WEBVTT - Alanna Rizzo 0:00:00.360 --> 0:00:02.600 This is cut to It with Steve Smith Senior at 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:08.879 production of The Black Effect and I Heart Radio. I'm 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.479 Steve Smith Senior and I'm ger a little John and 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.920 this is cut to It. Good do It, Good do It. 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:19.520 They's getting down to do it. Good do it. We 0:00:19.560 --> 0:00:22.880 asked the questions you always want to know, but no 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:29.040 one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.040 them about it, then we're about to let you know. 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:40.720 It's all. We've got a line of Rizzo, seven time 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:43.800 Emmy winner. She's a hosting reporter for the MLB Network 0:00:43.920 --> 0:00:46.879 and she's the founder and president of Gudury's Guardian, a 0:00:46.960 --> 0:00:50.640 nonprofit for rescuing dogs. Alana Rizzo on the cut to 0:00:50.720 --> 0:00:55.040 It podcast, get Iced Up. Here we go, Here we go, 0:00:55.120 --> 0:00:57.680 Here we go. Okay, would you rather meet your grand 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:02.880 children or great grandparents? Oh, great grandparents. I'd love to 0:01:02.920 --> 0:01:05.160 know the history of where I came from. I don't 0:01:05.200 --> 0:01:09.360 have kids of my own, so the likelihood of me 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:14.119 meeting my grandkids is limbton none, So I would say 0:01:14.240 --> 0:01:17.800 great grandparents. My mom is from Cuba, my dad is 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.080 um Well, my grandparents on my dad's side are Italian, 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:23.680 so I'd love to meet my great great grandparents to 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:26.520 find out where I came from. I kind of like 0:01:26.560 --> 0:01:28.560 those questions because you never know what you're gonna get 0:01:28.560 --> 0:01:31.440 from people like that. Was that was cool, um to hear. 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:33.600 So that's good because that opens it up to a 0:01:33.600 --> 0:01:37.679 lot of other questions. Uh, someone that's Cuban, American and 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:46.240 Italian and growing up in Colorado and the only Cuban 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:50.880 ever in Colorado. Check that off. I assumed it. But 0:01:51.000 --> 0:01:54.360 now I'm right pat myself on the back, all right. 0:01:54.400 --> 0:01:56.480 What do you like to do when you're alone? I'm 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:58.480 not alone, a ton? What do I I don't, I don't. 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:02.880 I'm I'm never the type of that says I need space, So, um, 0:02:03.200 --> 0:02:05.560 I'm not alone. I'm not alone, a ton. I have 0:02:06.280 --> 0:02:09.240 a great fiancee, but I like spending time with It's 0:02:09.240 --> 0:02:11.720 fun when we're alone because we're usually around and either 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:15.480 have the kids here or um family here, which is fine. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:18.040 I actually just moved to the East coast. I used 0:02:18.080 --> 0:02:20.080 to live in Los Angeles or here, so we were 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.120 doing coast to coast, so um, yeah, it's nice too. 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:26.239 It's nice to be in one spot with him, for sure. 0:02:27.200 --> 0:02:34.360 My wife would definitely medicate Rocks so, but but I 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.560 think everyone a little bit of their own times. Well, 0:02:37.720 --> 0:02:40.880 I love this is one of the things that I've heard. Uh, 0:02:41.919 --> 0:02:47.160 Solitude is a great place to visit. However, it is 0:02:47.200 --> 0:02:51.320 a poor place to stay. That's very well put. I 0:02:51.720 --> 0:02:54.200 do think there are times when you want to be 0:02:54.440 --> 0:02:57.280 alone and collect your thoughts. But I'm not the type 0:02:57.280 --> 0:03:00.440 of I'm a very outgoing person. Um. I love people. 0:03:00.480 --> 0:03:02.880 I love being around people. I love to entertain so 0:03:03.200 --> 0:03:06.000 I love to eat really good food, drink really good one. 0:03:06.560 --> 0:03:13.240 So how do you recharge? Is it around people? Yeah? 0:03:13.480 --> 0:03:18.799 I think so. I think, Um, being around family is good. 0:03:18.800 --> 0:03:22.520 I love to travel. Um, I love the beach. So 0:03:22.600 --> 0:03:25.720 I'm looking forward to January. We're going I'm going to Mexico. 