January 21, 2025 • 54 mins
We’ve all done the DM slide before, but little did Zoe know the day she made her way into philanthropist Elsa Collin’s’ would change her life the way it did. The This is About Humanity co-founders talk about how they’re changing the world for the better and share a hilarious story about an ultimate cake takedown.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
You are listening to What in the Winkler and iHeartRadio podcast. Hi,
welcome back to another episode of What in the Winkler. Today,
I have a very special guest. I feel like I
say special guest every single time because all the guests
that come on this show are really special to me.
I either have worked with them, know them from growing
up and impacted some way by them, admire them. And
(00:24):
today I have also Marie Collins, who is my partner.
And this is about humanity, which is something that we
talked about a little bit last week when we were
talking about fires and fire relief in ways we can help.
Elsa as a social impact strategist and humanitarian known for
her work in advocacy and community building. She's been raised
(00:45):
between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. She earned her bachelor's
and master's degree from Stanford University, and she got a
jurist doctor from Columbia Law School. I don't even know
what that means, but she's extremely smart and I'm lucky
lucky life that she's my partner with. This is about humanity,
and we actually call each other partners in good because
(01:07):
we work together to hopefully make this world a better place,
no matter how big or small the issue may be.
So let's welcome Elsa.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'm so excited. I am so excited you're doing this.
And I haven't talked about This Is about Humanity that
much on the podcast, and that part of my life,
which is such a huge part of my life, hasn't
been shared that much except for last week when we
were talking about the fires in La So I thought,
(01:40):
what better way to talk about this is about humanity
than to have my partner in good on, Elsa Collins.
So apart from This Is about Humanity, you also have
co founded several organizations PoTA Ristas I am a voter.
Are there more?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
But the ones that matter, the ones that it's almost
like when when I'm passionate about something or an issue
comes up, instead of just like sort of being like
I'm gonnaet involved, like I'll just start a whole new
thing and try to figure out how to how to
help and solve or show up for folks. And I
think that's one of the most amazing things that we
(02:20):
get to do with This Is About Humanity is really
figure out how to help other people show up and
create this incredible community. So I think more than anything,
whether it's paddistas, I'm a voter, this is about humanity,
whatever it might be. I think that like my favorite
part about all of it is just building that community
and then seeing all the ways that we can get
(02:42):
them engaged and involved.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Do you want to talk a little bit about who
we are at This is about humanity and how we
came to be partners. And we also have a third
partner at Yolanda, who is actually Elsa's sister. Yep, and
she is also So there's three of us. There's three
of us, and their sisters were all three moms. And
(03:05):
I'll let you take it from here.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, so, gosh, this is about humanity. I think you know,
Zoe and I sort of knew each other. We had
seen each other at our you know, neighborhood spin class.
We liked to go to this.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Speak clear, I was in the back row and Elsa
was riding the podium, which, if you know, is a
big deal. So let's be clear, Okay, we were we
frequented the same class, but it was not the same workout.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, Well we were both there, okay, okay, And you
know we would see each other at you know, the
larder grabbing coffee after. Obviously she's born and raised in La,
as my husband is as well, so definitely like knew
her and knew who she was and just kind of like,
you know, she was in La. She's so La, you know.
And so anyways, long story short. Twenty eighteen, obviously family
(03:55):
separation became more well known, more people were finding out
about it, more people were, you know, having really strong
feelings about seeing families being separated and being from Tequana,
my sister and I, you know, I had gone to
Texas to protest what was going on, and I just
remember on the flight back being like, that's so weird.
(04:16):
I went all the way over there instead of focusing
on what I'm sure is happening, you know, right in
the backyard of where I grew up, and you know,
obviously only a two hour drive from LA. So it
really started as a donation drive. And I remember I
had just posted something like, hey, if you want to
give to the kids who are separated, like DM me
and I wish I could go. I wish you had
(04:38):
a history of that, dam But Zoe dm me back
and she was like, I don't know, She's like I
want to be doing whatever this is. And I was like,
I don't know what this is, but amazing, and so
she you know, you really just so many people showed up,
but I think I just remember you saying it has
to be more, and like, I can't be going to
sleep crying and thinking about these kids and not really
(05:02):
doing anything. And it was so amazing to see how
you just turn that passion into like here we are
six years later, you know, and like I can't believe
how much we've grown just as an organization. And yeah,
that was the beginning, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I remember that moment so clearly because it was a
defining moment in my life. And I had just had Gus,
who's my third, and he was one, and I was
seeing the families be separated, and I remember seeing this
image on the news of a mom crying and her
two year old daughter just kind of looking up at her,
(05:41):
and I just said to myself, like, I can't this
is I cannot do I can't do nothing. I have
to do something. And I obviously didn't have any background
in this, and so I didn't know where to start,
but I just knew that I had to start saying something,
and I felt like the only thing that separated me.
(06:04):
I've said this one thousand times with that mom and
me was where I was born. Because at the end
of the day, I felt exactly what she was feeling like.
I could just see her face in that picture and
I knew what that must have felt like as a mother,
and I just I don't know, I'll never forget it.
(06:24):
And there's been so many things in life where you
see something and it just feels too big, so you're
just like, you know what, Ugh, that was horrible. Let's
move on with our day, because if you stay in it,
it feels so huge and like you can't make a difference.
