Speaker 1: Hey, everybody. Now, you may know today's guest from a
Speaker 1: certain long running, very long running TV show or some
Speaker 1: film that you've seen him in, But what you may
Speaker 1: not know is that he actually lives in Chuck Norris's
Speaker 1: old house. Now, there's probably a certain portion of my
Speaker 1: listeners who are young enough to be saying, who's Chuck Norris?
Speaker 1: But trust me, living in Chuck Norris's old house is
Speaker 1: kind of hard to beat. Wil marvald Ram is a
Speaker 1: really nice guy, and I was really impressed by how
Speaker 1: much work he does in the nonprofit sector, help being
Speaker 1: across so many different issues. I haven't seen him for years,
Speaker 1: not since we did a movie together. Gosh, I don't
Speaker 1: even I've lost track of time. But this was a
Speaker 1: great conversation. I really enjoyed it. I hope you do too,
Speaker 1: So lean in. I'm glad you're here. Here we are
Speaker 1: with Wilma Valderrama. I'm so happy to have you here
Speaker 1: talking with us. I mean, I want to. My parents
Speaker 1: stuck me with two terrible names, the first one being
Speaker 1: Kevin and the second one being Bacon, both names that
Speaker 1: I just I despise. Bacon because it's a breakfast food
Speaker 1: and Kevin, because it's you know, has become sort of
Speaker 1: like the male version of a Karen, and you have
Speaker 1: one of the greatest names in Hollywood history. But my
Speaker 1: question is, was there ever a moment when somebody said
Speaker 1: to you, we're gonna have to change that name.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, for sure. I mean you
Speaker 2: could imagine. I mean I think that. I mean, we've
Speaker 2: been doing this for quite a while, and I think
Speaker 2: I'm going to almost thirty years now and thirty years ago. Uh,
Speaker 2: if you were of a certain descent, how they we
Speaker 2: needed that name to resemble, you know, to resemble the ethnicity,
Speaker 2: you know. And for some reason, Wilmer Valderama, which in
Speaker 2: Spanish will be will Met vald Rama, right, but in
Speaker 2: English Wilmaer Valdorama doesn't sound Latino. For some reason, you know,
Speaker 2: they just did so. So I had a couple of
Speaker 2: casting directors basically tell me, hey, you know, you might
Speaker 2: you might consider changing your name because it doesn't sound
Speaker 2: like Latino enough.
Speaker 1: And that's that's But that's interesting because they actually asked
Speaker 1: you to change your name to sound more Latino.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, and I know. And then
Speaker 2: I also know some friends who who also at that
Speaker 2: time came from the generation of like, you know, in
Speaker 2: America you only speak English, so that you know, so
Speaker 2: then they changed their last name as well and all that.
Speaker 2: So it's it's it's you know, it's really interesting because
Speaker 2: to me, you know, your name is like the two
Speaker 2: best worlds. You know, everybody loves bacon, okay, and then
Speaker 2: everyone knows the great Kevin, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2: So and you've made Kevin's look pretty good for the
Speaker 2: history of time. So don't you know, don't don't understand
Speaker 2: yourself there. But I for sure feel like valde Rama
Speaker 2: and Wilmer was just not common, like just like and
Speaker 2: Ali was like, what is Wilmer? Like how do you even?
Speaker 2: I mean, I asked my mom. I literally asked my mom,
Speaker 2: like why you know, and she was like she was like,
Speaker 2: I don't know, as your dad, And then I asked
Speaker 2: my dad, and my Dad's like, you know, it's like
Speaker 2: a mixture of like Walter and Edward. And I was like,
Speaker 2: that doesn't even make sense, father. So none of that
Speaker 2: explained anything. But but Wilmer is a name that you
Speaker 2: kind of do here in South America.
Speaker 1: Really, I see, I'd never heard before. That's I think
Speaker 1: that's that's that's really interesting. So speaking of South America,
Speaker 1: I'm really really fascinated what little I know about your
Speaker 1: journey because you were not born in America, is that correct?
Speaker 1: Or you were born you were born in America. You
Speaker 1: were born in Miami and yeah, moved to Venezuela.
Speaker 2: That's right, right, Yeah, it's too interesting, kier and I
Speaker 2: I when I tell this story, a lot of people
Speaker 2: feel like it's almost backwards, you know, like most people
Speaker 2: just moved to America, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 2: my my mom and my dad met in Miami and
Speaker 2: they had my sister and me. I'm a year older
Speaker 2: than than my sister Maryland.
Speaker 1: How many in your so we're three?
Speaker 2: So we're three. So it's me, uh, and then a
Speaker 2: year younger my sister Maryland, and then Stephanie, who is
Speaker 2: a couple of years summers. You know, she's now in
Speaker 2: her thirties and and you know, so it was just
Speaker 2: the three of us, you know, but having my but
Speaker 2: but but my mom and dad had Maryland and and
Speaker 2: me and Miami and then at three years old, I'm
Speaker 2: talking about nineteen eighty three, you know, the Bolivad and
Speaker 2: the dollar were almost one in one, because if you remember,
Speaker 2: the economy in Venezuela was booming, I mean like oil
Speaker 2: was the They're the number one reserved and the third
Speaker 2: largest producer. So it was like Venezuela was thriving, and
Speaker 2: now resources were a very very exciting frontier for a
Speaker 2: lot of different commerce, imports and extporting and all that.
Speaker 2: So so my dad decided that he wanted to you know,
Speaker 2: fly back to Venezuela and go back to you know,
Speaker 2: where the work was. So he decided that he wanted
Speaker 2: to go back into the agriculture industry. And and we
Speaker 2: went back to Venezuela at two and three years old.
Speaker 2: They didn't even know how to speak English obviously, you know.
Speaker 1: And how long had they been in the States. How
Speaker 1: long had your parents been in the States.
Speaker 2: Well, my dad and so my mom was visiting Miami,
Speaker 2: you know, from Colombia, from my mother's from Colombia. Okay,
Speaker 2: my mother's Colombia. And then my father was kind of
Speaker 2: traveling from New York, you know, to Miami, and he
Speaker 2: was like a young man traveling the world, you know,
Speaker 2: And and they met in Miami and then they got married,
Speaker 2: and I had the tool was in Miami, and then
Speaker 2: they moved to Venezuela. And you know, my dad had
Speaker 2: his family in Venezuela and all that, but we moved
Speaker 2: four hours south of Kanakas, which is where most of
Speaker 2: the agriculture industry, you know, close to the Amazons and
Speaker 2: the Tropical four and all that.
Speaker 1: And were they raising what were they grown?
Speaker 2: So my dad had like one of those farms that
Speaker 2: it was like a one size fits all type of situation,
Speaker 2: you know, where like he would do corn on the side,
Speaker 2: he would do rice on this side, he would do
Speaker 2: chickens and like pigs and like cows. And then and
Speaker 2: then he had a bunch of acres. So you know,
Speaker 2: he had this you know, the Amazonian trees like the
Speaker 2: size of you know, you know, a two story building,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. And so you went one tree,
Speaker 2: you produce so much wood, you know that. He also
Speaker 2: would sell some wood to wood makers and constructure workers
Speaker 2: and stuff like that. So and then the summers were
Speaker 2: so long. I'm sorry that the winters were so long
Speaker 2: and the summers were so short because it was so
Speaker 2: moisture so most over there that that you could only
Speaker 2: cultivate the land for a certain amount of time, and
Speaker 2: so my dad started buying machinery to start renting them
Speaker 2: for leveling the land and all that. So like it
Speaker 2: was like a hustler's you know, like like farm and
Speaker 2: but that's I grew up. I grew up in the
Speaker 2: farm riding horses and you know, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Wow, well we have that in common. You know. I'm
Speaker 1: most looking for connections. That's a that's a that's a
Speaker 1: that's the the six degrees thing. I'm on our farm
Speaker 1: right now and uh looking right out at our horses.
Speaker 1: Do you still ride?