0:03:25.840 --> 0:03:30.440 We're going to MAUI. Um, yeah, I have recharged by 0:03:30.480 --> 0:03:32.840 being around people. I don't. I don't sleep a ton, 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.200 so that's not that's not what does it for me? Um, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.320 work out when I can, not like you used to 0:03:37.360 --> 0:03:39.320 work out, but you know, maybe you still do. I 0:03:39.320 --> 0:03:44.080 don't know. I still have to work out. It's it's 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:46.360 a great place for me. It's where I clear my 0:03:46.800 --> 0:03:50.600 clear my thoughts, get my thoughts together. UM think a 0:03:50.640 --> 0:03:55.520 lot question a lot, get some, get some answers that 0:03:55.560 --> 0:04:00.800 I don't like. Sometimes it gives me a sense to 0:04:00.920 --> 0:04:04.160 some degree outside of business stuff and work. It gives 0:04:04.160 --> 0:04:08.200 me some sense of a real purpose when I can 0:04:08.400 --> 0:04:11.520 accomplish something because I can start to feel my body 0:04:11.560 --> 0:04:15.680 at times like hey, hey, fat boy, we're getting a 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:19.880 little chuppy today, or or hey we have it well 0:04:20.000 --> 0:04:23.000 because my body started to say, hey, we're sitting around 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:25.719 all day or answering the phone or walking up the 0:04:25.760 --> 0:04:27.800 steps or going to the mailbox, like we need to 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:31.000 do more than that. Rights, if you have a obviously 0:04:31.040 --> 0:04:33.679 what's your foundation? And I'm assuming you have a dog, 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.520 right right, so you know if that dog and I 0:04:37.560 --> 0:04:39.600 have a working dog. I have a Belgian malon Wi 0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:45.039 So if she is if she is not walked, she 0:04:45.160 --> 0:04:49.560 will start the pace the island in our kitchen and 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:51.880 my wife's like, babe, have you taken her on the walk. 0:04:51.920 --> 0:04:54.720 So usually what I do is I'll get up and 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:59.719 work out, and my cool down is taking her on walk. 0:05:01.400 --> 0:05:05.240 That's important. I I had a a border colleague, that's 0:05:05.240 --> 0:05:08.640 who the foundation is named after. Gidrey and border collies 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:12.680 are incredibly like melon laws. They're incredibly incredibly smart, and 0:05:12.720 --> 0:05:14.279 they need to be worked and they need to be 0:05:14.320 --> 0:05:17.360 active mentally and physically stimulated. And he was the same way. 0:05:17.400 --> 0:05:20.520 If he didn't get exercise, he would be very anxious. 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:24.719 And UM, my dog, now Bentley, I rescued her as well. 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:27.080 Um that's what the foundations about getting dogs off the 0:05:27.080 --> 0:05:29.680 streets and how to high kill shelters. And she's not 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:32.880 as active as a as good Drew used to be. 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:35.240 But I feel you. I feel you when it comes 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.520 to and I don't work out like I should, but 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:40.719 I can understand how much it helps your mental state too, 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:43.280 especially when you've done it for so long. I mean, 0:05:43.440 --> 0:05:45.120 that's all you've known for so long as to have 0:05:45.200 --> 0:05:46.800 to be in shape, have to work out, have to 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.320 keep your body right. So when my fiance is a 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:54.240 professional athlete as well, and you know he hasn't he's 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:58.440 not playing anymore, but when he doesn't work out, it 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.039 affects him mentally and and I obviously, Steve you know 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:03.880 that better than anybody. So it's important you gotta keep 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.560 your mind writing for him. It's working out too. What's 0:06:06.560 --> 0:06:11.920 funny is I didn't know that for a long time. Yeah, 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.680 the working out for me, I stopped working out because 0:06:14.720 --> 0:06:17.200 I didn't want my body to I think that we 0:06:17.200 --> 0:06:19.279 were going back to place, so I had to actually stop. 0:06:19.760 --> 0:06:23.520 And then that was that wasn't good, and because then 0:06:23.520 --> 0:06:25.600 my body started to you know, it's like the mind 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.800 as you get older, you gotta keep stimulating it or 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:31.840 you know, keep keep keep the wheels going, keep them 0:06:31.880 --> 0:06:34.160 oil oil, slow down, and so my body started to 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:36.599 slow down, my knees started hurting some of that stuff, 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:38.320 and then I was going back to working out. But 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.800 then when I started back working out, my body was like, hey, 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:42.400 we're gonna play football. So it was just kind of 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.320 it kind of happy place. Yeah, it