WEBVTT - MIXED CHICKS - Curls and Clams 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:25.720 Hey, guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. 0:00:25.880 --> 0:00:28.680 I'm your host, Colleen Witt, and today we have two 0:00:29.520 --> 0:00:35.040 very special guests. We have owners, founders creators of Mixed Chicks, 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:38.879 Wendy and Kim are in the building. Hi, Hi are 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.080 having us. Thank you for coming. I was like emailing 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.280 your team. I think we had emailed them. We're going 0:00:45.280 --> 0:00:47.120 back and forth for a while, and they were just like, 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.160 if you reach out at this date and this time, 0:00:49.240 --> 0:00:52.199 you could maybe get them. And so we are so 0:00:52.320 --> 0:00:54.720 happy to have you. I am extremely happy to have you. 0:00:54.840 --> 0:01:00.800 I love interviewing entrepreneurs and Mixed Chicks. You guys, I 0:01:00.880 --> 0:01:03.800 remember when you guys started hitting the shelves back in 0:01:03.800 --> 0:01:06.600 two thousand and four, well two thousand and five, two 0:01:06.600 --> 0:01:09.039 thousand fours. Yeah, actually want to start it. Yeah, I 0:01:09.080 --> 0:01:11.240 remember when you guys first hit the shells. I was like, oh, 0:01:11.480 --> 0:01:16.080 there's something for us, something specifically for us. This is 0:01:16.240 --> 0:01:20.400 before everyone else started, you know, pounding the pavement. So 0:01:20.480 --> 0:01:23.760 take me back to well, actually before we even start there, 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:26.000 tell me what you're gonna have me eating today. 0:01:28.240 --> 0:01:33.160 You are going to have linguini with clam sauce today. Yes, 0:01:33.880 --> 0:01:36.559 it sounds like something that will cost a lot of money, 0:01:36.600 --> 0:01:39.679 but when you see how simple the ingredients are, you 0:01:39.720 --> 0:01:42.280 will see that anybody can do this on a budget. 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:45.280 We're using canned clams, and that is really what kind 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:46.559 of makes the price cut. 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:48.559 So yeah, I'm gonna start. 0:01:48.640 --> 0:01:50.120 Oh, you know what, can you tell us all the 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:51.240 ingredients for your dish? 0:01:51.480 --> 0:01:54.680 Yes, we have some fresh garlic here that we're gonna chop. Fine, 0:01:55.000 --> 0:01:58.160 we have fresh parsley that's been chopped. We have some 0:01:58.200 --> 0:02:01.880 fresh lemon. We also have just a little bit of butter. 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:03.800 You don't have to do the butter, but you know, 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:07.800 butter makes everything taste good. Yeah, yeah, butter, uh huh so, 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:10.480 and a little olive oil and lemon. 0:02:10.360 --> 0:02:12.360 Juice and like we said, the can clamps. 0:02:12.600 --> 0:02:15.120 So yeah, we just start out by saute and the 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:18.520 garlic in some olive oil about two tablespoons, and I'm 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:19.919 gonna finish chopping these off. 0:02:20.200 --> 0:02:22.960 And then just for the listeners hearing like this dish, 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:25.600 I always say the cheaper the dish, the better the story. 0:02:25.720 --> 0:02:30.160 This dish was probably at most ten dollars, and I'm 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.840 only saying ten dollars because you know, you have to 0:02:33.080 --> 0:02:35.600 if you want to add the parsley and fresh lemon 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:37.840 because we have lemon juice on the side, Like this 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:40.960 dish could probably honestly be all in like six dollars. 0:02:41.480 --> 0:02:43.960 So this is really creative. It's the first time we've 0:02:44.000 --> 0:02:46.720 ever had it on the show. And I even played 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.840 around with the recipe yesterday and was like, huh, I 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:51.560 just found a new mom hack and it took less 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:52.320 than twenty minutes. 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.480 So, well, you're nearly on the West coast, you might 0:02:55.520 --> 0:02:58.880 have a lemon tree in your backyard, especially in La Yeah, 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:02.480 so that shuts down, okay, right, Yeah, so that's a 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:02.919 good thing. 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.360 So take me back to what was going on during 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.040 the clam Linguini era. 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:13.320 Ooh, so I was living in my hometown in Atlantic City, 0:03:13.400 --> 0:03:16.240 New Jersey, and I was teaching in the same school 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:20.760 system that I am from, and Atlantic City is it's 0:03:20.800 --> 0:03:21.760 pretty rough right now. 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:23.240 Especially the public school system. 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.240 And it was whenever that was that must have been 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:29.680 I was probably Yeah, let me not date myself completely, 0:03:29.919 --> 0:03:32.320 but I'm gonna say it was about twenty five years ago. 0:03:33.360 --> 0:03:37.240 And so living on a teacher's salary isn't easy, especially 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:40.640 when your income is also going to help. 