been six months
Speaker 1: you know, UM it was a boy. So so I
Speaker 1: only got about two of the calls after I donated
Speaker 1: months later, like what actually happened. But the families have
Speaker 1: options like either they fertilize there like in that moment
Speaker 1: when when they get the eggs, they can also freeze
Speaker 1: some of the eggs. If they want to have siblings,
Speaker 1: they can also donate to research or discard them. So
Speaker 1: there are options of what the families can do with
Speaker 1: the like like I said, twenty eggs and let's say
Speaker 1: eighteen or viable. So it just kind of depends on that.
Speaker 1: And I think one of the things too, And I
Speaker 1: know this kind of random, but on my YouTube channel,
Speaker 1: like when I talk about like my real estate, I
Speaker 1: also want to be talking about these topics because I
Speaker 1: do think it's important one in in the Latino culture,
Speaker 1: Like it's just not comment to have these conversations. And
Speaker 1: and I think, like, if anything, if it's wanting to
Speaker 1: freeze your eggs, what does that look like? If you're
Speaker 1: wanting to be a donor, what does that look like?
Speaker 1: And and I just think having a long form platform
Speaker 1: is a really great way to get this information out
Speaker 1: from my experiences and like what are options that are
Speaker 1: out there for people? Why did you decide to donate? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so initially I had gotten into grad school and at
Speaker 1: this time, it was like the it was the first
Speaker 1: semester and I was going into my second semester, and
Speaker 1: I knew that I still had like um funds to
Speaker 1: like have to pay for school, and so I went
Speaker 1: on the school's website. Honestly, it was as easy as
Speaker 1: that they had like a job's for like students, like, um,
Speaker 1: whether you wanted to be a nanny or like other
Speaker 1: odd jobs that um you could work at that that
Speaker 1: either local San Francisco people would post on there. So
Speaker 1: it was a job Google search, I guess, um, and
Speaker 1: there was an ad for egg donating and that was
Speaker 1: like my first question of like wait, like people, I
Speaker 1: know there was like sperm banks, but I didn't know
Speaker 1: like egg donating was even a thing. So UM, I
Speaker 1: went through the process of inquiring like while do I
Speaker 1: even qualify? Like what is this process? And I learned
Speaker 1: so much, even just from the interview process about genetic testing,
Speaker 1: and I learned about the likelihood of like what are
Speaker 1: the risks and what are the benefits and what kinds
Speaker 1: of families are a part of this community and it
Speaker 1: you know, even just learning that it could be like
Speaker 1: a same sex a couple family, or it could be
Speaker 1: um a single parent, or it can be a family
Speaker 1: that has been struggling to have children. So even just
Speaker 1: learning about that. Although it started from a job post
Speaker 1: like on my school's website. It really just carried through
Speaker 1: so much more needs and it is for that particular company.
Speaker 1: They're very stringent on their process getting applicants to be donors.
Speaker 1: So by like three months in, I had had so
Speaker 1: many interviews, psychological testing, um, genetic testing, that you can
Speaker 1: still say no at any point. Even if I was
Speaker 1: selected and there was a family waiting for me, I
Speaker 1: could still say no before I go through the process.
Speaker 1: So I think just really learning about the impact that
Speaker 1: it would have on the lives of a family, just
Speaker 1: even one family, even if I only got chosen once,
Speaker 1: I just knew that that was something that was in
Speaker 1: my heart to like still do. Oh so you guys,
Speaker 1: she's single, Um, she's single. I don't know. She says
Speaker 1: she's kind of ready to mingle. But she has boundaries now,
Speaker 1: which I think is is good as well. I think
Speaker 1: boundaries are good in every relationship, friendships, families. So anyways,
Speaker 1: I did want to ask you, like, I mean, we've
Speaker 1: talked about it like throughout our conversation, but is there
Speaker 1: anything like that you would like to tell people, Like
Speaker 1: what you learned, like the biggest lesson that you learned
Speaker 1: in this process this experiment with that love is wind. Yeah,
Speaker 1: It's it's one thing to feel self love and it's
Speaker 1: one thing to know like, oh I love myself and
Speaker 1: to say it, but to actually watch myself go through
Speaker 1: that process of falling in love and it being extra
Speaker 1: love and then getting my heartbroken. But he didn't break me,
Speaker 1: you know. Like I think one thing that I learned
Speaker 1: from this experiences that Bartisse and I will always have
Speaker 1: our love story, but he is not my life story.