Speaker 2: I do, but not as often as I did. You know,
Speaker 2: you when you live in in Los Angeles is kind
Speaker 2: of tough, but you know, but also in a weird
Speaker 2: way accessible, like man, just go.
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm not going to say that,
Speaker 1: I was going to say, never mind, you can ride.
Speaker 1: It is possible to find a horse.
Speaker 2: No, no, for sure. I mean like from from like
Speaker 2: Burbank to tulokal leg to like Topanga Canyon to like
Speaker 2: you know, Malu Canyon like all this, there's a lot
Speaker 2: of stables, you know. So but for some reason, when
Speaker 2: I moved to Los Angeles, I didn't feel like I
Speaker 2: didn't I had the actual accessibility for it, because you know,
Speaker 2: you came to the city and you kind of the
Speaker 2: last thing you think, it's Los Angeles horses, you know.
Speaker 2: So I didn't come out exposed with the community and
Speaker 2: the way way later. But riding horses is like something
Speaker 2: that I grew up with. I love riding horses. I've
Speaker 2: been waiting in my career to ride horses.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I think I'm gonna get get a chance to do
Speaker 2: it next year, which is.
Speaker 1: Great me too. I never I never get it. It's
Speaker 1: it's the only thing I know how to do, and
Speaker 1: it's the thing that I never get. It's the part
Speaker 1: I never get, you know what I mean. It's like always,
Speaker 1: you know, I always got to learn to, I don't
Speaker 1: know whatever, operate a spaceship or something.
Speaker 2: And you know what I mean, you're always saving the
Speaker 2: world somehow, you know, I know.
Speaker 1: Be a doctor. Yeah, a marine. You know. I always
Speaker 1: joke about I wouldn't last played like four Marines and
Speaker 1: I wouldn't last two minutes in boot camp. You know,
Speaker 1: we're we're walking delicately, the fact that we were on strike,
Speaker 1: we walked delicately around right, No, I uh, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean I feel like it's possible to talk about
Speaker 1: being an actor without specifically mentioning the names of past work.
Speaker 1: But I will say, and I hope it'll get in
Speaker 1: trouble with this, that my wife's horse, Woody, came from
Speaker 1: Los Angeles and he actually appeared in Django Unchained. So
Speaker 1: if I'm going to get in trouble for that, we
Speaker 1: can cut that out. I just want to say that I'm.
Speaker 2: Not I think it's related. I mean, I don't think
Speaker 2: the horses are in the Union, so.
Speaker 1: I think, right, he is non Union. That's true. Yes, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Well that's really interesting. And so at what age did
Speaker 1: you make it back to the States and why did
Speaker 1: you had you end up in this gig?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, I mean, I'll tell you it's very interesting
Speaker 2: because I mean, there was no notion that we at
Speaker 2: some point we had to come back to United States
Speaker 2: at all. But at that time, I'm just sure she
Speaker 2: remember kind of in the early nineties, a young general
Speaker 2: by the name of Hugo Chavis. He tried to take
Speaker 2: the governing power by force. He tried, he did a
Speaker 2: national coup on the Venezuelan you know government. He didn't succeed, right,
Speaker 2: So his forces fell back and they couldn't they couldn't
Speaker 2: take over, and it was a very interesting you know,
Speaker 2: it was a very interesting time for Venezuela because it
Speaker 2: was telegraphing at this stabilization something. Then you know, Hugo
Speaker 2: Chavis decides that he's going to launch himself as a
Speaker 2: presidential candidate and wins it, and he wins the presidency
Speaker 2: and then takes over the whole country and becomes a
Speaker 2: you know, the stabilization, the corruption, a lot of stuff
Speaker 2: just can't amplify us. Right and right before any of
Speaker 2: that starts turning, my dad realized that it was probably
Speaker 2: time to, you know, to come back to in other states.
Speaker 2: My dad also wanted us to you know, to come
Speaker 2: back and you know and be back at a place
Speaker 2: where we were born, you know, and and you know,
Speaker 2: so in nineteen ninety at the end of ninety the
Speaker 2: middle of nineteen ninety three, my father said, I was
Speaker 2: thirteen years old, and he's like, okay, so we're going
Speaker 2: to America. And I was like, what like when they
Speaker 2: speak English over there, and.
Speaker 1: Like had you been speaking had you had you been
Speaker 1: speaking English at all?
Speaker 2: Not at all? Wow, I mean not at all. I
Speaker 2: didn't even know how to count the three. Like I
Speaker 2: and I've always said this in areviews, but I but
Speaker 2: the only word I knew how to say was monkey
Speaker 2: and didn't That didn't help me when I got here,
Speaker 2: you know, but I definitely think it was. It was
Speaker 2: a very very transformative process for us. I mean to
Speaker 2: think about that we had to kind of back up
Speaker 2: and sell everything we had and then eventually come back
Speaker 2: to the Under States was a really scary time. And
Speaker 2: we you know, come to the United States, no one
Speaker 2: knows how to speak English. It was like the first
Speaker 2: time that we had to kind of like my first
Speaker 2: job was to really learn rapidly how to answer the phone,
Speaker 2: read the menus and the manuals, you know, like it
Speaker 2: really really, you know, answer the door when it's somebody
Speaker 2: that obviously looks like does not speak Spanish, you know,
Speaker 2: you know, and that was our first job and just
Speaker 2: trying to make sure that we learned how to speak English.
Speaker 2: And so did you come back to So we went
Speaker 2: to Miami for a couple of weeks and there was
Speaker 2: nothing more for us in Miami, but my dad had
Speaker 2: a brother here you're in Los Angeles, So we drove
Speaker 2: across country, you know, and we came to Los Angeles
Speaker 2: and then we you know, my dad was helping his
Speaker 2: brother with this car rental plays that he had, and
Speaker 2: you know, and then you know, we had to kind
Speaker 2: of move out on our own after that, and we
Speaker 2: started from scratch, you know what I mean. And you know,
Speaker 2: like every other immigrant family, we had, you know, we
Speaker 2: had the very lows and then the lows and then
Speaker 2: like the medium lows, and you know, and you started
Speaker 2: kind of thinking like what, you know, what was it
Speaker 2: going to be? And you know, my because I told
Speaker 2: you my first job was to learn how to speak English.
Speaker 2: In school, I was going to ESL classes. So I
Speaker 2: went back to like school activities. So it was like
Speaker 2: I was always dancing, singing and actings. That was six
Speaker 2: years old back in Venezuela. And when I came here,
Speaker 2: I figured like this was the one thing that I
Speaker 2: could do. The scene kind of universal that like I
Speaker 2: didn't have to learn how to speak English to do,
Speaker 2: you know. And then the more I did theater, the
Speaker 2: more it would force me to read, it would force
Speaker 2: me to speak aloud, It forced me to you know,
Speaker 2: kind of carry on these little fake conversations on stage
Speaker 2: that I didn't have the courage to have outside of
Speaker 2: the stage.
Speaker 1: I thought, really interesting, Well, I'm sorry to stop you there,
Speaker 1: but I I I think that, uh, for me, I've
Speaker 1: always felt like being in a theater class because I
Speaker 1: got at the theater class. And but around the same time,
Speaker 1: we're very very young. Always was an opportunity to do
Speaker 1: things that you know, I was either embarrassed to do
Speaker 1: outside of the class or or would never get an
Speaker 1: opportunity to. And and that's really interesting to me that
Speaker 1: you were you had a I mean, does it's It
Speaker 1: sounds like it was a safe space to kind of
Speaker 1: mess up English and if you wanted to and not
Speaker 1: get embarrassed or or whatever, bullied or whatever else would happen.
Speaker 2: It was definitely a centuary for many things, you know.
Speaker 2: It was where people you know, I just also feel
Speaker 2: like when you embraced that mentality and that philosophy of
Speaker 2: the centuary that we speak of, you kind of realize
Speaker 2: that this is where you got to make the mistakes.