So you just move on. And I feel like weird
proof like this is about humanity as proof that you
(06:47):
can make a difference. You know, you can start small
and then you can grow into like a larger scale,
or you can just stay in your community and organize
in your community. You could do whatever, but you have
to do something. You can't just sit back and do nothing.
And you have been like the most integral part of
(07:08):
that and teaching me that because there I ask you
a thousand questions a day and you just have this
ability to mobilize people and lead people in a way
that is so it doesn't make anyone feel less than
or dumb, like I've never seen anyone like it.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well thanks, and I for sure, especially in the growth aspect,
I don't want you to minimize, you know how integral
you've been to grow just for people knowing and giving
kind of validation, especially you know in a city like
as amazing as Los Angeles', you know, to get people
to buy into something new could sometimes be hard and
(07:53):
people want to know, like, well, who is it and
what is it really doing? And and so you know,
I I remember, you know, in the very beginning getting
to know you better, and and I'm not going to
name any any brands or businesses, but I remember one
of my very first sort of like oh she can
(08:15):
really she has influenced this girl. She had ordered a
cake from a place for I think it was.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Fourth birthday, fourth birthday, and.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
They messed it up. I can't remember what the issue was,
but it was not right. And when I tell you,
in one day, she had taken it down, like she
took them down. And I was like, okay, it's not
just that it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Wasn't right, it was that they all they made me
pay for it still, and I was like, wait, this
is not okay.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So she was like it was like her personal mission
to be like you're done, and everyone I know is
done with you as well. And by the way, like
I've never done any business with them ever again, but
just to say that, like when you flip that to
helping people and to getting people involved and getting people engaged,
it's like, you know, you can you ask people to
(09:10):
do stuff and they show up. You know, I ask
people and I and my sister and it's like, I
do think that you know, we're not asking people to
do anything that we're not doing ourselves that we haven't
like looked into ourselves, that we haven't you know, thoroughly vetted.
You know. I think that's one of the most incredible
(09:31):
things about this is about humanity, is how careful and
how precise we want to be to be able to
point take people down the line of like you gave this,
and here is actually something that you can see that
came from it. And so it's really been an amazing
it's been an amazing journey, like truly.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And there were challenges along the way. I mean, we
you and I had to learn how to work with
each other. We all three of us had to learn.
You know, you guys are sisters, but you had to
learn how to work with each other. There were challenges.
I think one of the biggest challenges is that people
think that we are like a political organization, and that
(10:11):
is not at all who we are. We are We
are not affiliated with politics in any way. Do you
want to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean I think the name says it all,
you know, I think that we and by the way,
the name part it was funny because you know, we
started as a donation drive, so many people get I
mean I really unknowingly volunteered to receive all the donations
at my house.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I actually posted a picture last week for your birthday
and it was from our first and it was just
your entire house was filled with boxes. I mean, I
think we got over like five hundred boxes and donations.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, I thought I was gonna be we were gonna
be like driving it like in my like Sue don't.
I don't know what I was thinking, but it was
basically a fire hazard and we were like, oh my gosh,
I wonder if we as part of this kind of
idea of being accountable. We'll take people and we'll take
the donations down, and we'll get to meet families and
they'll get to see what's going on, which is what
we did. And I remember specifically, we're on the drive
(11:11):
back and someone's like, like, so, when's the next bus
And we were like we I don't know where we
going to do another bus? Were we going to do more?
And then someone said what are you going to call this?
And and Mandana Diana, a good friend of ours who
was on that first bus, who had actually who had
gone to the protest with me, was like, remember you
(11:32):
wrote on your poster in the protests, like the maybe
like a month before I had written down this is
about humanity, because it's what I felt that we were
talking about. We weren't talking about politics, we weren't talking
about parties. We were literally talking about human beings. And
like what we were going to say was like okay
or not when it comes to being like a human
(11:53):
being and how we respect other humans and how we
treat each other. And so we like from the very beginning,
really couched ourselves in that lane. Is like we're not
we're talking about families. We're talking about children and we're
talking about humanity. So I think, yeah, I think it's
something that we've really tried to stay very closely aligned to.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
And we started, you know, we started as a donation drive.
We moved on. We started doing one fundraiser, like one
big fundraiser a year, which it was a dinner and
it was all chef driven, so it was this really awesome.
So the first year it was thirty people in my parents'
front yard and.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Why think we begged them to come.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
We begged people to come. We were like, we will
do anything for you to come to this degree, we
will feed you. And there were and we've worked with
incredible chefs like Michelin Star chefs, and we've grown. Now
it is still at my parents' house, but now we've
taken over the front and the backyard and we have
about three hundred and fifty people. So we got from
(13:00):
thirty people to six years later, three hundred and fifty people.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And by the way, and we have to like cap
it like we literally we have.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Because we want to keep it well. First of all,
we want to keep it at my parents' house because
the location is free, and also there's something really we
want it to feel really uh cozy and homie and
we couldn't exist without our volunteers. So we really, you know,
(13:27):
we but but but where we've come from. We just
we just got an email and I had to go
over and read the email. We are under we are,
we we are. We have a fiscal sponsor, which is
International Community Foundation, and Letty emailed us and do you
want to say how much we've granted out in the
last six years?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, two point four million dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So we we went from being like begging people to
come six years ago and getting thirty people to come
to a dinner to granting out two point four million
dollars to organizeas that are helping these families. And I,
for one, like, I can't, I can't even believe it.