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.360 I was a math and science teacher. 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:44.880 So if you wanted to do the experiment in the book, 0:03:45.840 --> 0:03:47.680 you had to come up with those supplies. You had 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.160 to purchase, You had to puse. You really wanted your 0:03:50.200 --> 0:03:52.480 students involved, you didn't have to. You could have just 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.200 read the assadne you could have read it with them. 0:03:54.480 --> 0:03:55.960 Do you think they really would have been engaged? 0:03:56.000 --> 0:03:56.080 No? 0:03:56.400 --> 0:03:58.360 So yeah, you were. You didn't really have a lot 0:03:58.360 --> 0:03:59.360 of money for yourself. 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.480 So this this was a teacher making a difference, right, wow, 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:05.560 by offering something to her students. 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:07.840 And what about you? What was your broke dish? 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:12.920 Now you know we joke about that because you could 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:14.880 be broke, but we were always going to eat right, 0:04:15.120 --> 0:04:18.480 So it was like we could make any concoction in 0:04:18.520 --> 0:04:19.000 the house. 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:23.200 But I was thinking, I always loved to make these. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:27.599 I would call them egg rolls, right, so you know 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.520 the big Asian style, you know egg girls you find 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.200 in the store, the long eight rolls, and I would 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:35.839 use chicken, So just get some. 0:04:35.920 --> 0:04:37.880 You would make them from scratch? Oh yeah, and what 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:38.919 would you use to make it? 0:04:39.000 --> 0:04:42.520 So all you need is the paper, the squares, right, 0:04:43.839 --> 0:04:46.560 any type of chicken, chicken brass, you know, whatever's on 0:04:46.640 --> 0:04:49.120 sale chicken at that time, and you could substitute it 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.200 for another kind of meat, right, I used black beans, 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:56.720 I'd use parsley, and I'd. 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.839 Use no, actually not parsley. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:03.960 I'd use cilantro, cilantro, and i used cheese. 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:04.880 Wow. 0:05:04.920 --> 0:05:07.240 And it's really simple. I just saw te you know, 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:09.159 my chicken cheese. 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:10.360 So it would be like a burrito. 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:14.320 But it's like a burrito in an eggrol and you 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.280 just so you cook everything on the stove, take your 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.200 wan ton, roll it up, deep, fry it. Boom, You're done. 0:05:21.279 --> 0:05:25.560 And those would last for like two days. That's actually 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:27.039 pretty it's really good. 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:29.039 I hope everyone's like notes on that. I'm gonna try that. 0:05:29.480 --> 0:05:30.560 We're going to do two meals. 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:34.200 We'll do I'll come back and do that, Yes, come back. 0:05:34.320 --> 0:05:38.800 Yeah. So that's okay. 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:41.359 So you were a teacher and what did you go 0:05:41.400 --> 0:05:44.120 to school for? Are you Kanye? Are you? Are you 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:45.799 Kanye West dropping out of college? 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:52.400 Or did you absolutely entrepreneurs the power? Actually my career 0:05:52.400 --> 0:05:55.599 started in television. I was in TV production. Okay, what 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:59.159 is the TV production everything? I started from being a 0:05:59.240 --> 0:06:02.760 PA that's the first step, production assistant of course, to 0:06:03.920 --> 0:06:09.360 coordinating producer assistant to line producer, assistant to production coordinator. 0:06:09.720 --> 0:06:11.120 So I worked my way up. 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:16.040 Then I became a mommy and the stress of appeasing 0:06:16.080 --> 0:06:19.120 everybody else just became too much. 0:06:19.160 --> 0:06:20.760 It was like, you know what, I have a kid. 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.440 Yeah, I don't really want to play this game anymore, 0:06:23.720 --> 0:06:24.520 and I bowed out. 0:06:24.560 --> 0:06:25.560 But I do miss TV. 0:06:26.120 --> 0:06:29.159 It's crazy because when I think of people in entertainment, 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:32.120 you're always put in these like I hate to say it, 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:36.160 it's terrible, compromising positions, but you always have like these 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.599 limited budgets, short timelines, fast deadlines. 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:40.320 You know what. 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.560 Actually, I got to tell you it's television really helped 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:44.920 me with my career. 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:45.200 Now. 