Speaker 2: This is where you are to me bold, this is
Speaker 2: where you got to throw yourself out there. And I
Speaker 2: was very fortunate that my classmates, you know, were just
Speaker 2: as wondrous as I was, and was just as like,
Speaker 2: you know, theater, you know theater doorgs with me, you know,
Speaker 2: and like we would and we would just have fun
Speaker 2: and do these acting exercises that really started opening me
Speaker 2: up and in a world where you know, I thought,
Speaker 2: I thought I knew what life was when I was
Speaker 2: in Venezuela, and that was a very RealD reality, right
Speaker 2: like where I was exposed to things that young kids
Speaker 2: in America just wouldn't be And when I got here,
Speaker 2: it was like the happiest place on earth. Right So,
Speaker 2: I mean for me, America was like the happiest place
Speaker 2: on earth because all the things that I grew up
Speaker 2: watching all the way after thirteen or seeing and with
Speaker 2: my own eyes at although after thirteen, coming to the
Speaker 2: United States was like, oh my god, this is unbelievable.
Speaker 2: Like you were watch the six o'clock news and be like,
Speaker 2: oh that's it. It's a good day, you know. And
Speaker 2: so when I went to school, finding myself in the
Speaker 2: perform in arts and being so shy because I couldn't communicate,
Speaker 2: but being on that stage it just like opened it
Speaker 2: all up and let it all float out. And and
Speaker 2: then the more I did it, the I mean the
Speaker 2: faster that I learned how to speak English, Like I
Speaker 2: learned how to speak English in months, you know, And
Speaker 2: I was just like full sentences and all the gesist
Speaker 2: part about it, Karen, is that I was listening. I
Speaker 2: was I was also watching I Love Lucy, you know,
Speaker 2: and watching you know, and and Dancy had an accent,
Speaker 2: so I and I had an accent. So I was like, oh,
Speaker 2: this is cool.
Speaker 1: You know, that's a surprise that you were watching I
Speaker 1: Love Lucy that but I Love Lucy was made like
Speaker 1: thirty years before before.
Speaker 2: But I'll tell you why. Because I used to watch
Speaker 2: all these iconic shows in Spanish and in Venezuela. So
Speaker 2: when I came to the United States, I gravitateds to
Speaker 2: what I knew because I didn't know the new stuff,
Speaker 2: you know. And therefore, once I discover that, oh this
Speaker 2: is still on TV, you know, I kind of felt familiar.
Speaker 2: It felt comfortable, kind of brought me back to Venezuelan
Speaker 2: in a weird way, you know. And then all of
Speaker 2: a sudden I started piecing it together, like, oh, man,
Speaker 2: looking at it, this's like I'm listening to them speaking English,
Speaker 2: and now all of a sudden, I'm understanding what they're saying,
Speaker 2: you know, and I didn't know I did. I had
Speaker 2: no idea that he had an accent. I go to America,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. But yeah, so so that,
Speaker 2: but that's kind of how it all started. And you know,
Speaker 2: I the teacher said to me, hey, you you know
Speaker 2: have an interesting look. You know, you you're kind of funny.
Speaker 2: You should maybe try to do commercials. And imagine telling
Speaker 2: you dad, you know, it was like working his ass off,
Speaker 2: you know, I heard that I could do commercials.
Speaker 1: Like what was his reaction?
Speaker 2: My dad? You know, my dad is incredibly supportive. My
Speaker 2: mom was too, But they were supportive because my report
Speaker 2: card was pretty good, you know, like I had a's
Speaker 2: and b's. So he's like, oh, he wants to do this,
Speaker 2: We'll let him do this because it's like report Cary
Speaker 2: is good. So they thought it was like taking me
Speaker 2: to soccer practice, you know. But to me, it felt
Speaker 2: like he had given me permission to really give it
Speaker 2: a shot, you know. And and I just I just
Speaker 2: went forth throughout all that. I was like, I just fell
Speaker 2: in love with making people laugh and making people feel things,
Speaker 2: and and and then just just taking people for for
Speaker 2: a journey, you know, and I just had so much fun.
Speaker 2: You know, as soon as you you you you feel
Speaker 2: that energy, especially when you're the theater. It's just there's
Speaker 2: just nothing like it.
Speaker 1: Nothing like it. Do your parents live with you? I
Speaker 1: heard I heard that maybe your parents are living under
Speaker 1: the same roof as.
Speaker 2: You and not technically the same river, but that's for
Speaker 2: the same property. So I love it. I love it.
Speaker 2: I Mean, here's the thing, man, you know, I in
Speaker 2: our culture, you know, a family is you know, it's sanity,
Speaker 2: is safe is you know, it's grounding, you know, and
Speaker 2: it's humbleness, right, And I think when I think about
Speaker 2: my family and the sacrifices they made to bring us
Speaker 2: to the United States, you know, and everything they give up,
Speaker 2: because man, like it's tough for people to comprehend how
Speaker 2: much an immigrant couple gives up, you know, to bring
Speaker 2: their kids to a place where they can have a
Speaker 2: better future. And you know, had been born here, you know,
Speaker 2: they you know, they meaning like Marilyn and I have
Speaker 2: been born here. Give an opportunity for us to kind
Speaker 2: of be here and pay it forward was really important.
Speaker 2: But you know, I was very much aware at thirteen
Speaker 2: fourteen fifteen years old. I was incredibly aware of what
Speaker 2: was happening at home, the struggles, you know, the ups
Speaker 2: and downs, the you know, the soft Christmases, you know,
Speaker 2: the dinner every other night or every other two nights.
Speaker 2: And it just fired me up to really pay it
Speaker 2: forward to them. And and you know, and I just
Speaker 2: I could never imagine. I couldn't fathom that some you know,
Speaker 2: my mom and my dad would give up so much,
Speaker 2: and that I would just be far away from them somehow,
Speaker 2: not being able to be around to pay it back
Speaker 2: and continue to pay. I mean and forever grateful, you know,
Speaker 2: so so beck At towards the end some of my
Speaker 2: first you know, jobs, I was like, I don't know
Speaker 2: when else I'm going to make this money again, so
Speaker 2: I might as well buy something, something that would last me.
Speaker 2: And and I was in Tarzana and Chuck Norris was
Speaker 2: selling his property. He had a couple of acres in
Speaker 2: you know, in the valley, and uh and I just
Speaker 2: you know, and he wanted out, man, he wanted to back,
Speaker 2: wanted to go back to the ranch, right, he wanted
Speaker 2: to go back to Texas, you know. And and I
Speaker 2: went in and made him an offer. He sold it,
Speaker 2: you know, to me, and I remodeled it and expanded
Speaker 2: and then, you know, thank the Lord, I was able
Speaker 2: to buy the neighbor at some point many years later,
Speaker 2: and I expanded the property and I gave my mom
Speaker 2: the house next door. So obviously they live in the
Speaker 2: same property. You know, my my dad is in a
Speaker 2: by the way, my mom and my dad are like
Speaker 2: no longer hanging out. They just don't want to hang out.
Speaker 2: They're fine, but I make them be in the same
Speaker 2: property like like a Spanish soap opera, you know, but
Speaker 2: they but my dad lives in an apartment here the house.
Speaker 2: My mom has the house next door, which is literally
Speaker 2: separated by like bushes and trees and my little side door, and.
Speaker 1: Even Chuck Norris's old house, and it's Chuck Norris's old house,
Speaker 1: which is like they couldn't and also think about who body,
Speaker 1: it's like the most random exchange of property in the
Speaker 1: history of property. That's kind of amazing. Yeah, that's kind
Speaker 1: of amazing. Wow, And and it's also totally fascinating to
Speaker 1: me that, you know, the bond is so strong that
Speaker 1: even when they don't want to hang out, they're still
Speaker 1: going to be on the same property. You know. That's
Speaker 1: that's that's really that's really interesting. You have kids of
Speaker 1: your own.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I have a two and a half year old daughter.