I'm so proud.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It's kind of wild when you really think about it.
You were like, how you know, how like you said,
we started off so small. We started off being like
will you give soccer balls and journals and you know,
ms crayons, stuffed animals, And now we're like in a
(14:31):
place where we're you know, funding mental health programs that
are servicing you know, LGBTQ community youth teams, adults, we've got,
you know, we've done several infrastructure projects. We've built bathrooms,
we've built second floors, We've like, we've done so many
things that came from just trying to just starting with
(14:54):
one thing. And so I think it does. It does
go to show you, like you were saying, that you
can do something. I mean, I'm not sure everybody wants
to start a whole organization, because as you said, like,
there are definitely I'm sure days where we're like what
are we doing? Why are we doing this? One hundred
(15:15):
can be stressful.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I mean we also also have like other things going on.
I have a podcast, you have forty million things. I've
never met someone as busy as you. We both have
three kids. She goes to every single game, She travels
around the country. I've never seen like. She goes to DC,
(15:36):
she goes to all these places, she works on policy,
she does all of these things. I'm like tired just
listening to her or watching her.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean I always say I'm better when I'm busy.
But yes, sometimes I feel like, you know, like with
anything in life, you can really just be like, did
we you know, bite off more than we can handle.
I think there's always ups and downs in anything, you know,
even in this amazing organization that we have, like with
(16:08):
anything in life. But I do think when the north
star that I think we've always sort of gone back
to is the good that we're doing and the impact
that we've had, It's like it's worth the growing pains.
It's worth you know, whatever might have happened or occurred
or whatever challenge we're facing, you know, dinners this that
(16:30):
the other I think that we've always sort of just
kept that as like the true goal of the org,
and that's really what's kept us, I think, so authentic
to who we are. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I was thinking, like, not only do you do you
have like these thirty million jobs, but you have these
three kids? And then your husband is a coach of
the Pelicans, and so he's gone on so like it's
gone months, a's gone.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
How do you leave in September and he comes back
sometime and like maybe late April?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, I know, you, how do you feel like you
balance it? And then if there is a moment where
you might like not be able to balance it, like
what do you do?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I mean I think the thing, well, I have like
two really hard and fast rules that I that I
completely adhere to and that are like in me and
I believe completely. One of which is I just genuinely
don't abscribe to mom guilt like I don't. I don't
think it serves me any purpose. I don't think it
serves any mom any purpose. And if if you're allowed
to let it go, I highly encourage it. And I
(17:45):
also feel that, like taking care of me is super
important so that I can handle whatever else is coming. So,
like Zoe said, you know, I used to love spinning.
I mean, basically, setting some time aside for myself to
work out is doably important to like the success of
my day. And I know that sounds insane, but it's
actually true. So, like in the morning, I need three
(18:06):
things I need to work out for at least twenty minutes,
and that's like my minimum. Sometimes it's only twenty minutes.
Sometimes I can do longer, but like twenty minutes has
to happen. I have to get my coffee and I
have to eat this muffin that I really love.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This muffin. This muffin has traveled all over the world
with her.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
This muffin has traveled. I've had this muffin every day
for maybe the last ten years, except for like in
really dire circumstances when like it didn't live further than
like five days in China or something like that. But like, anyways,
so when I have all of those things, I feel
like I can handle whatever else is going to happen
because I already did all the things that like nurture
(18:42):
me and make me feel really ready.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
You've added eggs to your morning routine.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I have. I've added eggs and protein.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Guys, this is it brings it in a thermos. We
take bus trips to the border, and she brings the
muffin on top and then eggs and protein on the
bottom of the thermist.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yes, which I feel like now everyone knows my super quirks.
But I feel like in the last two years, you know,
women getting older, bone density whatever, lifting has become way
more important. And so yeah, I've been eating more more protein.
And then the other thing is I sort of feel
(19:19):
like I have to accept that I'm kind of only
doing everything at thirty percent. Now. Granted my thirty percent
is probably like everyone else is like eighty percent. Yeah,
but correct, I'm you know, it's like I'm I'm getting
to someone's birthday and i can only stay for an hour,
but then I'm gonna go to that screening that someone
had because I really want to show up, and then
I'm gonna you know, And so I'm kind of like
(19:39):
going like this and barely eking everything out. This morning
was a really good example of me feeling like I
didn't have it all under control.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I'm ready, bab.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
It was. It was a crazy morning. So my son,
my youngest, he's twelve, I'd been telling him for a
couple of days like, hey, I want to cut your nails.
I want to cut your nail and this morning I
was like, I cannot let him go to school with
his nails like that, Like that's just how my brain works.
So it's like, com merebody, I'll cut your nails real quick.
And I was doing it real quick and oh did
I Oh no, oh okay, No, he was not okay.
(20:15):
He was gushing blood. I was like, oh my, I
was literally like, is a chunk of his finger it's
barely hanging off. I mean, it was so dire. So
I'm like putting water on it. I'm schoozing out and
putting alcohol and I'm just thinking, yep, I do not know.