Speaker 1: And so I think that that's something like when you're
Speaker 1: getting through a heartbreak, Like I went through the natural
Speaker 1: stages of a heartbreak afterwards, and whether it was crying
Speaker 1: out of nowhere or not having an appetite or finding
Speaker 1: you know, what made me happy again, whether it was
Speaker 1: dancing or working out or being busier traveling, Like I think,
Speaker 1: just really remembering that some people come into our lives
Speaker 1: for a period of time, and I would hope that
Speaker 1: our relationship really just shed some light and how you
Speaker 1: can have like respectful conversations when there are big differences, right,
Speaker 1: whether it was a conversation about family planning or the
Speaker 1: conversation about financial planning that was a big you know,
Speaker 1: that was a big one too for us, and so
Speaker 1: I just hope that looking back, people can really embrace
Speaker 1: themselves and love on themselves harder than anyone else, because
Speaker 1: any any extra love that is given or receipt should
Speaker 1: be extra. And I think that's the cherry on top,
Speaker 1: is like find it first within yourself and even if
Speaker 1: you have harder days like I there are harder days,
Speaker 1: and that's okay too, but but understanding that the big
Speaker 1: picture is that you were there for you first, and
Speaker 1: then anything else set is extra from other people. Completely agree.
Speaker 1: The way my mom would put it was you have
Speaker 1: your plate and you are the plate, and you have
Speaker 1: your protein and your carbs and your greens, and then
Speaker 1: and that person, that partner is just dessert, is how
Speaker 1: she used to put it. Like that's just your dessert.
Speaker 1: It's not your full course mill and it's like it's true,
Speaker 1: and I I just want to say thank you once again.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. And now, I mean, I'm sure people
Speaker 1: would love to follow you on social media. Do you
Speaker 1: want to share like your YouTube channel, like all that
Speaker 1: good stuff so people can follow you and you know,
Speaker 1: stay connected. Yeah, I'm super excited for my YouTube channel.
Speaker 1: It's the handle is Nancy Rodriguez Life, and I I
Speaker 1: really keep it like that because the goal of my
Speaker 1: long form platform on YouTube is going to be to
Speaker 1: educate on the different things that I've gone through in
Speaker 1: my life and like what things have made me successful
Speaker 1: in real estate, what things have made me successful in
Speaker 1: my profession as a speak pathologist, Also what has it
Speaker 1: worked right, because it's not all sunshine and rainbows um.
Speaker 1: And then my Instagram and my TikTok will just also
Speaker 1: have some of that short form um content. So that's
Speaker 1: the Nancy Rodriguez are those handles. But I mean decided
Speaker 1: to just continue to grow my channel on YouTube, and
Speaker 1: I think of anything like it'll be more of that
Speaker 1: community oriented like content made for you all as my followers,
Speaker 1: as my listeners. So I just thank you so much
Speaker 1: for giving me this platform too. You know, share my
Speaker 1: story from the show, but again, like it's it's a
Speaker 1: part of my love story, but it's not my life story.
Speaker 1: So that's where the rest of social media will really
Speaker 1: come in is continue to follow me because there's so
Speaker 1: much more to learn about where I've come from, and
Speaker 1: I'm excited about the real estates of financial conversations, Like
Speaker 1: let's talk money and make that like a normal type
Speaker 1: of conversation amongst the Latino community, amongst women, women of color,
Speaker 1: and then just young people right like our generation and
Speaker 1: and what it means to be in in in this society. Yeah,
Speaker 1: thank you so much, and you guys, you guys can
Speaker 1: binge um and watch all twoel of episodes of Love
Speaker 1: Is Blind season three on Netflix. And before we close
Speaker 1: out today's episode, let's get into our motivational quote. You
Speaker 1: deserve a love that you don't have to question? Is
Speaker 1: to quote? Do you deserve a love that you don't
Speaker 1: have to question? And I have one more just because
Speaker 1: I was feeling very inspired. You know what is sexier
Speaker 1: than a bad boy, a grown as man with his
Speaker 1: ship together. Those are the two I have for you
Speaker 1: guys today. Thank you so much for joining us. Nancy,
Speaker 1: Thank you so much. Nancy. Honestly tell your family said hello,
Speaker 1: your mom and your brothers, and um, I will be
Speaker 1: tuning in to your YouTube channel and all that good stuff.
Speaker 1: So again, thank you everyone, Thank you for listening. Have
Speaker 1: a beautiful rest of your day. Do you need advice
Speaker 1: on love, relationships, health, emas? I'm so excited to share
Speaker 1: with you that my Cheekies and Chill podcast will have
Speaker 1: an extra episode drop each week. I'll be answering all
Speaker 1: your questions. Just leave me a voice message that's a
Speaker 1: I'm this. All you have to do is go to
Speaker 1: speak pipe dot com, slash Cheeks and Chill podcast and
Speaker 1: record your questions. I can't wait to your from you.
Speaker 1: This is a production of I Heart Radio and the
Speaker 1: Michael Dura podcast Network. Follow us on Instagram at Michael
Speaker 1: Dura Podcasts and follow me checks that's c h i
Speaker 1: q u i s. For more podcasts from my heart,
Speaker 1: visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite podcasts.