Speaker 2: Her name is nakano Oceana, and she is I mean,
Speaker 2: she just brought, you know, so much sunshine to the
Speaker 2: house and and also gave my parents crazy purpose, right,
Speaker 2: Like I mean they literally you could imagine, right, I mean,
Speaker 2: put my my mom, you know, we had already adults,
Speaker 2: and we were you know, we're already doing our thing,
Speaker 2: you know. And and when she was born, my mom
Speaker 2: just like got twenty years younger. And she picks her
Speaker 2: up at like nine in the morning and cooks her
Speaker 2: like the Venezuelan and Colombian soups and all that stuff,
Speaker 2: and like stufs her up, puts her down for a nap,
Speaker 2: and it's like half the day suspends work her abuela,
Speaker 2: you know. And it's very very beautiful to see that,
Speaker 2: and and honestly, it makes me feel so good, man,
Speaker 2: because it's it's about making sure that your parents still
Speaker 2: want to swing, you know, and they still want to
Speaker 2: wanna dance, and and that that also really gave them
Speaker 2: new fire.
Speaker 1: That's so beautiful. I mean I love that that three
Speaker 1: generation uh in the in the same spot. That's yeah,
Speaker 1: that's pretty cool. You do a lot of stuff on
Speaker 1: social media. I have kind of come to it, I
Speaker 1: would say, over the years, I've come to embrace it,
Speaker 1: but I think that I came to it somewhat reluctantly.
Speaker 1: I'm curious, you know, what what your feelings are about it,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know what what the pitfalls can be
Speaker 1: and whether or not it's it's it's a satisfying thing
Speaker 1: to you or or how you've chosen to use it. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, what's it like for you?
Speaker 2: I mean, it's it's It's an interesting question because I've
Speaker 2: I feel like we're both young enough and old enough
Speaker 2: to understand where we were in entertainment, where it started
Speaker 2: evolving from, you know, most importantly, what it what it
Speaker 2: became right now. And then you know, we also are
Speaker 2: you know, young enough to recognize that it's, uh, there
Speaker 2: is a content revolution happening and that the evolution needs
Speaker 2: new mediums, you know, for it to survive and uh
Speaker 2: and to thrive. And the world got a lot smaller
Speaker 2: when you know when all these multi window uh, you know,
Speaker 2: multi window platforms of storytelling and awareness you know, became
Speaker 2: available to the next generation of storytellers. So I believe
Speaker 2: that is a compliment to where we're going next in content,
Speaker 2: you know. I think technology has definitely given us the
Speaker 2: scope to make stories bigger, you know. I don't think
Speaker 2: it often is necessary to go that big with storytelling.
Speaker 2: I feel like we should focus a little bit more
Speaker 2: on you know, great scripts, you know, and great stories.
Speaker 2: But nonetheless, you know, we're seeing some of the things
Speaker 2: that we grew up with become, you know, come to
Speaker 2: life on levels that they couldn't twenty years ago, you know.
Speaker 2: So so to see the generation taking taking the baton
Speaker 2: of storytelling and and evolving it into what it is
Speaker 2: and things interesting now when you talk about social media,
Speaker 2: I think it's an interesting tool for awareness, you know, uh,
Speaker 2: and most importantly for uh, the cultivation of certain communities
Speaker 2: and certain audiences that that used to find themselves at
Speaker 2: a convention, used to find themselves that you know, at
Speaker 2: a genre in the movie, you know, and now they
Speaker 2: can be connected to their dislikes and interest and so
Speaker 2: so I choose to look at it that way because
Speaker 2: there's obviously another side of it, that is, you know,
Speaker 2: that it's a little you know, it's a little bit
Speaker 2: more straight and and and mysterious and and also bizarre
Speaker 2: sometimes and you know I have and and pretty dangerous,
Speaker 2: you know. And i'd say, you know, i'd say that
Speaker 2: for me particularly, I think it's an you know, it's
Speaker 2: an exciting complement on the things that we're up to
Speaker 2: in doing, you know. And and you know, you kind
Speaker 2: of want to live with the audiences. You want to
Speaker 2: be able to communicate to them directly. And before it
Speaker 2: used to be a that are they used to answer
Speaker 2: back with the headshow and as a signature. Now you
Speaker 2: can comment on their you know, n their tributes to
Speaker 2: to your work or anything like that. So so you know,
Speaker 2: I have an interesting relationship with it, right like I
Speaker 2: I you know, I use it in a way that
Speaker 2: I feel, you know, could uh, you know, could mostly
Speaker 2: feel like a grounding moment for me and my fans
Speaker 2: and the people that support me, you know, and then
Speaker 2: I ampuify for things that I that I believe in.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: I think that's the other thing that I feel. Social
Speaker 2: media has given me a platform for to continue to
Speaker 2: talk about the things that are important to me, you know,
Speaker 2: like the many organizations that we work on and well.
Speaker 1: That's a good segue. So tell me what what are
Speaker 1: the organizations that you've been working with.
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, for sure, I you know, I I started,
Speaker 2: I started voting registration for a really long time, right
Speaker 2: like I did. Rossara Dawson and I you know, were
Speaker 2: at the first chapter of both the Latina where we
Speaker 2: were educating Latinos across the United States to to you know,
Speaker 2: to get involved in the political process and going out
Speaker 2: there and voting. Know, and this was a non partisan,
Speaker 2: uh you know approach to it. We wanted Latinos to
Speaker 2: just understand that, you know, they are also part of
Speaker 2: this system. They're also part of this national community, and
Speaker 2: that you get in the game and and vote their
Speaker 2: interest in vote their you know, their future, you know.
Speaker 2: And and for many years, we're talking about seventeen years now,
Speaker 2: so we you know, so so what to Latino has
Speaker 2: been incredibly influential and amazing for that, you know. And
Speaker 2: then you know, and then throughout the years, I've been
Speaker 2: able to be part of multiple things like the Congressional
Speaker 2: Hispanic cauguists and I created a Ready to Lead program,
Speaker 2: which you know, helps you know, high school students want
Speaker 2: to have leader job leadership jobs. And then you know,
Speaker 2: work worked a lot with different other foundations, you know,
Speaker 2: helped a lot of the darker students, and that was
Speaker 2: really exciting, you know. And and you know, and as
Speaker 2: as time starts evolving and start realizing that certain communities
Speaker 2: need a place and a place to to convene. So
Speaker 2: then America for and I created Hardness, which was, you know,
Speaker 2: a place where a lot of our community leaders can
Speaker 2: meet and workshop their thoughts and ideas and raise awareness
Speaker 2: for the community's interest in the moment. So that was
Speaker 2: really exciting. So Hardness is a really fun place for us.
Speaker 2: And and then you know, and one of the things
Speaker 2: that I one of the organizations that I've been i
Speaker 2: mean just incredibly inspired by has been the USO. Right,
Speaker 2: So I worked with the USO for many, many, many years.
Speaker 2: I know that you have a lot of experience with
Speaker 2: you so as well. And and it's it's been something
Speaker 2: that's really not only touched my heart, but it's gave
Speaker 2: me a reason, not a reason, but a way, you know,
Speaker 2: in a path to actually pay forward, you know, what
Speaker 2: this country's giving me in So that that was another
Speaker 2: organization that I became incredibly passionate about. But you know,
Speaker 2: it's like, yeah, I'm giving your portfolio things that I've
Speaker 2: been over so many years, you know, stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's mind blowing. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's it's it's uh, you know, I mean, I I
Speaker 1: big props for for that. I mean, because that's a
Speaker 1: those are a lot of organizations to not only be
Speaker 1: part of generated and and uh and I mean, you know,
Speaker 1: I'm i' I always find it very inspiring with people
Speaker 1: in our industry, you know, start to find a way
Speaker 1: to give back, I mean, in your words, give back.
Speaker 1: And that's really what this podcast is all about. And
Speaker 1: since you are the US Global Ambassador, I think we
Speaker 1: should bring in Jennifer Walquist, who is the I want
Speaker 1: to make sure that I get Jennifer's title vice President
Speaker 1: in charge of Global Entertainment at the us SO. I
Speaker 1: hope I got that right, Jennifer, you did.