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.320 I worked a live TV so the reality was that, 0:06:49.480 --> 0:06:53.080 you know, when that clock hit that time to go on, 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:55.880 everything had to be perfect. So it was chaos before that, 0:06:56.240 --> 0:06:58.520 but at the end of the day, it always went 0:06:58.640 --> 0:06:59.599 on without a hitch. 0:06:59.839 --> 0:07:01.800 And so you think that also played a role in 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:03.240 your success as entrepreneur. 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:04.400 Oh absolutely. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:07.080 I mean I worked with some of the biggest producers 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:10.160 at that time, and you know, you couldn't make excuses 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.800 if they wanted something. It wasn't oh well, how well 0:07:13.840 --> 0:07:15.560 how do I do that? It was figure it out? 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.600 So I always tell people all the time, you know, 0:07:18.880 --> 0:07:21.520 the biggest mistake you can say that when someone asked 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:21.680 you a. 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:27.360 Question is I don't know or I'm not sure, or 0:07:27.400 --> 0:07:30.120 give one of these, it's like figure it out, figure 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:31.960 it out, or the best thing you can say is 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:33.520 I'll get right back to you. Yeah. 0:07:33.720 --> 0:07:36.640 Now, I learned that lesson. I was working with Nick Cannon, 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.800 and one of the first hard lessons I learned was 0:07:39.840 --> 0:07:42.800 him having a conversation with like, you never come to 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:46.400 me talking about you don't know, right, definitely don't come 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:50.200 to me with no solutional options. And I remember just 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:54.080 being really like like mortified, almost like I will never 0:07:54.160 --> 0:07:55.200 make this mistake. 0:07:54.920 --> 0:07:56.800 Again because I don't know, we'll get you fired. 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.520 Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. It's never a good answer 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:05.120 that striver in any industry, in any industry, Yeah, an industry. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:08.720 I just went in television, Yeah, yeah, anything entertainment. I 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:09.200 feel like. 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:12.480 It's listen you hot to get it done. Yeah. So 0:08:12.560 --> 0:08:14.120 that that's where my training came from. 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:16.520 So it's kind of like, you just figure it out, 0:08:16.600 --> 0:08:18.400 and that's exactly what we did. 0:08:18.480 --> 0:08:20.960 So how does a teacher from Atlantic City? And where 0:08:20.960 --> 0:08:21.440 are you from? 0:08:22.360 --> 0:08:25.680 I was born in New York Long Island, But I 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:28.480 was raised here in California, So I'm an l A girl. 0:08:28.560 --> 0:08:31.360 I'm both How do you guys? 0:08:29.920 --> 0:08:31.800 Ass? 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:34.080 Were you guys? Uh? 0:08:34.440 --> 0:08:34.880 Yeah? 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:39.559 So so Wendy worked in I was in TV. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.640 I'm sorry, Whendy you started to work in music? 0:08:42.800 --> 0:08:43.000 Yeah? 0:08:43.040 --> 0:08:46.240 I actually, yeah, I was. I had gone through a breakup. 0:08:46.640 --> 0:08:50.079 Uh, and the best way to make sure it's over 0:08:50.400 --> 0:08:52.000 is to move three thousand miles away. 0:08:52.240 --> 0:08:55.800 Hilarious. Was it one of those on and off relationships? 0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:56.760 Is that why you had tomor on. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.560 And off since like to tenth grade? What I'm saying, 0:08:59.640 --> 0:09:01.760 so you've had to bounce? Yeah? It was no good. 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:06.320 Yeah, so that's hilarious. So we're still friends today, you know, 0:09:06.480 --> 0:09:07.040 just some people. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:08.079 It's better that way, right. 0:09:08.600 --> 0:09:12.120 But anyway, So I had an opportunity from just a 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.920 guy I had known before that was looking for a 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.680 He was looking for an assistant a little bit and 0:09:18.679 --> 0:09:22.120 and and so, and I just figured, you know what, 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:25.400 let me get out of here, because you know, now 0:09:25.480 --> 0:09:28.080 all of my bills are all on me, and teaching 0:09:28.240 --> 0:09:32.360 alone just you just can't really do it. So I 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:34.240 figured let me just give this a try. He said, 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.640 he'll pay me a little more than a teacher. And 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.199 he was closing down this New York office and coming 0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:41.560 out here to LA and I just said, I'm going 0:09:41.640 --> 0:09:43.880 to go for it. And the desk right next to me, 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:46.520 it was like he was a branch of Virgin Records. 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:48.359 It was actually a Cheeva. 0:09:48.200 --> 0:09:50.679 Sound and he managed de'angelo and Mark Bronson and a 0:09:50.720 --> 0:09:51.720 lot of really cool bands. 