was fine, a 0:06:45.320 --> 0:06:47.159 happy place. So the happy place for me is just 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:49.599 kind of you know, I run a bike. I'll do 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:52.599 a little bit, but nothing over the top. But then 0:06:52.640 --> 0:06:55.760 also nothing pedestrian like, so I gotta find that. I'm 0:06:55.800 --> 0:07:00.479 still trying to find, you know, living North Carolina like 0:07:00.520 --> 0:07:02.680 a NASCAR drive. I'm trying to find that groove on 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:04.440 the road. So when I hit that, when I hit 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:09.119 all those left turns, I'm having my tires have enough 0:07:10.080 --> 0:07:12.000 tried to know how to do and I'm still figuring 0:07:12.000 --> 0:07:14.960 it out. Almost I think it takes time. It takes 0:07:14.960 --> 0:07:17.680 time for him. You know, he stopped playing a couple 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.560 of years ago. And if that's all you guys have 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:23.400 known since the time, and you're idybody making sure that 0:07:23.440 --> 0:07:25.440 your body is right to have a career and sustain. 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:27.880 It's it's one thing to get into the league, whatever 0:07:27.880 --> 0:07:29.960 the league it is. It's another thing entirely to stay. 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:32.160 And then when you're done and that's taken away or 0:07:32.200 --> 0:07:36.640 you choose to walk away. Um, it's an interesting balance 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:39.600 to to make sure that you can still maintain and 0:07:39.680 --> 0:07:43.640 not go crazy preach. Are you over there dropping nuggets? 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:48.640 Like it? All right? Favorite spot to go to now 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:52.200 that COVID So COVID has happened. We all been in 0:07:52.240 --> 0:07:54.600 the house all of a sudden is now Man, I 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:59.640 am not not going where Mauie. We go to Maui 0:07:59.680 --> 0:08:04.640 every dialed in, absolutely love it. We are foodies and 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:09.640 uh I love I love Maui everywhere. We have a 0:08:09.640 --> 0:08:13.160 place to go every night. Um, that's where I go 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:15.560 to unpluck. You asked me what I do to to 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:18.560 recharge Mauie. We go once a year. We didn't go 0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.480 best this year obviously we couldn't go last year. We 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:26.040 got engaged in Maui. Um so yeah, that that's my spot. 0:08:26.240 --> 0:08:30.760 She said, forget the gym. It's yeah, I'm not going 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:32.520 to the gym. That's not like that. I like that 0:08:32.559 --> 0:08:35.600 a lot more. Yeah, yeah, the gym's last time, not 0:08:35.760 --> 0:08:37.960 last on the list, but it's not high up. Yeah, 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:44.200 loo don't didn't take multi hour flight. But you know, 0:08:44.280 --> 0:08:48.199 it's pretty knowing how much you travel, know how much 0:08:48.200 --> 0:08:50.520 you like to travel. Right, you're with the Dodgers, you're 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:56.080 doing that deal with MLB network. Right, So what is 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:01.280 your your go to meal while you're traveling? Lean? Right? 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:07.800 Because of all these different airports, hotels, city on the go, 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:12.240 how do you what do you go to go to 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:17.080 to say hey, I'm here, no matter where it is, 0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:22.880 if it's a good airport, bad airport, good city, terrible city, rain, sleet, snow, summer. 0:09:23.040 --> 0:09:27.400 What is your go to meal on the go or 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:30.240 snack on the go? I say meal because it's on 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:32.280 the go. So it can't be like you're not getting 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:39.760 a steak with you know, yes, stair discuss they'll have 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:42.199 that and actually a Maui and it will be really 0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:49.839 really good. Yes, if I could have anything, it would 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:54.440 probably be Cuban food. So if if we went to Miami, 0:09:54.760 --> 0:10:00.320 it would be uh favorite, you know, and at your 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:06.280 favorite side, I would get the lack afrita, kafrita and co. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:09.360 It would be Cuban food going to my head. Cuban 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:16.160 food set up, Joe, you can free the sounds like 0:10:16.480 --> 0:10:19.120 fries a little bit. It is. It's like a It's 0:10:19.160 --> 0:10:21.280 like a root. It kind of tastes like a potato, 0:10:21.320 --> 0:10:25.240 but it's a root. I don't speak Cuban, but I 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.400 just picked that up. Yeah, you can. You can beat that. 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:30.720 You could like a number of different place outside. I 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:36.600 shut up suck us barely know English bad, I'm cultured 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:41.839 barely no English, all right. I like that. That's cool 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.280 for me. My go to always because I travel a 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:50.360 lot for work. Smoothie or a Si bob. That's healthy. 0:10:50.480 --> 0:10:52.199 You're you're a lot healthier than that I'm trying. I 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:54.280 grew up in l A, so I still got those 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.600 kind of Homeopathic always the best place I ever lived. 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:03.520 Homeo pathic can get can I get it in a 0:11:03.600 --> 0:11:10.959 root word? Uh ready? Organic? So like my right right now? 0:11:11.360 --> 0:11:14.880 My wife is uhh she she orders a lot of 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:21.160 vitamin supplements, zinc vitamin C pill form, powder form. We 0:11:21.240 --> 0:11:25.120 have a defrawther not for coffee. For the supplements to 0:11:25.160 --> 0:11:31.600 help mix it up right, zinc, vitamin D, vitamin B twelve. Um. 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.240 It sounds like a lot of work. It is a 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:34.840 lot of work. That's what she deals with. And then 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:39.640 she gives me a to go bag for morning evening. 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.360 I've been having some I wear. I wear eyeglasses. I 0:11:43.400 --> 0:11:45.960 have to warry about three hours a day, and because 0:11:46.800 --> 0:11:50.120 constantly looking at screens, my eyes been twitching like they're 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:52.120 getting lazy and all that stuff. So my wife looked 0:11:52.200 --> 0:11:55.920 up without me going back to the doctor to get 0:11:55.960 --> 0:12:02.160 a um A stronger prescription eyeglasses, she gave me some. 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.839 She looked up some stuff and gave me some supplements 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:08.360 to help strength of my eyes and stopped the twitching. Now, 0:12:08.400 --> 0:12:15.360 when she brought it up, I'm kind of like, yeah, listen, 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:21.520 hey boo, give me my eyesights, please stop twitching. You 0:12:21.559 --> 0:12:23.360 know they got stuff for you for your eyes. They 0:12:23.880 --> 0:12:27.719 got someone that's for it. You wear a monocle. I 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:30.120 don't know what that is, but I feel like it's 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.520 a joke. No, it's it's one like Mr Peanut, just 0:12:32.559 --> 0:12:37.760 like that one. I think, Oh yeah, on TV. No 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:43.280 means one. I got it. You laugh. It didn't even 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:45.400 know what it was. Got to break it down, you 0:12:45.440 --> 0:12:48.160 gotta break the word. There they were, they were not talking. 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:52.679 All right, let's get to it. Let's get to it. 0:12:52.920 --> 0:12:55.319 Enough jokes on me. Where are you from in the 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:59.960 place you call your hometown. I was born in Colorado Spring, 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.199 but if I had to stay home, I'd probably say 0:13:03.640 --> 0:13:06.360 l A, Manhattan Beach. I lived there for seven years, 0:13:06.360 --> 0:13:09.320 and I was never happier than when I was living there. 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:11.520 I just love l A. I love the weather. I 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.280 love you just feel motivated, you feel like doing stuff, 0:13:15.320 --> 0:13:19.200 you feel productive, everyone's out working out, um, you have 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:22.719 good food options. I just I love the mood. My 0:13:22.800 --> 0:13:26.679 mood changes by the weather, so that seasonal depression stuff 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.480 is real, and l A is e d every day. 0:13:29.600 --> 0:13:31.520 And I just felt good there. I felt happy. I mean, 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:33.760 I love I love living on the East Coast, my 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.480 fiance because I live in one place now, whereas before 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:38.640 we were back and forth all the time, and that's 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:42.680 a pain. But there's just something about living by the 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:47.520 