Speaker 3: You did, That's right, That is right. Thank you Kevin
Speaker 3: for having me today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I'm so happy to have you here. Why don't you
Speaker 1: start by telling me a little bit of the history
Speaker 1: of the us SO, because it's it's kind of a
Speaker 1: fascinating history. It's been around very long time.
Speaker 3: Yes, yeah, absolutely, I appreciate the question too. So we're
Speaker 3: eighty two years young, you know, next February we'll be
Speaker 3: a very young eighty three years old. And what sets
Speaker 3: us apart, I think in terms of legacy and length,
Speaker 3: is that we're actually chartered, you know, by President Roosevelt
Speaker 3: just before the start of World War Two. And on
Speaker 3: top of that, you know, entertainment clearly has always been
Speaker 3: in the DNA of the organization. Actually, the very first
Speaker 3: USO show was with Laurel and Hardy in nineteen forty one,
Speaker 3: just prior to President Roosevelt, you know, invoking that Congressional
Speaker 3: Charter and making us the organization that we are today.
Speaker 3: And really the mission has been the same since that time,
Speaker 3: which is we are by the side of those currently
Speaker 3: serving our active duty, our National Guard, and allso our
Speaker 3: reservists around the world. So today, as we said, as
Speaker 3: an organization, we're you know, seven hundred employees strong, we're
Speaker 3: across two hundred and fifty USO sites around the world,
Speaker 3: We're in twenty eight countries. And I think that's one
Speaker 3: of the most beautiful things about our scale and our
Speaker 3: capability is that we really can be a where around
Speaker 3: the world in a single day. But we also live
Speaker 3: in and amongst the military too. We have so many
Speaker 3: colleagues in the field. You know, when we go to
Speaker 3: Iraq and Afghanistan, we're seeing our service members, but we're
Speaker 3: also seeing our colleagues too that are really there every
Speaker 3: single day, you know, operating in that center and giving
Speaker 3: them that lounge like environment and just time to pick
Speaker 3: a break from their day to day life as well.
Speaker 3: So it's an incredibly exciting time to be at the
Speaker 3: USO and inspire programming and keep meeting the needs of
Speaker 3: our military community around the world.
Speaker 1: Why do you think that entertainment is so important for
Speaker 1: people who are serving, Well.
Speaker 3: You think about I think COVID probably gave most of
Speaker 3: us who are outside of the military, the other ninety
Speaker 3: nine percent of the US population, really the first glimpse
Speaker 3: of life. You know, what it's like to be separated
Speaker 3: from your family, you know, you think about it. Wilma
Speaker 3: and I have been on trips together, and you know,
Speaker 3: we talk to men and women it's their twelve thirteenth, fourteenth,
Speaker 3: a year away from being home with their family for Christmas,
Speaker 3: for Thanksgiving, for Easter, for birthdays, you know. So I
Speaker 3: think that connection specifically with our program, it really just
Speaker 3: kind of sets them back. It's an equalizer. It gives
Speaker 3: them the chance just to relax the same way that
Speaker 3: they feel when they walk into the center. You know,
Speaker 3: their rank doesn't matter at that point. They just get
Speaker 3: to be themselves and laugh. Quite frankly, that's a lot
Speaker 3: of it, I think is laugh and take their mental state,
Speaker 3: you know, away from their day to day life. So
Speaker 3: if you're in Poland and you're there for two years,
Speaker 3: that's where you are. You know, the environments around you
Speaker 3: is what you wake up and see every single day.
Speaker 3: And that's why, in particular, when we visit in person,
Speaker 3: it goes such a long way to their resiliency. You know,
Speaker 3: it is a memory that they keep for a lifetime.
Speaker 3: And I think he and I can both agree the
Speaker 3: validation that we feel and the satisfaction that we feel,
Speaker 3: and knowing that when we walk away from that visit,
Speaker 3: you know they're going to remember it forever. But we
Speaker 3: just gave them energy to keep going at least for
Speaker 3: the next six to nine months, to get through that
Speaker 3: mission and then hopefully get home from there.
Speaker 1: You mentioned their mental state Over the last few years,
Speaker 1: we've gotten more and more focused and more and more
Speaker 1: aware of the fact that they're you know, being at
Speaker 1: war or probably even serving and being away from your
Speaker 1: family or being at risk can take a tremendous toll
Speaker 1: on people mentally. You know a lot of our veterans
Speaker 1: are suffering with PTSD, etc. And I'm wondering if you
Speaker 1: could address that visa v. The USO and what you're
Speaker 1: feeling is about that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think that gets back to the criticality of
Speaker 3: our mission. Why day to day it's so vital for
Speaker 3: us to be doing the work that we're doing where
Speaker 3: they are right next to them. You know, when we
Speaker 3: become we're the counselor we're the hugger, we're the friend,
Speaker 3: we're the constant sort of companion with them, whether it's
Speaker 3: an actual dog that we have in our center, a
Speaker 3: therapy dog and a companion dog to visit with them,
Speaker 3: or it's just our colleagues as well. And I think
Speaker 3: we firmly believe at the USO, you know, we're a
Speaker 3: military support organization that, through all of our programs, if
Speaker 3: we're working actively every single day to acknowledge them, whether
Speaker 3: it's in an airport and just spend time with them,
Speaker 3: talk to them, hear them. Like I said, give them
Speaker 3: a hug and maybe a cup of coffee. It's going
Speaker 3: to hopefully build the foundation for them to have a
Speaker 3: better transition on the way out. And I think one
Speaker 3: of the other answers to that too, specifically hitting on
Speaker 3: that veteran space is the is the evolution of our
Speaker 3: transition program that was started about four or five years ago.
Speaker 3: So we have the fantastic Yeah, we have this fantastic
Speaker 3: program now that's actually building a plan for you. So
Speaker 3: when you decide whether it's in five years or two
Speaker 3: weeks that you're ready to transition out and you're ready
Speaker 3: to go through that civilian life, you can go to
Speaker 3: any USO center in the world. They will assign a
Speaker 3: transition specialist with you that's going to help you build
Speaker 3: the tools and skills that you need. You know, they
Speaker 3: if you haven't thought about getting a bank account, or
Speaker 3: writing your resume, or how do I even apply for
Speaker 3: a job anymore, or use LinkedIn, They're going to take
Speaker 3: you on your own individual path to help set you
Speaker 3: out for success whenever you leave. So I think all
Speaker 3: those programs and elements even the entertainment focused. You know,
Speaker 3: we believe that through the well the positivity and encouragement
Speaker 3: and preparation. Quite frankly, you know we're going to do
Speaker 3: our part to help their transition be a little bit better.
Speaker 4: If you are inspired by today's episode, please join us
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Speaker 4: to learn more.
Speaker 1: Wilmer, you've done some incredible amount of USO tours, am
Speaker 1: I right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I got some miles. I will always come out.
Speaker 1: Is he a record holder? How many times? How many
Speaker 1: times have you?
Speaker 2: How many times? I mean, let me see, I think
Speaker 2: there's a couple, probably a couple of bands, got me
Speaker 2: on a bunch of tours. I mean I would say,
Speaker 2: I know I'm on forty plus shows, right is something
Speaker 2: that forty plus shows and so walk us here?
Speaker 1: That is like what will walk us through just one
Speaker 1: show or how one show of function that and what
Speaker 1: what the whole logistics are of that and what you
Speaker 1: do in the show and get there and the whole thing.
Speaker 2: I love that you asked that. I don't know who
Speaker 2: was to go over. The reason why I'm smiling is
Speaker 2: because we always have the the idea of the plan,
Speaker 2: and the plan always gets made. We're in there, we're like,
Speaker 2: how is this show gonna go? You know? But but
Speaker 2: but really, like I was just from my personal experience,
Speaker 2: and I love for Jennifer to Wayne in here. It's
Speaker 2: always really fun because the USO always allows us to
Speaker 2: to have this blank canvas we go and then empowers
Speaker 2: the artists to really tailor their strengths within the appearance
Speaker 2: and the and the h and the performance or the
Speaker 2: show or or the you know or the handshake tour,
Speaker 2: you know. And the idea is to find the things
Speaker 2: that we feel our men and women of our uniform
Speaker 2: are going to be excited about, whether it's like a
Speaker 2: character or like just the photo ops or or you know,
Speaker 2: the speech or the talk or the exercise so the
Speaker 2: you know, the sketch or or the music number. So
Speaker 2: it's always a great collaboration to figure that one out.