This is not good, guys. This is and this is
where I'm like, you know, I'm I'm doing all of
my first aid techniques and by the way, I called
(20:37):
the pediatric later, I did everything right. His TENNUS is
up to date. Because of course, I call my husband
on the way to school and he's like, you know,
first why he's mad because it's on his shooting hand
for light pinky bad news, because this is a basketball thing.
He has all sorts of opinions about why this happened.
And I'm like, well, you know you're not here, so
(21:00):
we're just gonna say that. And you know, and even
with the fire and all the stress and everything that
was happening this last week, I was just like, you
just have to trust that I'm well trying to do
the best I can and be making the best decisions
I can at the moment for like mental and physical
well being for our children. Yes, I messed up and
I cut his finger. That was me, guys. But I
(21:21):
definitely was driving to school being like, yep, okay, this
is this is when maybe and it's like something as
like crazy as that that makes me feel like I'm
just doing too much. I cut his finger.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I'm doing too much well, to be fair, cutting children's
fingernails is extremely stressful.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yes, and I use the wrong clip.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I could do you ever take a day off? I
don't even know the answer to that. Honestly, I would
say no. I don't think you too like in life
like you you don't take a workout day off.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I mean, you know when we go on buses, which
will you very early? And I want to be ready
at a certain time because people start showing up, Like
I will set my alarment through forty five and work
out to make sure I get that work out in. Yeah,
there have been in this past year. I could probably
count on one hand when I've not gotten it in
(22:11):
because of some just situation where I just couldn't figure
it out.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
And do you notice the difference?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, I always say like I And by the way,
it's not like every day I'm going I'm doing something crazy,
but I am doing something every day. But the days
that I don't, I definitely feel like I could have
gotten it in, and I it just it gives me
like a I'm just dissatisfied, truly, and I just feel
like I could have just done something. I could have
(22:41):
walked for twenty minutes and it would have been and
that would have been better than nothing. But it is
sort of like a mental It's just a mental thing
that I like check off in terms of like am
I do I ever just like lay in bed and
do nothing? Like I don't even know, No, you don't,
that's the answer. You know.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's funny because you taught me. I think something and
I talked about this a couple of weeks ago that
like sometimes my anxiety, I'm a really anxious person. You
do not have that issue. You are not anxious, and
like if somebody is like maybe like you have this
ability where if someone's kind of like being a jerk
or an asshole, you're like, it's not about me, you
(23:20):
know what I mean? Like you have that and like
where I will obsess over it until like three months
from now, maybe even six, and I think, but one
of the things forever, well, one of the things you've
taught me that I is like the quality of showing up.
And I think that it's such an important thing because
(23:41):
so many times you'll think like, oh it doesn't matter
if I go, like they won't notice, or there's so
many people there or this gives me anxiety, and I
just like don't want to do it. This I get
like for me, I get like social anxiety. But you
show up for everyone in your life, and I think
it's such an amazing quality and it makes people it's
it's underrated, Like I don't know that people know how
(24:03):
important it is to show up. And that's something you've
taught me. And I just I think, I don't where
did you learn.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That, you know. I think that, like I'm the youngest
of five, right, so you're always trying to you know,
be I think like there in my you know, upbringing,
there were like the three older kids and then the
two younger kids. There's a five year gap between the
three older and then me and my my my brother Charles,
(24:32):
and so I think that like, you know, they would
take they would travel and we would be home and
things would happen like without me a lot and so
and then you know, when it was just kind of
like you know, the younger two of us with my mom,
there was a lot of hey, you gotta like take
care of yourself. Like I remember my first job when
(24:57):
I was uh, I think I just turned six. Team
but it was I really got my first job because
my mom had gotten to visit my older sister, Caroline,
who was living in New York, and she had left
my brother Charles money while she was gone. He was
he probably was like a maybe he was like a
senior in high school and I was a sophomore or
even a freshman. No, I was a sophomore. Anyways, Okay,
(25:17):
so she leaves, she leaves him the money. Three days later,
we have no more money, like genuinely, like he's blown.
I don't know what he's done with it. And so
like I'm going to school and he's like, hey, we
need like toilet paper, just like grab some from the bathroom.
And I'm like, I'm not going to steal the toilet
paper from the school bathroom, Charles. And so I call
my mom and I'd be like, are you coming back?
And she's like, well, I've extended my trip whatever. Anyway,
(25:38):
So long story short, I was like, OK, yeah, I
guess I gotta go get a job, and so like
that this idea of just like I like and just
I remember that being like the first time of like
I just got to be a self starter and figure
things out and so and then I think that like
even when once I started to have kids, and your
(26:00):
life seems so full of things and so busy, and
it's the easiest thing in the world to just stay home.
Trust me, I totally know it. And I will go
through some periods where like I do genuinely be like
I'm just not going to do anything. But it really does,
as I said, like sometimes when you're only showing up
for twenty minutes or whatever, like because this is maybe
(26:23):
in some cases that person's most important thing that they're
planning or putting on something for work, something they've worked
really hard on, you know, a special event, and I
just feel like letting people feel seen is so important,
and honestly, I get such joy out of it. I
really do, Like I love just showing up for folks,
(26:46):
and so I think it is kind of like a
superpower and it's hard one. It's hard to do, but
I do think it served me like so well, just
in my whole life, just my friendships, my relationships, you know.