water and something about the vibe of the South Bay 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:50.960 that I loved. I love living there. I love I 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:54.560 love everything about I lived on. My apartment was a 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:56.559 piece of garbage. It was like six square feet and 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.679 it was it was a frame. But it was a 0:13:59.760 --> 0:14:02.640 bill million dollars. Yeah, it was a billion dollars. And 0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:05.880 but it was four blocks from the water. And there's 0:14:05.920 --> 0:14:08.440 just something about that, you know, that to to come 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.319 out and see the Pacific Ocean, and then, I don't know, 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:12.880 I loved it. So I'd have to say, if I, 0:14:13.040 --> 0:14:15.200 if I could live anywhere in the United States, had 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:19.320 been Manhattan Beach. So which do you consider to shape you? Which? 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:23.920 Which place? I mean, other than the obvious geographical differences. Yeah, 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:28.080 well I've been. It's that I've been all over the country. 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.400 I lived internationally too, so I grew up born and 0:14:30.480 --> 0:14:33.040 raised in Colora Springs, and then this job took me 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.960 everywhere I went from I've lived. I've lived in every 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:39.920 time zone. So I went from Colorado to Texas, Texas 0:14:39.920 --> 0:14:44.640 to Wisconsin, Wisconsin, back to Colorado, Colorado, New York, New York, 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:48.040 l A. And now I live in Massachusetts. So you know, 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:50.320 I think my mom shaped me more than where I lived, 0:14:50.960 --> 0:14:53.920 you know, being a product of a single Cuban mother 0:14:54.360 --> 0:14:57.160 um who did not play talk about side. I. I mean, 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:58.680 you didn't you She could just look at you and 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:00.680 you knew you were dead. You know. She never had 0:15:00.720 --> 0:15:03.240 to raise a voice or raise a hand because that 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:07.520 that Cuban death stare, that's that's legit. So black mom 0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:13.360 was like that too. Oh yeah, So if your mom 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:20.240 did raise her voice because randomly, maybe a lot of 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:26.080 just did not listen this one time, give me your 0:15:26.120 --> 0:15:32.880 best mom impression of her getting on your ass, oh man, 0:15:33.000 --> 0:15:37.160 trying to in her language too, get glasses stupulous that 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:47.359 I haven't far bared. Okay, you're not, say, look at 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:53.800 so I heard. I don't want to have to tell 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:57.640 you again. I'm only gonna tell you and I don't know. 0:15:57.840 --> 0:16:00.840 It's not a good answer, Yeah, it was. It was 0:16:00.920 --> 0:16:02.600 more of what do you think? You know, you don't 0:16:02.600 --> 0:16:05.280 do that type of stuff here. We don't act like 0:16:05.400 --> 0:16:08.640 that type of crazy. I was a really actually I 0:16:08.680 --> 0:16:10.120 was a really good kid. It was more of my 0:16:10.240 --> 0:16:17.880 sister who's seven years young, that would push the envelope, 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:21.640 was the one that would would test the boundaries, like 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:23.600 you know, sinking out of the house, going to the 0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:27.120 going into the woods and drinking beer. I would never 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:31.000 I would be I was such a good, goody two 0:16:31.000 --> 0:16:33.480 shoot kid, because I was terrified of my Cuban mother 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:35.840 what she was. There's nothing a police officer could do 0:16:35.920 --> 0:16:37.640 to me that would be worse than what my mom 0:16:37.640 --> 0:16:39.240 would do to me. Well, you know, we have your 0:16:39.240 --> 0:16:48.960 sister online too. Growing up in Colorado for you, you know, 0:16:49.120 --> 0:16:52.960 being a mother, having a mother that was Cuban American right, 0:16:53.200 --> 0:16:58.520 and being a single mom. What what was it like 0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:01.400 for you to to to experienced that as a as 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.879 a kid? You know, I remember my parents got divorced 0:17:04.920 --> 0:17:07.080 when I was ten, so my dad wasn't really in 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:09.720 the picture for probably twenty five years of my life. 