WEBVTT - Robin McBride: The Lost Sister and A Wine Empire 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:04.720 Tired of ads interrupting your gripping investigations. Good news AD 0:00:04.720 --> 0:00:08.119 free listening on Amazon Music is included with your Prime membership. 0:00:08.440 --> 0:00:11.440 Ads shouldn't be the scariest thing about true crime. Just 0:00:11.480 --> 0:00:14.319 head to Amazon dot com Slash ad free true Crime 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:17.439 to catch up on the latest episodes without the ads 0:00:17.560 --> 0:00:19.640 and shows A three for punch describers some shows me 0:00:20.160 --> 0:00:23.480 ready to disrupt your industry without disrupting your flow. The 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:27.200 LEV Evening NBA program at Santa Clara University might just 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:30.200 be the perfect fit. 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With a million demands on their attention? 0:01:37.400 --> 0:01:41.039 Work life integration isn't just challenging for modern moms, it's 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.560 almost impossible. The Modern Mama's Club app teaches moms how 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:48.640 to put their energy and attention into what matters most 0:01:49.120 --> 0:01:51.440 and to deal with all the other obligations that come 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:56.560 their way effectively. Through interactive programming, monthly mom versations with 0:01:56.680 --> 0:02:00.360 industry experts, and one on one coaching, learn how to 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.440 advocate for your own wellness so you can thrive and 0:02:03.480 --> 0:02:06.960 your kids can thrive too. Download your thirty day trial 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:20.760 of Modern Mama's Club App today. Welcome to she Pivots. 0:02:21.360 --> 0:02:25.320 I'm your host, Emily Tish Sussman. I had left my 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:28.919 decade long political career in DC after having my first 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.280 two kids during the Trump presidency and felt burnt out 0:02:33.160 --> 0:02:36.639 after having my third child, spending a year in lockdown 0:02:36.680 --> 0:02:40.520 with my family, and another tough and exhausting election. I 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.320 began to find solace in the stories of women who 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.079 had made these big career decisions and then found success 0:02:47.120 --> 0:02:50.520 and happiness and their change. I began to realize that 0:02:50.639 --> 0:02:54.520 so many women had pivoted due to personal reasons, and 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.560 they still found success through non traditional paths. This new 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.800 show celebrates these stories and I'm so excited to bring 0:03:01.840 --> 0:03:10.880 them to you with she pivots, what is your name 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:15.040 and what do you do? Oh, that's the simplest, hardest question. 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:20.000 Robin McBride and I am the co founder of McBride's 0:03:20.000 --> 0:03:24.960 Sisters Wines. Robin McBride and her sister Andrea are incredibly 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.560 successful wine makers and their journey into the wine business 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:31.280 is like no other. They both share a father, but 0:03:31.360 --> 0:03:34.200 were raised by their respective mothers on different sides of 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.880 the world, not knowing one another existed until Robin was 0:03:37.880 --> 0:03:42.560 twenty five. Now, together they have built the largest black 0:03:42.600 --> 0:03:46.320 women owned wine business in the world. But during the 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:49.120 beginning stages of the business, Robin had to make a 0:03:49.160 --> 0:03:52.320 decision she was a young mom and had a growing 0:03:52.320 --> 0:03:56.040 career in corporate America. After taking a leap of faith 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:59.760 to start the McBride's Sister's Wine collection, Robin and Andrea 0:03:59.800 --> 0:04:03.840 Bea had to find their groove as young women. You know, 0:04:04.040 --> 0:04:07.680 we were attracted to the wine business. Meet Andrea and 0:04:07.760 --> 0:04:11.320 Robin McBride. Two have sisters with a passion for wine 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.480 hare and look at that. Their personal story is as 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.600 unique as their professional ones. Two black women in a 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:21.640 field dominated by white men. In twenty ten, they started 0:04:21.640 --> 0:04:25.000 the McBride's Sisters Wine Company. When we started, it was 0:04:25.000 --> 0:04:28.280 a bit of an old boys club, so pushback, you received, 0:04:28.520 --> 0:04:36.880 lack of recognition. I think, what did you think you 0:04:36.920 --> 0:04:40.520 were going to do? Growing up so many things as 0:04:40.560 --> 0:04:42.800 a kid, I just kind of spent a lot of 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:47.520 time roaming around, like outside and being in nature and 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.160 on the on. It was also back in the seventies, 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.800 so in eighties, I guess, so you know, kids roamed 0:04:54.839 --> 0:04:59.920 around very freely back then, but investigating you know, tidepool 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:02.840 