And then sometimes like when you start a new organization,
you're asking people to show up for you. They want
to show up because you've been showing up for them,
(27:07):
and so I really genuinely feel like it is it
is just this relationship that we both have with with
people and that people feel, you know, like sometimes I've
had people, you know, when we first started, who wanted
to come on a trip, who wanted to come on
a bus and like you know, schedule travel, and it
took them five years to come on a bus and
(27:28):
then when they finally come, they're like, thank god you
didn't like stop inviting me, Like, thank god I still
got the emails because one of the dates actually worked
and now in here. And so I think that consistency
is also super important to me, Just being really consistent
with like the work that we do, like the work
that I do. Just that is is really important to me.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
We've talked about the bus, but I don't think we've
explained the bus. So bus trips are something that after
we did that first trip to San Diego, we started
just brainstorming and we thought it would be so incredible
to actually take people to Tijuana to see what is
going on there and hear from these families because there's
(28:11):
so much information misinformation about these families that are you know,
waiting to come to this country. And I felt like
for me as a Jewish person, it was my duty
to hear from these families because a huge part of
(28:33):
seeking asylum was created during the Holocaust when families were
coming here and America was accepting these families that had
been affected by World War Two. So it's it's always
been a really something that I don't know, it's just
like it it it to me feels very connected. But
(28:58):
so these bus trips we leave in the morning at
six am, five forty five am. We take about thirty
to forty people with us and we drive down to
Tijuana on a bus that has a bathroom, so don't worry,
and we go and visit. We opened a relief kitchen there.
Do you want to talk about the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, So we run a relief kitchen in partnership with
ICF and Flumesabe. It is feeding three thousand, one hundred
asylum seekers and migrants a day at twenty seven different shelters,
including an accompanied minor, children, families, women, LGBTQ individuals, and
(29:43):
six days a week. So it's it's really like I said,
like we literally started as a donation drive and now
you know, we're feeding people every day. We're gonna we're
on track to serve a million meals in this year,
and so it's kind of mind boggling to think how
how we've grown, and like the number of people who
(30:05):
are just impacted by the programs and by the donations
and the support that we get is exponential. You know,
it's just we can't even I mean, we try to
measure it, but it's really you know, you can't really
measure sometimes like the value of like a warm meal
and feeling like you know, people are there for you
and like you have that support. And so we go
(30:27):
and we volunteer at the kitchen and then usually we
have a service activity that's related to one of the
shelters we're going to. Sometimes, you know, during Pride Month,
we'll go to the LGBTQ shelter. You know, it just depends,
and you know we always say like, well, your your
life will change in one day. Truly. I mean I've
seen people who come on buses who have gone back
(30:48):
and just been like mind blown, you know, just just
a different perspective and appreciation for you know, what we
have in our own lives. And so it's it's I
joke around because I'm so anal about you know, when
I send the emails. I'm like, okay, here's everything you need.
Here's the schedule. You know, we leave at five point fifty.
(31:08):
If you're running late, text me. And everyone's always like joking,
like have you ever left anybody? I'm like, yeah, we have,
we have.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
We Remember we had Jane from Zoop, Yeah, from Goop.
She came to write a story and we left her and.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
She drove Yeah, she's to be fair, she drove herself
down and then jumped on the bus. But but it was,
you know, like she's like, where are you. I'm like,
it's six ten. I said six we left, We left,
but yes, to her credit, she drove down and joined us.
But I'm I'm always really, you know, I think people
are surprised, but it's a it's a pretty uh it's
(31:42):
a lot of operations and logistics, so you know, it's
a tight shure. Yeah, five to seven minutes could be
two more hours on the way back for traffic, So
you know, I'm really And.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
By the way, I want to be clear, we leave
at like five five fifty in the morning and we
come back by seven pm the same day, so we
don't spend the night there.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah. Yeah, And we have lunch.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Had an amazing restaurant, and every single.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Type because every yeah, every bus is different. Every bus
has like a different by the way, you had some
people who come on like twenty buses, right, and I want
to be clear, but every bus has a different like
all amazing but different vibe, different focus, sometimes different personality.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And on the way down, everybody introduces themselves, which some
people hate, some people hate, but everyone and I love
themselves that I know, it's my favorite part. And they
say like what they do for a living, why they're what,
what brought them to come on this trip? And I
love it so much.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
And also crazy to see people out in the wild
and they're like we do on our bus, you know.
Or they'll you know, people have gotten my jobs off
of the bus. They might make contacts. I'm waiting for
the dating marriage to yeah, the bus. What do think?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
What's something about running a nonprofit that you think people
would be surprised to learn?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Oh my gosh, there's so many rules. There's a lot
of rules.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
There's a lot of rules, like you know, for instance,
like even just during this this fire relief situation, like
there's a lot of thought and there's a lot of
there's a lot of rules that you have to follow.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of rules. And then I
also think that you know, not everything is is going
to be great. I think that's that's really you know,
giving back is amazing and the impact you have is amazing.
But sometimes like it can be it can be hard,
and it can be onerous, and you can think like
(33:39):
why why are we even doing? You know, sometimes I'll
be like, no good deed goes unpunished, Like I remember
the remember the bus where like they didn't send a
bus and then we were like an hour.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Late and you were you were beside yourself.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I know I was gonna say, I don't have anxiety,
but I definitely like to be in control. Yeah, and
things that I cannot control are where I sort of
feel like, okay, this is yeah, and so that was
just like so awful.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
But I think we've had events sometimes that like didn't
go the way we wanted. You know, we'll do we
do like these drives, we do a holiday party, We
do a Best Birthday Ever, so like a birthday party
for kids that so we work with Immigrant Defenders Law Center,
a pro bono law firm, and we've done events for that.