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:11.600 And it was actually a tragedy in the family that 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:14.240 caught it kind of like brought everybody back together to 0:17:14.280 --> 0:17:17.120 a certain extent. So my mom was, oh, thank you. 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.160 My mom was born and raised in Havannah, Cuba, so 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:24.600 she with my grandparents escaped the communist regime. So it 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:28.240 was like little Havana is Miami, Florida. So she came 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.720 to the States when she was twenty two. You know 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:33.159 the story that you've heard a million times coming to 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:35.840 the States for a better life. It was her, my grandparents, 0:17:35.960 --> 0:17:38.439 my uncle, and my aunt and my mom had already 0:17:38.520 --> 0:17:44.720 gone through university in Cuba. So she was a twenty 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.840 two year old in Miami, Florida, a new culture, new experience, 0:17:48.920 --> 0:17:51.159 and she basically taught herself how to speak English by 0:17:51.200 --> 0:17:54.480 watching television. The commercials, the repetition of the commercials are 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:56.639 what taught her how to speak English. Well, fast forward 0:17:56.800 --> 0:17:59.760 many many years and she ends up getting her master's degree, 0:18:00.080 --> 0:18:02.919 and you know it's becomes a Spanish teacher, all the 0:18:03.000 --> 0:18:05.560 while doing it while raising two daughters on her own, 0:18:05.960 --> 0:18:08.680 working full time and going to school one class at 0:18:08.680 --> 0:18:12.040 a time, and we basically got our master's degrees around 0:18:12.119 --> 0:18:15.880 the same time. And just seeing that, um, who whoa, whoa, 0:18:15.920 --> 0:18:20.320 whoa whoa you My mom and I got our master's 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.880 degrees around the same time, around the same time period. Yeah, 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:26.719 my mom was the one class at a time, you know. 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.560 And I did the traditional path obviously, like I went 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.520 to school and uh then I worked for five years 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:34.200 and I went back to school to get a master's 0:18:34.280 --> 0:18:36.359 And just the way that the timing worked out. So 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:38.200 my mom is the most amazing woman. If I could 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.359 be half the person she is, I'm good to go. 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:44.040 So I was raised in a very strict household where 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:48.040 you didn't you didn't do anything wrong because my mom 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:50.920 was killing herself to to make it happen for us. 0:18:51.119 --> 0:18:54.359 And you know, my dad wasn't in the picture and 0:18:54.480 --> 0:18:56.600 my mom was everything. So to this day, I send 0:18:56.600 --> 0:19:00.080 my mom Father's Day cards, um, because she's just an 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:02.720 important figure in my life. And she never pressured me, 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.240 but always supported me. And I think there's a there's 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.720 a big difference in that. So I'm very lucky that 0:19:08.720 --> 0:19:10.800 that she's my mom. What other attributes do you think 0:19:10.840 --> 0:19:16.600 you've gleaned from your mom? I think work ethic number one. Um, 0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:21.159 the you know, risking, kind of betting on yourself. You know, 0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.120 I completely switched scares to go back into go back 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.520 to school, to get into journalism. Um, you know, not 0:19:27.520 --> 0:19:29.719 putting up with anything, not putting up with any bs. 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.760 You know, my dad sent like two eighty three bullshit 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.159 dollars a month for two kids, you know, and my 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:38.840 mom was at the time like a secretary. And you 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:41.000 know that's I always laugh at that Tuopac song that 0:19:41.160 --> 0:19:43.960 you know, Mama made miracles, everything'sgiving, because that's kind of 0:19:44.000 --> 0:19:45.560 what I felt like. I didn't know we were broke. 0:19:45.720 --> 0:19:50.720 I didn't know we didn't have any money. Um, yeah, 0:19:50.760 --> 0:19:53.760 which there's actually there's actually a blessing in that because 0:19:53.760 --> 0:19:55.080 you don't know what you don't know. You don't know 0:19:55.119 --> 0:19:57.840 what you don't have. There's I get what you're saying. 