Speaker 2: That being said, when I first uh, when I first
Speaker 2: joined the USO, which I was like thinking my mid twenties,
Speaker 2: and I was like, uh, I had I bumped into
Speaker 2: a couple of you know, uh young men in uniform
Speaker 2: and the new work and I'm walking by and you
Speaker 2: know this, these young guys come up to me and
Speaker 2: they're like, hey, uh, mister Rodrama, a little bit of
Speaker 2: permission to talk to you. And I was like, yeah, yeah, granted,
Speaker 2: go for ithead then he's like, I just want to
Speaker 2: let you know man, that like what you do, you know,
Speaker 2: really helps us. We change the DVDs of your work,
Speaker 2: you know, in the base and and you know, after
Speaker 2: a long day of doing what we do, you know,
Speaker 2: it's it's just nice to to get a laugh.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 2: And and I and I really really touched me, and
Speaker 2: I said, oh wow, like like some of my work
Speaker 2: is actually being broadcast at the basis around the world.
Speaker 2: And so I called my agents and I was like, hey,
Speaker 2: you know, it'll be cool if like if I just
Speaker 2: went out there then like and like I'm thinking like
Speaker 2: and I also remembering, you know, Bob Hope in some
Speaker 2: ads because he really inspire me to get involved. I
Speaker 2: felt like this. I couldn't wear a uniform when I
Speaker 2: was you know, growing up, you know, so I felt
Speaker 2: like this was the next best thing to serve, you know,
Speaker 2: was to just like get out there and like, you know,
Speaker 2: have like an experience with them. So you know, look,
Speaker 2: story short, I called the USO and went then literally
Speaker 2: by the way, and this is like a really big,
Speaker 2: you know, statement of awareness for every single one of
Speaker 2: our colleagues out there, from actors, musicians, to athletes, to poets,
Speaker 2: you know, to you know, to just personalities out there.
Speaker 2: To know how incredibly available and easy is this experience
Speaker 2: for you to embark in. USO makes it incredibly easy
Speaker 2: for you to visit, you know, the right experience for
Speaker 2: you and and works around your time too, So that's
Speaker 2: that's always that's always great. But I was like, you know,
Speaker 2: what if I did, like what if I did like,
Speaker 2: you know, a battle of your mama soa fat jokes
Speaker 2: you know and like, and they were like, what, I
Speaker 2: don't know about this, but we ended up taking like
Speaker 2: an eight mile you know, like snaps off, you know
Speaker 2: what I mean. Back in the day. That was really
Speaker 2: really a funny you know, choke thing, and so we
Speaker 2: will bring it and put them on stage and then
Speaker 2: you know, I remember seeing the generals in the front
Speaker 2: like it was like what did we just bring here?
Speaker 2: But but everybody was going crazy. It was there on
Speaker 2: a great time. So we realized that we could really
Speaker 2: tailor it ull. So that's like the first version. That
Speaker 2: was like chapter one of like what we were doing.
Speaker 2: And then after that we started realizing a lot of
Speaker 2: the stage performances could have a more complicity you know,
Speaker 2: inspiration music, you know, uh and you know comedy, you know.
Speaker 2: And I think the USO has done a great job
Speaker 2: of curating every one of these shows, you know, with
Speaker 2: enough talent that could fulfill these categorical you know, uh
Speaker 2: segments on an actual stage show. And then you load
Speaker 2: that stage show uh into a C seventeen or C
Speaker 2: one thirty and you go to the next base, you know,
Speaker 2: and then you literally go, you know, from base to base.
Speaker 2: But then I'm not sure.
Speaker 1: How long would you how long were your tours have
Speaker 1: that been normally?
Speaker 2: So it varies, So it varies like if you sometimes
Speaker 2: you can just go to like one base and you
Speaker 2: do a stay and you do a tour and you
Speaker 2: shake hands, you take you know, pictures, you say a
Speaker 2: couple of words, You basit some individuals who probably can't
Speaker 2: get off post, you know, to come and do the
Speaker 2: show that night, and you know, it's like some beautiful
Speaker 2: exchange of love. And then you go home. And then
Speaker 2: there's tours, tours where you're going to like five to
Speaker 2: six countries in about six days, you know, and those
Speaker 2: are a little bit more elaborate. That's when you know,
Speaker 2: calling back to like not not showering for six days.
Speaker 2: I think that that's when that's when it gets really fun.
Speaker 2: But that touring kid lasts about uh yeah, it's about
Speaker 2: five to six days of traveling. You know. Sometimes you
Speaker 2: do about ten shows in six days. It doesn't feel
Speaker 2: like that, right because you're just like in the addrest
Speaker 2: enough having such a blasting exchange your glove. I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, you perform for them, and you understand like
Speaker 2: that energy that the men and women of uniform when
Speaker 2: you're on a base and they're excited to see you
Speaker 2: there and I'm excited to get a little entertainment. That's
Speaker 2: when you start realizing, wow, man, like this is this
Speaker 2: is this is a very special exchange of appreciation for
Speaker 2: both the artists and the audience.
Speaker 1: And Jennifer, can you can you share if you have
Speaker 1: I mean sometimes I get when I'm on the side
Speaker 1: of the microphone. I think it always throws me when
Speaker 1: somebody asks me for something anecdotal, but I'm going to
Speaker 1: do it anyway. Can you share something anecdotal about a
Speaker 1: moment that a service person was either inspired or touched
Speaker 1: or anything specific that happened. It doesn't have to be Wilmer,
Speaker 1: anything that came from you know specifically, you know a
Speaker 1: USO moment basically what I'm looking for.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, I think there's too many to probably choose from,
Speaker 3: so you start when you want to. The first one
Speaker 3: I can think of is so the trip one of
Speaker 3: the trips that Wilmer and I did together was back
Speaker 3: in twenty eighteen, and long story short, Sean White was
Speaker 3: with us too fantastic of course, Olynthian and human beings.
Speaker 3: So about a year later, Sean and I are at
Speaker 3: in events together in New York and Sean walks in
Speaker 3: the door and he hadn't even been there three seconds,
Speaker 3: and immediately this marine walks up to him in full
Speaker 3: uniform and looks them straight in the eye and says, Sewn,
Speaker 3: you were there with me last Christmas Eve in Afghanistan
Speaker 3: and you came to visit us. And I can't tell
Speaker 3: you what that meant to me to have you be
Speaker 3: there and actually show up and just show me that
Speaker 3: you care and help me get that through that holiday
Speaker 3: time frame. And I mean, my whole body just went
Speaker 3: into chills. And the look on Shawn's face was just incredible.
Speaker 3: And I think that really is at the heart of
Speaker 3: what our program is about. You know, you were making
Speaker 3: a connection for someone that maybe you'll get the benefit
Speaker 3: of learning about at some point in your life, like
Speaker 3: that moment. But we're doing that, you know. On the
Speaker 3: entertainment side, by the thousands and another one I can
Speaker 3: think of. I really feel like the shows are fantastic
Speaker 3: and they are always a lot of fun. But I
Speaker 3: really feel like the moment that anyone that works with
Speaker 3: US starts to understand is in those one on one conversations.
Speaker 3: And it was recently down at the Texas border, you know,
Speaker 3: visiting the National Guard down there, and we had a
Speaker 3: gal that was speaking to a National Guard number and
Speaker 3: they talked for probably forty five minutes, you know, and
Speaker 3: they were just in this very in depth conversation, and
Speaker 3: she walked away and said, you know, that conversation changed
Speaker 3: my life. And that also happened to us as well
Speaker 3: in Germany on a different trip that Womer wasn't with
Speaker 3: us on. But this young gentleman, you know, he was
Speaker 3: very quiet and very shy, and he was just starting
Speaker 3: out in the army, you know, for I think EWE
Speaker 3: or A E two, which is on the Newish side,
Speaker 3: and he was a songwriter and when he went back
Speaker 3: to his room at night, he was writing songs, he
Speaker 3: was writing lyrics, he was trying to put together music.