and you know, going off of the beaten path and 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:04.800 just sort of being in nature and just really really 0:05:04.880 --> 0:05:07.960 curious about, you know, everything in our world. And so 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.880 that was that was very much a big, a big 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.040 part of I guess later in life, trying to figure 0:05:14.080 --> 0:05:17.240 out from a career perspective what would make me happy 0:05:17.240 --> 0:05:19.359 and how it would be fulfilled. But when I was 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:21.919 a child, I actually tried to make wine under my bed. 0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:25.680 For some reason, I had forgotten all about it, but 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.159 taking like Welch's grape juice, and I was like putting 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.960 it in bottles and my baby's my dolls and bottles 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:35.040 and putting it under my bed because I must have 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:37.039 known somehow that you store it in a cool, dry 0:05:37.080 --> 0:05:41.400 place and then waited and I somehow and I knew 0:05:41.440 --> 0:05:44.080 that it was made from grape to the juice of grapes, right, 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:47.240 So and I would try to make wine and it 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.160 did indeed ferment under there. It was pretty gross. That's 0:05:50.200 --> 0:05:54.640 an incredibly sophisticated game. Yeah, I told you. I always 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.160 like science. Now, chemistry and biology like my thing. So 0:05:58.240 --> 0:06:00.599 I was down there experimenting and remember, open it up 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.080 and be really funky. But I was like, smells like 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:06.440 it's fermenting. So I did give a shot at wine 0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.839 making when I was a little kid as well. Robin 0:06:09.880 --> 0:06:12.880 grew up in Monterey, California, and at the time had 0:06:12.880 --> 0:06:15.240 no idea that she had a little sister on the 0:06:15.279 --> 0:06:18.120 other side of the Pacific Ocean who was also surrounded 0:06:18.160 --> 0:06:20.599 by wine and vineyards. I grew up in Monterey, in 0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:24.120 the central coast of California. We were both born to 0:06:24.200 --> 0:06:27.520 the same father, and I'm nine years older, but neither 0:06:27.600 --> 0:06:30.520 of us had a relationship with our dad, and so 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.080 neither of us knew that the other existed, and both 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:37.560 of our moms decided it was best that they split 0:06:37.640 --> 0:06:39.880 up from him and go on about their lives, and 0:06:39.960 --> 0:06:42.960 so my mom left La went up the coast of 0:06:43.120 --> 0:06:47.400 California to Monterey, which you've ever been as very small, quaint, 0:06:47.480 --> 0:06:52.640 beautiful coastal town, heavy in agriculture and fishing, and was 0:06:52.680 --> 0:06:56.320 becoming a really big wine region. Andrea's mom was originally 0:06:56.360 --> 0:06:59.839 from New Zealand, and her mom unfortunately had a terminal 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.520 diagnosis of breast cancer and she decided to move back 0:07:02.560 --> 0:07:05.240 to her home country where her family was. She didn't 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:08.600 have a big family, but where her mother and her 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:11.240 she had one brother, were there, and so she moved 0:07:11.280 --> 0:07:13.080 back to New Zealand when my sister was like five 0:07:13.160 --> 0:07:16.360 or six years old, and she, unfortunately she passed away 0:07:16.400 --> 0:07:18.960 pretty quickly after they moved back, and so my sister 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:22.120 was disconnected from our dad or any of her ties 0:07:22.200 --> 0:07:26.640 here back in the States. Sadly, after the death of 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:30.800 her mother, Andrea lost both of her grandparents, further diminishing 0:07:30.840 --> 0:07:32.880 the support system her mom thought would be there for 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.880 her in New Zealand. From there, Audrey would go on 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.520 to live between her uncle's house and the foster system. 0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.520 It was really my sister and her uncle, who was 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:45.680 a great farmer. He was one of the early grave 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.760 growers in Marlborough and New Zealand and wasn't quite sure 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.679 what to do with this little girl, and she stayed 0:07:53.680 --> 0:07:56.400 with him for a little bit and ended up what 0:07:56.560 --> 0:08:00.440 she called slave labor about working in the vineyards. I 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:02.400 think we have child labor laws here. I don't know 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:04.280 if they did there or not. But she did a 0:08:04.280 --> 0:08:06.120 lot of work in the vineyards for she would never 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:10.640 do it again. But ultimately she spent her time during 0:08:10.640 --> 0:08:15.080 the year, the school year in Auckland with a foster family. 