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:53.280 So it switched my life. I ended up going on 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:55.240 tour a few times just as his assistant. 0:09:55.400 --> 0:09:57.400 But his sister was at the desk next to me, 0:09:57.720 --> 0:10:00.200 and I didn't really know many people out here. She 0:10:00.280 --> 0:10:01.760 just kind of took me under her wing, took me 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:04.160 to her big sister's house. She used to have barbecues 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:05.960 all the time, and then we just kind of met 0:10:06.000 --> 0:10:07.960 and started talking about hair and things like that. 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:10.480 Wow, and you guys, are you're both mixed? 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:14.920 Yes? What are you mixed with? So my mother's black 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:15.920 and my father's white. 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:20.680 Oh, you're like me. It's so rare to see that mix, 0:10:20.840 --> 0:10:22.280 that mix, right, it is. 0:10:22.440 --> 0:10:26.520 But I swear because of my mom's ability to uh, 0:10:26.640 --> 0:10:30.360 you know, deal with the challenge of textured hair, she 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:33.400 really taught me so many tricks and gifts and gave 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.120 me a real knack for curls. My hair was easy 0:10:37.240 --> 0:10:41.120 compared to what she was used to, you know, working 0:10:41.160 --> 0:10:45.640 with her whole life. So she really made me appreciate 0:10:46.200 --> 0:10:49.480 the uh, you know, which products to use to make 0:10:49.640 --> 0:10:52.800 your hair easier to maintain. So because I had a 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:55.360 mother with textured hair, I feel like it really really 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:59.200 gave me an advantage. Okay, Like my school pictures growing up, 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:03.160 they're fantastic. My hair was laid everything baby hairs before 0:11:03.240 --> 0:11:05.000 baby hair, you know, and we see a lot of 0:11:06.040 --> 0:11:09.640 a lot of mixed girls with white moms back then anyway, 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:10.640 did not have it mastered. 0:11:10.679 --> 0:11:12.199 Oh yeah, definitely had a white mom. 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:14.040 I had the white mom. 0:11:15.000 --> 0:11:16.760 I'm so sorry. 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:18.679 I was like life was. 0:11:19.000 --> 0:11:22.320 It was great because I learned how to do hair. Okay, 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:24.000 I mean, at the end of the day, you have. 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:26.400 To learn how to do it, so I mean, come on. 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:28.920 My mom definitely didn't have the same hair texture, so 0:11:28.960 --> 0:11:32.280 she embraced all that I had and was happy to have, 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.079 you know, a child that had different hair. So we 0:11:36.080 --> 0:11:38.760 were wild, right, we were running around like, you know, 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:42.880 hair here and there. But I had black ants, so 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.120 you know, it was like, come on, get down on 0:11:45.160 --> 0:11:47.480 this lap. You fall asleep because they're hitting you with 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:51.000 the comba. They're braiding the hair, remember those. Yeah, but 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:52.960 so I learned how to do my hair early. So 0:11:53.080 --> 0:11:54.800 my mom's irish and my father's splat. 0:11:55.200 --> 0:11:59.360 Now did you guys that's so funny? Do you guys 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.440 decide barnet? But do you guys notice any. 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:04.360 How? 0:12:04.400 --> 0:12:09.000 Am I gonna word this safely? Say it safely? So 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:11.760 I suld I grew up with a black a black 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.480 mom and the white father. You grew up with the 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.840 white mom and the black father, and both parents stayed 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:20.800 together on both sets. 0:12:21.520 --> 0:12:25.720 No, not mine. My my divorce when I was like twelve. Oh, okay, okay, 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:27.079 and her parents are still married. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.120 Yeah, we just celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary. They got 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:32.439 married when they were in high school, Atlantic City High School, 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:33.480 the same high school I was in. 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:38.360 Okay, Now, this is the question that's gonna be don't 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:42.320 get So, when you grow up with the white mom, 0:12:42.720 --> 0:12:46.640 do you still feel I don't know how I'm gonna 0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:50.920 work black? Yes, it sounds crazy, but like you know, 0:12:51.000 --> 0:12:55.880 sometimes you meet some people with the with the say 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.000 the mom's white, maybe they feel it's. 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:02.839 Settle more connected to her yeah, rather than the father. No, 0:13:03.200 --> 0:13:05.040 I don't think that's the case with anyone. I think 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:10.400 the case comes from parenting. So it's about how your parents. 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:13.719 You know, what they teach you, right, So growing up, 0:13:13.800 --> 0:13:15.160 my parents said, you're Kim. 