Speaker 3: And so the musicians that we had on that tour,
Speaker 3: you know, stat with him for an hour and we're
Speaker 3: giving him tips and talking about you know, because he's
Speaker 3: already thinking about life after the military too, you know,
Speaker 3: all of those things, what can I do? Where can
Speaker 3: I you know, get my music be seen and heard?
Speaker 3: And there's just countless examples examples of that. And I
Speaker 3: do want to mention too that you know, we have
Speaker 3: this fantastic in person program and touring in person, but
Speaker 3: we really took COVID I think the Bull by the
Speaker 3: Horns and evolved this program in a major way, and
Speaker 3: we now have a very robust digital platform too, so
Speaker 3: we can provide enter cement program to them anywhere they
Speaker 3: are in the world, whether that's on demand content through
Speaker 3: the USO app or actual virtual live connections here too.
Speaker 3: So we'll have guests come on to our MVP series
Speaker 3: and actually visit with the military around the world. So
Speaker 3: in fact, we have Brian Cranston joining us next week.
Speaker 3: We had a lot of folks on and it really
Speaker 3: is I think an easy dip going back to the
Speaker 3: time component of it all and scheduling and this and that.
Speaker 1: That's fantastic. Yeah, I didn't I didn't know that you
Speaker 1: were doing that. You know. It's funny because normally we
Speaker 1: have a you know, a call to action on this
Speaker 1: show that's that's for people. But this is this is
Speaker 1: the one example where if there's any celebrities watching, there's
Speaker 1: also a call to action to celebrities to reach out
Speaker 1: to entertainers, you know, musicians. During the Iraq and Afghanistan war,
Speaker 1: I went multiple times to well to read uh which
Speaker 1: was always really hard. But as you you know, you
Speaker 1: mentioned Wilmer that there's a it goes both ways.
Speaker 2: You know, you get a lot back absolutely.
Speaker 1: I mean from these moments, so I think it's I
Speaker 1: think it's great. I think it's great that this organization,
Speaker 1: you know, has been doing what it's been doing for
Speaker 1: as long as it's been doing it. It's really just
Speaker 1: uh spectacular. I have a question for both of you,
Speaker 1: which is, you know, I like to I'd like to
Speaker 1: focus in this podcast on what it is that you
Speaker 1: think about, either your up upbringing or your life that
Speaker 1: has inspired you to become someone that wants to step
Speaker 1: outside of yourself and and do something positive for the world.
Speaker 1: And we could start with you, Jennifer.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that for me is a very it's a personal
Speaker 3: I think, so long story short, when I was in
Speaker 3: my mid twenties, my mom got diagnosed with an incurable
Speaker 3: cancer and I was at the very kind of onset
Speaker 3: of my career. So that for me very much shaped
Speaker 3: my perspective on work. It shaped my perspective on how
Speaker 3: I'm going to value my time, but also got me
Speaker 3: thinking about the way I want to contribute back into
Speaker 3: the world. And I wasn't quite ready at that point.
Speaker 3: I have been in entertainment my entire career, you know,
Speaker 3: behind the camera if you will, But by the time
Speaker 3: I had my daughter, which was in twenty sixteen, I
Speaker 3: really was thinking very hard about that legacy. You know,
Speaker 3: my mom had passed, and I kept thinking, what do
Speaker 3: I want to leave for her in this world? What
Speaker 3: do I want to tell her about my choices, who
Speaker 3: I was, what I did. And I think a lot
Speaker 3: of it for me was just luck and timing and
Speaker 3: a little bit of perseverance, and I found my way
Speaker 3: to the USO. I had no military background whatsoever, but
Speaker 3: I just knew that at that point in my career,
Speaker 3: I wanted to stay in entertainment, but I really wanted
Speaker 3: to give back something bigger than myself. And and you know,
Speaker 3: when I came there not really understanding the life of
Speaker 3: the military, but really got into it. Over the first
Speaker 3: couple of months, I was just incredibly humbled by it,
Speaker 3: by their by their passion, their commitment to their job,
Speaker 3: their thankfulness. They're so good at giving thank you notes.
Speaker 3: It's unbelievable. I thought my mom was good, good at
Speaker 3: sending thank you notes, and they take it. And so
Speaker 3: it really just became I think this very fortunate situation
Speaker 3: for me that that over time I felt to growing
Speaker 3: in myself and then I just happened through through career
Speaker 3: and experience to find myself here.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I think you kind of touched on it
Speaker 1: a little bit before.
Speaker 2: But yeah, a little bit, you know, but I always
Speaker 2: say that I would even actually make it a little
Speaker 2: bit more detail for me, you know, when I I
Speaker 2: grew up watching my dad being way too generous, you know,
Speaker 2: like to the point where like he rather emptied the
Speaker 2: back account and making sure that everybody was fed, you know,
Speaker 2: before he even saved any money. You know, he was
Speaker 2: very generous with how he hosted. He loved people. I
Speaker 2: love people. I loved talking to strangers. I love getting
Speaker 2: to know different worlds and different people. And I think
Speaker 2: that comes from him, you know, the ability to keep
Speaker 2: the light, you know, keep the door unlocked, you know,
Speaker 2: and everyone's welcomed type of thing. I think it's a
Speaker 2: very cultural thing for me as well. And when I
Speaker 2: came to America, which I've always heard about this American dream,
Speaker 2: you know, and you know, with sparing, you like the
Speaker 2: American dream story, you know, which I'm sure some other
Speaker 2: point I think, Karen, you're he and I can talk about.
Speaker 2: But you know, when that happened for me, When I
Speaker 2: would say when this country, would say, I, well, to
Speaker 2: give me the ability to take care of my family
Speaker 2: at a time where, like I said, we were laid
Speaker 2: in rent and you know, we were paying you know,
Speaker 2: we were eating dinner every other night. And then all
Speaker 2: of a sudden, you know, I gave my big break
Speaker 2: and I'm able to now take care of my entire family.
Speaker 2: I said, Wow, this, this is a wonder. I mean
Speaker 2: that this country is unbelievable. And you know, at the
Speaker 2: risk of sounding like too much cassel, I will say
Speaker 2: that that that was one of those big moments where
Speaker 2: I realized I had to give it back, you know,
Speaker 2: I had to pay it back. I had to give
Speaker 2: it back. Every time I will get a blessing, I
Speaker 2: had to somehow find a way to filter it through
Speaker 2: or like say, way through and to out away from
Speaker 2: my hands again. And then I started joining different task
Speaker 2: force and I realized that I had purpose. And first
Speaker 2: it was like, oh, entertainment is so fun. It seems
Speaker 2: like I'm doing something. And then I realized I had
Speaker 2: to pay it forward to this country, you know. And
Speaker 2: and when I joined the USO at that my early twenties,
Speaker 2: I mean I was always doing it since that was
Speaker 2: my early twenties, I was doing a lot of different stuff.
Speaker 2: But when I joined the USA, it gave me such
Speaker 2: a purpose. It gave me I felt like I was
Speaker 2: a part of it, and I was a part of
Speaker 2: the you know, the task force that was allowing all
Speaker 2: of us in America to have the freedom. And so
Speaker 2: I always thank God for all those stories. And you know,
Speaker 2: ken you talk about going to wall to read, I
Speaker 2: got to go to Lambstone Hospital a bunch of times
Speaker 2: in Germany, and that's like a major er room, you know,
Speaker 2: like that's like a whole hospital was an er room,
Speaker 2: you know, are many women come in and get there,
Speaker 2: they get conditions so they can make it home for
Speaker 2: real treatment. And I got to tour that the humility,
Speaker 2: you know, the gracefulness, the bravery of everyone that I
Speaker 2: met there. I mean, I specifically to tell you the
Speaker 2: moment that I got I was like, I gotta, I
Speaker 2: gotta sign on to every US sold I could possibly do.