0:08:15.720 --> 0:08:17.960 But there's a unique twist to their story. They didn't 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:21.160 grow up together or even know about each other until 0:08:21.160 --> 0:08:23.760 they were adults. This is wild. They were raised in 0:08:23.800 --> 0:08:26.040 different parts of the world, one in New Zealand and 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.080 the other in California. They reunited in nineteen ninety nine 0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.319 and the rest is wine history. So she was kind 0:08:32.320 --> 0:08:35.280 of back and forth between the big city in New 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.680 Zealand of Auckland, the Foster family, and her uncle in 0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.720 Marlborough and Blenham and wine Grave country and ended up 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.000 really growing up around wine. Did she think that she 0:08:46.040 --> 0:08:49.160 would go into I guess essentially the family business. No, 0:08:49.360 --> 0:08:51.600 absolutely not. She swore she was not going to do 0:08:51.640 --> 0:08:54.760 that because of that little child labor situation that she had. 0:08:54.880 --> 0:08:56.600 She hated it. She thought it was the worst thing 0:08:56.640 --> 0:08:59.000 ever and didn't want anything to do with it. But 0:08:59.160 --> 0:09:01.280 she did grow up in the So she grew up 0:09:01.320 --> 0:09:03.960 with her uncle as a farmer, as a grape grower, 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:08.520 and then neighboring grape growers and wine makers and those 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:11.640 families and what ultimately became over time around that time 0:09:11.640 --> 0:09:14.040 actually became a pretty big business in New Zealand. So 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:16.200 it was very much part of the culture where she 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.480 grew up. But she personally didn't want to ever have 0:09:19.559 --> 0:09:22.640 to do that again. It was cold, hard work and 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:24.880 she didn't care for that part of it very much. 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.560 But she also didn't really as a child. I think 0:09:27.800 --> 0:09:31.320 understand obviously as you would come to later on a life, 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:34.880 but understand, you know, where those grapes were going and 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:36.440 what they were doing, and what the rest of the 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:39.760 business was, and how this product went to market and 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:43.000 how people enjoyed wine, which she would obviously learn later 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:47.040 in life. For Robin's part, she was nine years older 0:09:47.040 --> 0:09:50.480 than Andrea and often wondered about her father. She was 0:09:50.520 --> 0:09:53.040 a racially mixed young girl being raised in a mostly 0:09:53.080 --> 0:09:55.840 white community by a single mother who wanted nothing to 0:09:55.880 --> 0:09:58.640 do with her father. There. Our mother was very much 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.240 like still in a hiding when we were there when 0:10:01.280 --> 0:10:03.080 I was growing up, so she was always sort of 0:10:03.720 --> 0:10:06.960 not wanting to be found essentially, you know, by our dad. 0:10:07.040 --> 0:10:10.199 She wanted to raise me and do her own thing 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:12.959 and not be bothered basically. But it kind of set 0:10:13.000 --> 0:10:16.920 for this strange dynamic and also the fact that when 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.520 I was growing up, it was not racially diverse at all. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.560 And I was probably also one of the very few 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:26.320 children with a single mother, you know, who was working, 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.560 and I was very much a latch key kid and 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:33.280 didn't have you know, cousins or you know, brothers or sisters, 0:10:33.280 --> 0:10:35.320 my mom was also a single child, so I didn't 0:10:35.360 --> 0:10:37.920 have answer, you know, this kind of extended family, and 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:42.320 so it really did sort of feel like an outcast, 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:44.320 or at least like I didn't fit in well right, 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.840 Like I didn't necessarily belong where we were, which you know, 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:49.800 it was weird and kind of rough when you're growing up. 0:10:49.840 --> 0:10:53.199 But in hindsight, I feel like it did. It did 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:57.240 create that independence in me, and also that curiosity. Like 0:10:57.240 --> 0:10:59.439 when I talked about me roaming around, you know, and 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.160 all of these places and exploring like you know, the 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.360 earth and science and nature and the world around me. 0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:06.640 I mean that was really because I was kind of 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.640 by myself, right, And so I think it did kind 0:11:09.679 --> 0:11:14.480 of like create this sort of alternative mindset about how 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:17.079 to go about things, and particularly things that I'm interested in, 0:11:17.320 --> 0:11:21.440 of course, but how to accomplish stuff maybe without really 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:25.160 traditional structures. When you were out there roaming around, did 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.240 you wonder if there was a sibling out there somewhere? 