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:18.120 End of story. You have a problem, come to me, 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:19.520 that's it. 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:24.040 So I didn't have like I needed to connect. I 0:13:24.080 --> 0:13:26.480 connected better with her or with him. I grew up 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:31.960 in Culver City, California, very very mixed environment. So I 0:13:32.000 --> 0:13:35.280 grew up in this condominium complex shout out to Tara Hill, 0:13:35.360 --> 0:13:40.199 That's where I'm from. And there were so many mixed kids, 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:44.160 whether they had a black mom, white dad, black dad, 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.559 Asian mom. I mean, there were a blend of many people. 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.800 So we kind of just were all connected. I don't 0:13:52.840 --> 0:13:56.200 think we really had an identity issue growing up because 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:59.800 we were together. But elementary was great, right, Junior high 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.000 came another story. 0:14:02.040 --> 0:14:04.520 It was like, so who were you? What you're going 0:14:04.600 --> 0:14:05.120 to choose? 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.360 You know, you think this and you know that kind 0:14:07.400 --> 0:14:10.280 of stuff, and it was like, WHOA, what's going on here? 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:12.920 Or you started to see some of the kids that 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:16.840 you grew up with acting a little different, or you know, 0:14:17.320 --> 0:14:19.240 I think about in elementary school. 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:24.280 You have the crush on Brian or you know Ryan. 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:25.240 Then you get to. 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.920 Junior high and it was Marcus and you know Jamal. Know, 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:32.920 it started to change. But that's no, I didn't have 0:14:33.000 --> 0:14:36.040 that issue. My father's very strong presence in my life. 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:40.960 He was, you know, the parent that would kind of 0:14:41.000 --> 0:14:44.960 dictated our life. I knew where my father came from. 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:47.640 I knew the struggles that he had, the challenges that 0:14:47.680 --> 0:14:51.680 he had and still would face. Right, So I understood 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:57.400 my history. I understood how the world saw him and 0:14:57.440 --> 0:15:01.120 how they would see me. And I understand where my 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.400 mom came from, and I understood the struggles they had 0:15:04.560 --> 0:15:08.520 being a couple in Long Island, New York. So there 0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:12.280 was no issue for me. But I can say I 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:15.640 grew up with other friends, right, and I could see 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.160 this one kind of tend to be a little bit 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.080 more like this or that. But I also looked at 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:25.680 the dynamic of the parenting, the mom sharing, the heartache, 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:29.440 the drama, you know with the dad, things that that's 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.160 not kids business, right, So then you see how they 0:15:32.200 --> 0:15:36.160 start to choose their paths just based on the experiences 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:36.960 of their parents. 0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.200 Yeah, definitely, Well I'm glad, I'm Loki Glad I asked 0:15:40.200 --> 0:15:43.520 that question, I would have thought that the response. I 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:48.680 was expecting something different because. 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:49.080 I love too lemony, but that's all would be good. 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.080 Put a little bit of the pepper Chile. 0:15:52.560 --> 0:15:55.360 I'm not spicy enough, and I think that's gonna be fine. 0:15:55.560 --> 0:15:57.080 I love how you guys are. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:00.520 You guys have been partners for such a long time, 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:02.400 and you could it's it's really. 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:03.680 Everybody were sisters. 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:07.960 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:10.720 So I don't I don't want from the mixed uff. 0:16:11.800 --> 0:16:15.320 I'm a mixed babe from the eighties. And going back 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:18.120 to what you said I experienced, I saw racism for 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.000 the first time around like nine after we moved to 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:24.600 upstate New York. We went from Brooklyn. Never really questioned 0:16:24.600 --> 0:16:28.800 our race. Definitely the whiteside question like how would we identify? 0:16:29.000 --> 0:16:30.600 And that was like kind of scary for me, Like 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:31.000 what do you mean? 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:32.000 How would I identify? 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:34.800 So I'm thinking that since you guys are a little older, 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.520 that maybe you guys had it even harder because we 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:39.640 didn't know that many mixed people. 