0:19:57.840 --> 0:20:00.920 There's there's a protection in it. I mean, I've grown 0:20:01.000 --> 0:20:02.920 up similar the same way, and it's it's been well 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:06.000 into my thirties before I realized, like dang, when we 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:08.280 got that box and it had the white label that 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.520 just had beans in pork, like that's from the food back. 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:15.280 I didn't realize that to I mean like twenties thirties 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.119 realizing like when you look back and when you working 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:20.320 in the industry, like you you realize, like dang, that's 0:20:20.320 --> 0:20:22.119 what that was from. I just don't. You don't you 0:20:22.160 --> 0:20:25.400 don't know what you don't know. Back then, I thought 0:20:25.440 --> 0:20:29.080 the definition of being rich was if I had, um, 0:20:29.680 --> 0:20:32.960 leather seats in a car and a garage. I thought 0:20:33.000 --> 0:20:34.960 that's what it meant to be rich if you had 0:20:35.040 --> 0:20:36.960 if you had like a garage. Mine was if you 0:20:37.080 --> 0:20:38.719 if someone If I went over someone's house and they 0:20:38.720 --> 0:20:40.520 had steps, I thought they were rich. If you have 0:20:40.560 --> 0:20:42.080 steps in your house. I was like, oh, they're rich. 0:20:43.560 --> 0:20:46.160 I don't. I'm thrown off because I knew my ash 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:50.840 was poor. Waves I figured out, No, I'm saying, But 0:20:50.840 --> 0:20:54.359 what I'm saying is what's revealed, even like those those 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:56.880 minor things where I think, this is what a line 0:20:56.880 --> 0:20:59.720 of saying, like you didn't you don't know what your 0:20:59.760 --> 0:21:02.240 mom goes through in order to get you. You just 0:21:02.320 --> 0:21:04.680 know what you didn't miss a meal, but you don't 0:21:04.680 --> 0:21:06.679 know what your mom did in order to get that 0:21:06.720 --> 0:21:09.560 meal on the table. Like that stuff. At least for me, 0:21:09.640 --> 0:21:12.480 it didn't get revealed way later on, right, Like, of 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:14.199 course I knew my mom had two jobs. Knew she 0:21:14.240 --> 0:21:16.040 worked at the movies, and I know she had an admage, 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:18.040 like I knew that, But some of the things that 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:19.679 in between stuff of like all right, well, I just 0:21:19.680 --> 0:21:21.200 thought we had a box fool. I didn't know that 0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:23.440 the box food came from the food band because she 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:25.000 went there on the front. But you go down like 0:21:25.040 --> 0:21:27.040 stuff like that, because my grandma and my aunt had 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:28.879 done that, so I didn't I didn't know. I'm just 0:21:28.960 --> 0:21:31.639 kind of dumbed it down for me, is I knew, 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:37.160 I didn't know. I didn't know I was poor, poor, 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.720 But I knew like we were struggling, like I I realized, 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:43.480 I didn't realize in our twenties that we were poor. 0:21:44.000 --> 0:21:50.760 We didn't have anything. I realized it like sixteen seventeen twelve, 0:21:50.920 --> 0:21:56.760 like the normalcy of food stamps for us. You're right, 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:58.159 you know, I knew I was a lunch you know, 0:21:58.200 --> 0:22:02.479 I have free lunch, So I knew that we didn't 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:07.480 have a lot, but I knew my ass was pole Like, yeah, 0:22:07.480 --> 0:22:09.520 I didn't. I didn't feel that way. I mean we did, 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:12.119 we did free and reduced lunches too, but I didn't. 0:22:12.400 --> 0:22:14.800 I don't think I had it, you know, to to 0:22:14.880 --> 0:22:17.800 your level. I think there's people that in my life 0:22:17.800 --> 0:22:21.720 and my community that you know, we certainly were fortunate 0:22:21.760 --> 0:22:24.960 to have more than that, and I just didn't, you know, 0:22:25.040 --> 0:22:28.040 I didn't back in the day where there was a 0:22:28.080 --> 0:22:31.080 store called Picking Safe, and that was the store that 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:33.960 was like, you know, we were gold clothing. And I 0:22:34.000 --> 0:22:36.439 remember my mom getting made fun of because like my 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:38.760 mom had shirts from Picken Save and now it's like, 0:22:39.359 --> 0:22:42.080 you know, just stupid, stupid stuff. I remember like saving 0:22:42.080 --> 0:22:45.000 money forever to buy my first pair of British nights, 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:50.440 and I bought my first pair of picker. My mom 0:22:50.520 --> 0:22:52.919 made me give them or take them back because she 0:22:53.040 --> 0:23:00.080 thought they meant blood killers there take them back. That 0:23:00.200 --> 0:23:02.639