0:11:28.880 --> 0:11:32.959 I did. I did. I figured that statistically or the 0:11:33.040 --> 0:11:36.800 chances were probably pretty good that he continued on in 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:41.480 life somewhere and may have had more children. And so yeah, 0:11:41.559 --> 0:11:43.520 I thought that that was definitely a possibility, and it 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:45.440 was kind of one of those things where I was like, 0:11:45.960 --> 0:11:48.160 when I grow up or later on life, or when 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:50.040 I know, when I feel the time is right or 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.160 I know it's time, I'll look for him and or 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.800 his family and look to see if I have a 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.319 brother or sister out there somewhere. But your mom had 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:03.400 really tried to keep you away and separated. So how 0:12:03.440 --> 0:12:06.400 old were you when you did finally connect with him 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:09.760 and how did it happen? Yeah, well I was. I 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:12.839 was twenty five years old, and so as a little 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:14.360 as a young kid, I was kind of like, you know, 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.080 since I turned eighteen, I'm going to go out here 0:12:16.120 --> 0:12:18.280 and you know, start the work. Well, it didn't happen. 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.600 But I was twenty five, and I actually I had 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:25.520 not yet started those efforts. It was actually him and 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:30.880 his family that set out to find both me and Andrea. 0:12:31.280 --> 0:12:33.800 When her father's family started the search for both sisters, 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:36.560 Robin was working at a corporate job in Atlanta and 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.400 was a young mother. She began working for the company 0:12:39.440 --> 0:12:42.160 after high school, and her love of science and keen 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.920 interest in what the engineers did helped her move up 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:48.840 from the receptionist to managing international sales and distribution. And 0:12:48.920 --> 0:12:52.320 I stayed with that company for probably all together, probably 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.400 eleven years, but worked my way from you know, receptionists 0:12:55.440 --> 0:13:00.760 to eventually I was running and managing international sales and 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:05.679 distribution and went all through production and you know, customer service, 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:10.360 just all sorts of parts of the business and really 0:13:10.480 --> 0:13:14.719 enjoyed my time there, but also really learned a lot unplanned, 0:13:15.080 --> 0:13:17.280 but I got a lot of experience in a global business, 0:13:17.280 --> 0:13:20.800 a small but global business that you know, ultimately helped 0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.200 us establish our own business. You had your daughter around 0:13:24.240 --> 0:13:29.120 the same time, which for many people that in itself 0:13:29.160 --> 0:13:32.400 would be the life changing event and the identity changing 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.680 event to go from no parent to being a parent. 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:39.400 Was that wrapped up, do you think in thinking differently 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.520 about your suddenly growing family in all senses? Yeah, Well, 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.040 so I had my daughter actually was she was about 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.280 five at that time, So you were moving up this 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:56.600 engineering track really aggressively with a young child. What was 0:13:56.600 --> 0:14:01.640 that like. I like that you said aggressively, because that's 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:06.120 very accurate. That was how you did it aggressively. I 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.920 did it that was very very forward and very aggressive. Yeah, 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:13.280 I mean it was really just honestly fueled by my interests. 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:17.400 It wasn't necessarily career pathing per se. It was just 0:14:17.440 --> 0:14:19.760 that I wanted to learn more, and I wanted to 0:14:19.800 --> 0:14:22.360 know more, and I wanted to know how to do more. 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.040 During her time working in the corporate world, her father 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:29.320 had sadly passed from a terminal illness, but tasked his 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.400 family with finding both sisters. In the days before the 0:14:32.440 --> 0:14:35.400 internet are cell phones, her dad's family was doing everything 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:39.360 they could to find the girls. After successfully locating Andrea 0:14:39.440 --> 0:14:42.600 a year prior, Robin got a letter while working in Atlanta. 