(34:28):
We work with them, we love them, they are credible.
But We've like done an event where afterwards I'm like, oh,
that wasn't the best we could do for you guys.
I'm sorry, you know, like, oh that didn't work. Let's
do this. It's a lot of troubleshooting because it's and
a lot.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Of learning, like a lot of learning. First bus to
I don't know now we're like fifty five buses in.
You know, there's there's a lot of things that we've learned.
You know, with every bus we come back with some
type of learning how we want people to experience today.
And by the way, sometimes there's nothing we can do
about it. Like sometimes we can't. There's so many factors
(35:04):
that are just out of out of our control that
you know, we we try to do the best to
have it be a great experience, and I think it
always is. But because we know all the things, we
can be super.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Nitpicky about it, and because we want people to leave
the experience any experience with us feeling a certain type
of way, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And I also think I guess the other thing just
about running it out or just like having an organization
or nonprofit is like what do you want it? And
it sounds weird, but like, what do you want it
to feel like? Because I do think you know, we
have a really clear idea of what we want everyone's
interaction with this is about humanity to feel like. We
want it to feel easy. We want it to feel
(35:48):
like inclusive and inclusive. We want it to feel like
you can just show up and that's all you need
to do, Like you can invite your friends, can you
can align yourselves, You'll find community, and.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
That it's not all about money. Like yes, money is
a huge part and a very necessary part for us
to be able to keep the kitchen running, keep building
these learning libraries, keep doing all of these things, keep
having these events. But it's also about your time, like
giving your time and and and showing up for these families.
(36:20):
I mean, they're so when we go to these events,
when we host these events, when we go to Tijuana,
the families are so happy that we're there. They feel seen,
they like our goal in those days is not to,
you know, look at these families and feel bad for them.
Our goal is to look at these families, hear them,
(36:41):
and then and then and then make them feel like
we hear them, we see them, they matter, and they're
not forgotten. You know, like those are the things that
that is our goal, and that's how we want people
who volunteer to feel as well.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
I know, I was talking to you know, we just
had our holiday party and I was talking to Veronica,
a good friend of ours who had gone to volunteer
with her daughter and her daughter's best friend, and she
told me, like, hey, I was talking to Sage and
her friend and they said, you know, we we've like
felt like okay, we're going to go volunteer to be fine.
But they were just saying that the experience of how
(37:19):
they felt just even interacting with these families, that it
ended up being so much more and so much more
meaningful than they ever thought it could be. And like
that to me was like, ah, the highest you know,
sort of like affirmation that like okay, no matter what,
like we're doing good and and people are feeling like
they're impacting people's lives. And we've had people who come
(37:39):
on buses, you know, like Bronico, who stayed in touch
with families who continue to help them. You've you know,
been a sponsor of a legal sponsor for aye.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I'm a legal sponsor here for a family from Honduras.
They have three children, a mom, and a grandchild. And
I mean it's changed my life, its changed my kid's life.
I will say that holiday part my mom was in
the hospital and I was not my best self. I
could not stop crying, but no one knew. So it
(38:09):
was like I was just like I almost felt like
and then I'm so grateful that I have these two
incredible partners who I could say, like, I'm not okay.
But Ace for his bar mits for project this year,
raised money to do a toy table at this UH
holiday party, so that he raised over fifteen thousand dollars
and it was a table like as long as the
(38:31):
warehouse filled with toys that he picked up better, it
was better.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
And also like he actually was like very specific and
intentional with what yeah picking.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
He was picked every toy.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
People were into it, because sometimes you've have toy tables
where I'm like, I don't know that people are that excited.
But it was like every toy was.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
He went age by age, you know, he really he
was very but I was so proud of him, and
that day was so emotional for me and I think
I came up to you and I was like, I'm
I'm not well, so I'm going to meet you to
help me out. And that is like partnership at its finest.
I think in those moments, you know, in the moments
where we're learning from each other, you are very very straightforward.
(39:11):
You are You're moving a million miles a minute. I
am more sensitive. So it took us a second two.
I would be like, are you mad at me? And
You'd be like, I'm not thinking about you and I'd
be like, oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
We had to really learn.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
How to That was actually a funny. That was a funny,
like memory, remember that time when we thought we were
never going to be friends again and then somehow we
were sell it. I mean, it was that story basically
(39:50):
where Zoe was like, are you mad at me? Oh?
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, I think you called me privileged? I did, and
I was like, I.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Like, when I tell you, I did not. We didn't.