Speaker 2: Was a moment where I walk into a room a
Speaker 2: young man had just arrived from you know, the night before.
Speaker 2: They had experienced some contact having his team. Fortunately he
Speaker 2: was one of the few survivors and he didn't know
Speaker 2: yet and he was opening his eyes to you know,
Speaker 2: to the first time for the first time too, you know,
Speaker 2: to me and uh in the chair and the vice
Speaker 2: chairman at the time of the Joint chiefs, and they
Speaker 2: are warned as that he might wake up, you know,
Speaker 2: during this moment, and he opened his eyes and he
Speaker 2: looked at the Vice Chairman and immediately recognized him and
Speaker 2: wanted to salute. And he's like got ease at ease,
Speaker 2: and then he turns over to me and and he's
Speaker 2: just like what like he literally thought like he was
Speaker 2: in a different place. It was like like I wake up,
Speaker 2: I see the chair, the Vice chairman, and then like
Speaker 2: Wilmer is here, Like what's going on?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 2: And in that that moment, that smile, that moment, in
Speaker 2: the most you know, in the most critical moment of
Speaker 2: this man's life, made me feel like that's I was
Speaker 2: built to be, to be sent there, you know. And
Speaker 2: so every USO tour did I go, I discover so
Speaker 2: much of my myself and I connect so much to
Speaker 2: the men and women of military. And that's why I
Speaker 2: keep going to every USO tour oll r and over again,
Speaker 2: because it's that moment where I feel like, Oh, this
Speaker 2: is what I'm here for. This little thing, this little smile,
Speaker 2: you know, that's what That's what I'm here for me.
Speaker 1: And I'm kind of hooked to that amazing story.
Speaker 3: And if I could, I could add one thing to
Speaker 3: that too. I haven't thought about this in a long time,
Speaker 3: But before I came to the USO, I worked on
Speaker 3: the television network side, and so one of my jobs
Speaker 3: is I would get requests for talent and I would
Speaker 3: you know, work to see if we can fulfill those.
Speaker 3: We got a request once for Bell Bear Girls talking
Speaker 3: about Walter Reed and this it was this email from
Speaker 3: the family that said, Hey, our son is has served,
Speaker 3: He's dying of cancer. Is there any way that we
Speaker 3: can watch Bear show at the time, which aired overseas,
Speaker 3: didn't air in the date. So I sat in that
Speaker 3: and again not having really any military experience, and went
Speaker 3: to our production team. You know, we ultimately went to Bear.
Speaker 3: Long story short, they made the season for this gentleman.
Speaker 3: Bear shot him a personal video and you know, delivered
Speaker 3: it to the hospital and I think he was he
Speaker 3: was fairly close, you know, to passing, but they played
Speaker 3: it for him and then all of a sudden, one day,
Speaker 3: I was at work and they're like, hey, someone's downstairs
Speaker 3: for you, And I go downstairs to the lobby and
Speaker 3: it's his whole family and they're showing up. They brought
Speaker 3: me flowers and a card. And I'm even getting a
Speaker 3: little emotional thinking about it, and just said, you know,
Speaker 3: we can't tell you what that meant to us, that
Speaker 3: you took the time not only to read it, but
Speaker 3: you actually took the time to care and make it happen.
Speaker 3: And so I think, even before I knew I was
Speaker 3: destined to join for the USO, that exposure I think
Speaker 3: speaks highly of how the military use you know, this
Speaker 3: country and what they do, and the importance of an appreciation,
Speaker 3: you know, for anybody that provides them some acknowledgment and
Speaker 3: a little bit of care. So it was an amazing
Speaker 3: moment in my life. And you know, when we take
Speaker 3: Wilmer out too on tour, I think that's what drew
Speaker 3: immediately us to him as well, is that sense of gratitude.
Speaker 3: It's written all over him. It's not that hard, you know,
Speaker 3: to see. And he's usually the last one, you know,
Speaker 3: like lumber the chairman is walking. You really got to
Speaker 3: go now, you know, we're pulling him out with the hook,
Speaker 3: trying to get him away because of that intention, which
Speaker 3: is so so important in everything that we do each day.
Speaker 1: So well, it's great. I love it and I'm so
Speaker 1: thrilled that you both came on to talk about this.
Speaker 1: Is there a is there somewhere the way that people
Speaker 1: can reach out and find out about the USO and
Speaker 1: help and whatever.
Speaker 3: Absolutely, yeah, please visit our website, which is USO dot org.
Speaker 3: You know, of course, there's always ways to financially contribute.
Speaker 3: If that's not possible, you know, we we the backbone
Speaker 3: of our organization is volunteers. You can volunteer at your airport,
Speaker 3: you can volunteer at your local USO center. You know,
Speaker 3: we greatly appreciate those volunteer hours. We have over eighteen
Speaker 3: thousand volunteers as well around the world, and those are
Speaker 3: two fantastic ways to really dial in with us, but
Speaker 3: all available at USO dot org.
Speaker 1: Thank you guys, Thank you so much. And you know,
Speaker 1: before we go, Walmer, I just realized that, you know,
Speaker 1: I when when I heard that you were going to
Speaker 1: do this, you know, the silly six degrees thing, I
Speaker 1: was thinking, uh, well, we never actually have worked together,
Speaker 1: but we've actually been in the same thing, but we
Speaker 1: can't say what it is. I know, do you even know?
Speaker 1: How do you do we even know what? Do you
Speaker 1: even know what it is? I didn't. I literally was
Speaker 1: on I was on on your IMDb page and I went,
Speaker 1: wait a second.
Speaker 2: So so we man, I wish I could.
Speaker 3: Talk about this, can it?
Speaker 2: But I just want you to note that that day
Speaker 2: we wrote in the van to set together and we
Speaker 2: had a quick little conversation. You created a character and
Speaker 2: I had, you know, I had some experience with something similar,
Speaker 2: and we shared. We shared, we shared a tiny little
Speaker 2: cameo scene together. I was doing like a quick little
Speaker 2: cameo there and and when, and I just want you
Speaker 2: don't care. And I was gonna say this way way
Speaker 2: away earlier, but then I realized that I don't even
Speaker 2: know how to say it without saying in the movie.
Speaker 2: But I just want you to know, man, that I've
Speaker 2: been such a Kevin Bacon fan like my entire life.
Speaker 2: So when I was able to share the screen with
Speaker 2: you's as silly and small than as I confess forgettable
Speaker 2: at that moment could have been. You know it actually uh,
Speaker 2: it was actually one of the coolest things that has
Speaker 2: ever happened in my career. So I just want you
Speaker 2: to understand that that I just I was so thrilled
Speaker 2: that I get to talk to you again that way.
Speaker 2: But you were so kind, and I mean, I know, look, I'm.
Speaker 1: Glad I was nice. Phew gone a different way. It
Speaker 1: could have gone a different way, but you're.
Speaker 2: Top two, Tom Hanks, and you are the nicest guys
Speaker 2: I've ever met in my in my career.
Speaker 1: That's nice. I'm glad to hear it. I'm nicer than Tom.
Speaker 1: So anyway, I've loved having you guys here. Thank you
Speaker 1: so much and see you down the road. Is kem.
Speaker 2: Thank you for the word.
Speaker 1: Hey guys, thanks for listening to another episode of Six
Speaker 1: Degrees with Kevin Bacon. If you want to learn more
Speaker 1: about the United Service Organization and how you can donate
Speaker 1: and all the great work that they're up to, head
Speaker 1: to their website USO dot org. That's USO dot org.
Speaker 1: You can find all the links in our show notes,
Speaker 1: and if you like what you hear, make sure you
Speaker 1: subscribe to the show. Tune into the rest of the episode.
Speaker 1: You can find Six Degrees with Kevin Bacon on iHeartRadio,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.