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.240 So I got the letter and I was in Atlanta. 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:51.760 The stars aligned when Robin discovered that Andrea was in 0:14:51.840 --> 0:14:54.720 the US visiting their father's family at the exact time 0:14:54.800 --> 0:14:58.200 she received the letter. As it turned out, Andrea was 0:14:58.240 --> 0:15:01.800 only a few hours away in Alabai, so plans were 0:15:01.840 --> 0:15:04.440 made to meet the very next day. I kind of 0:15:04.440 --> 0:15:08.240 got the letter, called the number that was on there 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:13.600 and planned to meet her the next day. The next day. Yeah, yeah, 0:15:13.640 --> 0:15:17.000 we were very very close. I know, no time to process. 0:15:17.440 --> 0:15:19.960 That must have been all I mean, what were you thinking. 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.160 It was very much a whirl when of a lot 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.600 of things, because first A I had to process that 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.720 my dad had died already long before me getting that letter, 0:15:29.800 --> 0:15:31.960 so I wasn't gonna I wasn't going to meet him, 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:34.680 and kind of all of the you know things that 0:15:34.720 --> 0:15:36.920 our minds can do, you know, growing up, if you 0:15:36.960 --> 0:15:39.320 have a missing parent or someone like that. You know, 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:42.000 it's kind of like one day, you know, I'm going 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.760 to meet this person, and you know I'm going to 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:47.560 see them, They're going to see me. 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Some 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:58.600 shows me how that Robin had experienced something that most 0:16:58.640 --> 0:17:01.800 of us will never experience in our lifetime. On top 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:04.399 of an already busy, in full life that she had created, 0:17:05.080 --> 0:17:08.840 she had forged her own path, created a family, rose 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:11.399 quickly in her career, and all of a sudden, this 0:17:11.640 --> 0:17:16.280 very important person walks into her life. Walking down the Jetway, 0:17:17.840 --> 0:17:20.760 I saw myself in a reflection in a mirror at 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:22.560 the end of the jetway as I'm walking. But then 0:17:22.600 --> 0:17:25.879 I realized that the reflection wasn't moving as I was walking, 0:17:25.920 --> 0:17:28.960 and that I was seeing my sister for the first 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.720 time and definitely life changing. I mean, it's really interesting 0:17:32.760 --> 0:17:36.720 because it changes your identity. If you're somebody who's grown 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.280 up without a parent, without that side of the family, 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.919 and without any siblings, right, because it's like I identified 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.719 as an only child, you know, I identified as you know, 0:17:45.800 --> 0:17:48.440 all of these things, and that kind of instantly changes 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:52.520 when you have this this missing piece, you know, that 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.760 that comes into your life. So your sister, Andrea was 0:17:55.840 --> 0:17:58.560 quite young when you met, and I assume had to 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:00.720 go back to New Zealand but then ended up back 0:18:00.760 --> 0:18:04.160 in the States. How did that happen? Yeah, so we met. 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:07.240 She was sixteen, mind you, she was already like six 0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:10.240 feet tall, maybe five to eleven. She was very tall already, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:14.480 but she was sixteen, and when she was in the States, 0:18:15.000 --> 0:18:17.000 you know, visiting our family, and when we met, I 0:18:17.040 --> 0:18:19.960 think maybe she was here for like two weeks and 0:18:20.000 --> 0:18:22.720 then had to go back to New Zealand. Now connected 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:26.080 after sixteen years of not knowing each other, Andrea returned 0:18:26.119 --> 0:18:29.200 to New Zealand to finish high school. Luckily, Andrea was 0:18:29.240 --> 0:18:32.360 an amazing athlete and was being recruited by schools across 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:36.400 the US, so she decided to look at schools in California, 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:39.880 eventually settling on USC and LA. Now the two long 0:18:39.960 --> 0:18:43.400 lost sisters were finally just a short drive apart. Yeah, 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:45.240 so then we were finally in the same state. Although 0:18:45.240 --> 0:18:49.000 I was in northern California, she was in southern California. Yeah. 0:18:49.000 --> 0:18:51.240 How often were you two in touch at that point? 