We both did not know if we were going to
come back from that.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
I literally was like I'm done.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
This is She was like fuck this shit, and I
was like and to me, you know, but that was
the first time.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
So just to be fair. Like when we started this,
I really didn't. I didn't. To me, privileged was a
negative connotation. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure you meant it
that way too.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
We had just come back from a bus, mind you. Okay,
I've just been in charge of forty five people's safety
well being all the things.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Because we had to cross back.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yes, like by the way we go to a different country,
we come all the way back right Like we've heard these,
you know, heart wrenching stories where you cry, You're like,
oh my god. And you know, we get on the
we usually talk right after the bus to be like, hey,
what had you think this? That and the other? And
she's like in the first thing she does is were
(41:01):
you mad at me? And I was like, no, babe,
I no.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
No, I think I texted you on the bus.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
No, no, but yes, right after we got on the
bus from gatatas are you mad at me? And I
was like, no, not mad at you. Again, I'm a
super straight forward person. Not mad at you means I'm
not mad at you.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
I'm not used to super straight for our people.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Sorry, I don't know, I guess the very beginning. Just
so we're clear, Just so we're clear, this was like
bus three. Okay, this is bus three year, this is
not even your one. This is like month two. We
get home, she calls me, hey, Babe, I just wanted
to make sure you weren't mad at me. And I
was like, I literally told you I wasn't mad at you.
And she's like, but I'm pretty sure you were mad
(41:40):
at me. I'm pretty sure you were mad at me.
And I'm like, Babe, I was I'm not mad at you,
nor was I mad at you, although I'm getting kind
of mad right now.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
We've had we've had moments like we communicate completely differently
and we have completely different backgrounds. So like like.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
I like, babe, so I literally say, I wasn't even
I were not even thinking about you, Like when I
got on the bus, I'm making sure that I'm counting
how many people like and so this is why I said.
The fact that you think that I'm mad at you
or I'm thinking about you like might be it just
I did say privileged. And and then by the way,
it was like a nuke went off.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
By the way, that moment I'll never forget because I
was able to say, like I was able to think
about it and take a few days, and I am privileged.
And that does come with sometimes thinking that without even
knowing it, you think that your importance or your needs
(42:48):
in that moment are like them. And and so I
had to learn and I had to check that about
myself because to me, it was always like, how do
I you know, I never wanted that to be but
but but I had to realize, like, Okay, this is
part you are who you are and learn to be better,
(43:09):
you know.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
But it was such an important again, and one of
the things that I so appreciated about that moment and
even our relationship in the years after, is that you
genuinely do want to like you want to know, like, hey,
if there's something I need to work on, Like, I
genuinely want to know.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
You're the same way.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, for sure, I have like a healer. You know,
you got all sorts of people who will tell you
all the tricks and things and I need I need
to get the cliff notes. But yeah, I'm the same
way too. By the way, I'm I'm always you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Actually got you a session with my healer and you
loved it.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
No, I did love it. I really did that way.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah, we we both I think that is something we
both do and and it and and and the relationship
has grown so much in six years.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yeah, by the way, I think that I it really has,
you know, becoming partners and working closely with you has
really helped me be more sensitive to you know, two
different ways of communitydling, communicating, you know what I mean.
Like I think for me, who's such a as you said,
(44:20):
like straightforward person, you know, like if I were mad
at you, I would just be like I'm mad at you,
you know what I mean? And so I so it
was always confusing, like I what no I And then
you know, and for someone again who like measures every
output of everything, I was like okay, Like and then
you got to know me better and you would now
(44:41):
like if she were mad, she would say out.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
But we started this, we were not friends like we
know each other and we would say hello to each
other and maybe give each other a hug and yeah,
you know, but we were not like we were not
super close. We didn't and we really like our friendship
grew as the years have gone on, Like there were
years that we just like in O and we would
sort of like we were just going going down the
road and we were working really hard and we were
(45:05):
respectful of each other, but we weren't like hanging out,
you know. And I only feel like in the last
couple of years we've really grown to to get to
know each other as human beings, not just partners in business.
And I'm so grateful for that. I'm so thankful.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
I know, same same. I think. You know, sometimes, you know,
we'll be having a conversation about something and you'll bring
something up and I'll be like, yeah, no, not even
about me, just like in general, like this thing happened
or like this person said this, and I'll be like, literally,
not about you. Yeah, it's And I think that that's
one of the things again that is showing up I'm
(45:42):
really good at. The Other thing I'm really good at
is like, literally I don't teach anything personally, Like I don't.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
I've never met anyone like that. But you genuinely you're
not just saying that you don't. And I'm always like.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Oh okay, I'm literally like, oh, I don't even care
like whatever, And I do feel like but it's it's
a I think it's an important skill because you know,
you always want I always want people to feel like
they can always come whenever they can, show up whenever
they can, and so a lot of times, I think,
(46:12):
especially in the nonprofit space, there's like pressure to do things,
to show up to whatever, and I'm like, great, like
we'll be here. This is going to happen regardless, So
like extra points if you're there. If you're not, the
people who are there are going to be super excited.
I'm going to be super excited. And I do think, again,
(46:32):
what do we want? This is about humanity to feel
like we wanted to feel like a no pressure situation,
and so it really, it really has been an amazing
experience and also just an incredible way to even in
this time, you know, with the wildfires that are happening,
be an organization that can think about like, okay, yeah,
(46:53):
we usually focus obviously our north stars on these families
have been affected, but guess what, some of those same
families are being affected by this fire, and some of
the people in their extended family have been affected by
this fire. And some of our donors and our support systems,
some people who have helped us build this organization to
what it is today, have been everything.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Why don't you why don't you tell a little bit
about like what we are doing for this wildfire relief situation?