0:16:39.720 --> 0:16:42.840 Seventies I had found like yes, but. 0:16:42.880 --> 0:16:45.960 To hear that, like even the home environment, I was thinking, 0:16:45.960 --> 0:16:49.640 maybe it's the just the overall environment, because even when 0:16:49.680 --> 0:16:51.480 I got to high school, it was like I couldn't 0:16:51.640 --> 0:16:56.360 like my homeboy, white boy Tom because his parents were 0:16:56.400 --> 0:17:00.280 absolutely gonna end that relationship because they didn't want us 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.960 mixing with them. So it's different to hear. But I 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:06.879 also like hearing, like in Long Island that your parents 0:17:06.880 --> 0:17:10.359 had a struggle, but then in Culver City it was different. 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.399 So do you think it was I feel you like 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:15.399 where it's like it's not just your parents, but it's 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:16.720 also that whole environment. 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.320 But I think it's about toleration too, right, And it's 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.920 about what you're going to deal with. And I think 0:17:22.000 --> 0:17:24.879 when you have had such struggle and you move on, 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:27.480 you say I'm not going to deal with that, and 0:17:27.520 --> 0:17:30.200 you have to make that change. It doesn't mean you're 0:17:30.240 --> 0:17:33.320 not going to experience anything, right, But that's where the 0:17:33.320 --> 0:17:37.400 foundation comes from, the foundation at home, of understanding who 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:41.679 you are, understanding that, hey, everyone's not going to like you, 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:44.520 so get off of that high horse, right. Don't think 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:47.960 you're too cute. You know you're not something so special. 0:17:48.200 --> 0:17:51.879 You are here, but you know what, in life, nothing's fair, 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:54.920 and you need to work hard and let people see 0:17:54.960 --> 0:17:58.040 you for your talent. And who you truly are, rather 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:00.560 than looking at you here, which people do all day, right, 0:18:00.920 --> 0:18:05.040 but you know, make a difference by being someone of substance. 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:19.480 And for me, like my parents, actually my father got 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:22.399 disowned from marrying my black mother. That's why they rushed 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.120 it and got married in high school so he could 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.280 take off the Vietnam So you know, Atlantic City, that 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:30.679 area is extremely segregated. So when I was young, we 0:18:30.720 --> 0:18:33.040 lived in the projects, and you know, it was like hard. 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:36.399 We had to fight a lot, just over just nonsense. 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.200 And then we ended up to get away from the violence, 0:18:39.200 --> 0:18:41.320 we moved to this all white neighborhood, the ones that 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.320 the racist grandparents lived in, you know, and lived with 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.119 all white kids for a long time. 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:48.240 And you know that I was called all kinds of names. 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:51.080 But my dad taught us how to fight. 0:18:51.160 --> 0:18:54.520 So there was a lot of you know, a lot 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:56.840 of not going up had to happen, you know, and 0:18:56.880 --> 0:18:58.320 I didn't really want to. I feel like I would 0:18:58.320 --> 0:18:59.720 have been more of a love child. I know, I 0:18:59.720 --> 0:19:02.000 feel I naturally am, but you know, I always had 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:04.320 to have my guard up. And then fortunately when a 0:19:04.359 --> 0:19:06.679 brown the sixth grade, my dad got he was in 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:10.359 the military and he got stationed in Fort Carson, Colorado, 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:12.200 and I lived on an army base for the first 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:14.280 time with so many other mixed children. 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:15.920 It was like odd to not be mixed, kind of 0:19:15.960 --> 0:19:17.680 like what she experienced at Tara Hill. 0:19:18.000 --> 0:19:20.960 And that to me was like the Christmas Special when 0:19:20.960 --> 0:19:23.240 the like when they make it to the Land of Misfits, 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.760 and I really felt like that, like I really identified. 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:29.720 But I love that Christmas Special. I watch it every 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:31.919 year because that felt like me. So then when we 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.280 went back to Atlantic City, instead of wanting to be 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:38.600 like everybody else, I pitied them for their limited view 0:19:38.960 --> 0:19:41.439 because that's all they knew and I was believe in 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.200 it too. But you have to you have to have 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:48.960 different perspectives and experiences to really know. So, you know, 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.320