0:18:51.440 --> 0:18:54.080 You know, Well, we talked all the time on the phone, 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:57.159 but we were trying to get together in person, I 0:18:57.160 --> 0:18:59.240 mean as often as we could, but probably every few 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.320 weeks and for a while, and depending on what was 0:19:02.359 --> 0:19:05.240 going on, she would drive down to or I'd drive 0:19:05.320 --> 0:19:09.119 down to La or she'd come up to Monterey, And 0:19:09.160 --> 0:19:11.520 then we eventually kind of agreed to meet in the middle, 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:16.320 which is you know, there's not a whole lot. It's beautiful, 0:19:16.440 --> 0:19:18.920 but there's not a whole lot going on, but there 0:19:18.960 --> 0:19:22.480 is a lot of wineries in agriculture and a lot 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.840 of tasting rooms, which is eventually where we ended up 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:29.560 making our meeting places a lot of times, and catching 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:32.360 up on where we were at and talking to each 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.440 other about stories from our past that we just didn't 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:38.359 know because we weren't there, and then also thinking about 0:19:38.359 --> 0:19:40.800 the future and you know what plans we had coming up, 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.080 And it all kind of happened in this backdrop of 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:47.080 the central coast of California, and a lot of times 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.440 with a glass of wine. Was it at that point 0:19:49.440 --> 0:19:51.760 that you started thinking, like we should really do this 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.359 because her path, what she thought her path was going 0:19:54.400 --> 0:19:58.400 to be, was quite different, right, right, Yeah, she had 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:02.080 aspirations of really being in for professional athlete, so she 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.359 was in school, she played volleyball, and then she was 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:08.919 also on track and field. For as long as she 0:20:08.960 --> 0:20:12.000 could remember. Andrea's dream was to make it to the Olympics. 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:14.800 Then in her junior year of college, she suffered an 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:17.399 injury that would force her to put away that dream. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.399 But when you're really really, really driven and really focused 0:20:21.560 --> 0:20:24.280 like she was, there wasn't all that much of a 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:27.080 plan B. And she was, you know, sort of having 0:20:27.080 --> 0:20:30.439 a little crisis to think about if she needed to 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:32.800 change anything for our last year of school and what 0:20:32.880 --> 0:20:35.920 our plans were going to be and for me at 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.920 the same time, I had just I'd gotten married and 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:44.639 just had twin boys and was having my own crisis, 0:20:46.080 --> 0:20:49.119 so to speak. But it was because you know, I 0:20:49.160 --> 0:20:52.200 had been so I had worked so hard and been 0:20:52.560 --> 0:20:56.000 a mom at an early age, but couldn't see how 0:20:56.200 --> 0:20:59.359 now with three kids, two of them being babies, how 0:20:59.359 --> 0:21:01.720 I was going to go back to really being passionate 0:21:02.280 --> 0:21:04.959 in the way that I had been and doing what 0:21:05.000 --> 0:21:08.159 I was doing, you know, for a corporation. I just 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:11.560 couldn't reconcile what it was going to take for me 0:21:11.600 --> 0:21:14.960 to do that and be a good you know, mom 0:21:15.119 --> 0:21:19.720 and wife, and I knew I had to think about 0:21:19.720 --> 0:21:22.359 things a little bit differently and figure something out, figure 0:21:22.400 --> 0:21:25.600 something else out. At the same time that Andrea was 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:27.600 realizing that she was also going to have to think 0:21:27.600 --> 0:21:31.159 about things a little bit differently and figure something else out. 0:21:31.400 --> 0:21:33.639 And you know, we were kind of sitting there sharing 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:37.200 these thoughts one day, and I think that we really 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:39.720 sort of had that moment was that which was like, 0:21:39.880 --> 0:21:42.440 you know, is that too crazy for us to think 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.399 about doing something together and wine, because you know, again, 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.480 over the through almost three years, at that point, we 0:21:48.640 --> 0:21:51.639 had really gotten to know each other. You know, in 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:56.600 this environment of the Central Coast and California's coast and 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:02.480 in wineries and tasting rooms these wineries, they often felt unwelcome, 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:06.320 but instead of shying away or being intimidated by the experience, 0:22:06.720 --> 0:22:09.480 they leaned into it and thought about what they might 0:22:09.560 --> 0:22:13.480 do differently. We would kind of like joke around and 0:22:14.000 --> 0:22:16.440 be creative and like, what would it be like? Could 0:22:16.480 --> 0:22:19.480 you imagine if the winery and our tasting room was 0:22:19.520 --> 0:22:22.440 owned by black people? What would it be like? Or 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:25.600 what if it was the hip hop themed and you know, 0:22:25.640 --> 0:22:27.800