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Oh we I think we all maybe even on that
day as some of us were, you know, Zoe and
I live in LA.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
We live in West LA. We were packing up, we
were both packing up to evacuate. We're like, well, what
are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Yeah, what are you doing? Are you leaving? Are you
saying what's happening? And so I think even while that
was on our minds, we were also thinking like, how
do we set something up where we can really Yeah, yeah,
how can we help? And it's just as the trusted organization,
how can we do our best to support other organizations?
(47:55):
And so we launched the This is About Humanity Emergency
Fund for that Los Angeles wildfires, and we are supporting,
you know, frontline workers, second responders, immigrant families, and individuals
impacted by by the fire. We're you know, supporting organizations
(48:16):
on the ground who are giving emergency relief, cash assistance,
legal services, you know, essential needs, necessities. And I think
in a longer in the longer run, we will also
start to get engaged a little bit more in like
housing assistants and getting people sort of set up to
(48:38):
for a longer term, you know, solution. I think it's
like it's such a dynamic situation. I mean, even right now,
I think the Palisades fire is only twenty seven percent contained,
you know, the eat and fire a little bit more.
So it's not like it's over. And of course, now
since we've all become meteorologists and wind experts, I know
that the wind is going to be picking up in
on Monday, and so talk about like I don't have anxiety,
(49:01):
but I also am now addicted to the watch study
app and I know all sorts of things about buyers
and so so yeah, so it's an amazing way that
we we have this ability to show up for people
when we can, and so I think it's been an
amazing experience we had. You know, we set out an
urgent call for fifty thousand dollars EVA Longoria match to
(49:24):
fifty quickly, and by the way, we probably have had
over two thousand donations come in, which is incredible, you
know for an organization like we're pretty small still, by
the way, to have that kind of support from everywhere
has just been really impressive.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I think it's also important to my dad always says
this whenever he talks about organization, but there's no staff,
it's the three of us, and then he's our fiscal sponsor.
Like that's it. There's no like, there's no warehouse like
the warehouse has been our garages like it is. You know,
we are like a very thin grassroots organization that is
(50:02):
able to help people. Don't like donate where where it
is going to be safely and and respectfully attributed distributed.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Yeah. No, I feel like, you know, we some people
be like, so who should I see see? I'm like me, Yeah,
there is no assistant, there is no you know, X person,
And so sometimes it makes me laugh because I, you know,
I dream of having someone help me do something. But
(50:37):
you know, then by the time I think about like that,
I'm like, oh, I should just do everything myself.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
You know, I don't feel like delegating is your is
your is your strong suit?
Speaker 2 (50:47):
Mmm? I mean if I could like clone myself, yeah, yeah,
I would love to delegate to to another me. Yeah
for sure, I would like that. Yeah. No, it's been
you know, these past this past week has just been
obviously challenging for so many people, obviously, people who've lost
(51:09):
everything and people who've had to evacuate people who've been
close to areas. You know, I think there there is
this sort of collective like, you know, we're all not
all of our shoulders are just up a little bit,
you know, and we we just want to do the
best we can for our community, you know. And I
think that that's that's kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
I know that you have so much on your plate,
but if you could like magically start one more thing,
what would it be?
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Oh let's see you could add like one more project,
what would that project be?
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Oh my gosh. You know, I would love to have
someone sort of say, hey, you've been on the ground
in so many different places and spaces. You've seen important
work that grassroots ors are doing, different individuals in different spaces.
(52:08):
Like here is like, here's a blank slate for a
blank slate for you to make the change that you
think is best and go out and do that. Because
I think that, like, you know, as a I have
a consulting company, and I do a lot of work
in a social impact space, and you know, it's depending,
it's dependent on different projects and different focuses, and so
(52:31):
sometimes I'm like, you know, this is recumended is a
good example, right, this is not this is not our job, right,
We're not getting paid.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
We don't make it. We don't make a sense, we.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
Don't make a sent we don't take a salary, you know.
But it is very genuinely like a project that I
would do like in my regular work, except for that
it's a passion project that we do because it's you know,
it matters to us and it's important. And so I
think that a version of that, you know, but in
a broader in a broader way like elsa, go make
(53:04):
some change, and.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Well if anyone can do it, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
So oh for sure, I'm like ready, look at us,
look at us, look at us, look at us. Okay, well,
I hope that's amazing. Thanks, iHeart, don't forget give what
in the Winkler Pod? A follow on Instagram at what
in the Winkler Pod?
Speaker 1 (53:24):
What in the Winkler Pod? And also there's people trying
to like make fake accounts. It's what in the Winkler
Pod not podcast?
Speaker 2 (53:32):
Oh what in the Winkler pod pod?
Speaker 1 (53:35):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (53:37):
If you don't follow it, Zoe might take you down
like you put that cake company.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
Down so handsOn Now it was Handson's. Everyone it was Handso.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
I didn't say it.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
Tell a friend, please listen. Thank you for listening. You
guys are the best and I will see you next week.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
S
You are listening to What in the Winkler and iHeartRadio podcast. Hi,
welcome back to another episode of What in the Winkler. Today,
I have a very special guest. I feel like I
say special guest every single time because all the guests
that come on this show are really special to me.
I either have worked with them, know them from growing
up and impacted some way by them, admire them. And
(00:24):
today I have also Marie Collins, who is my partner.
And this is about humanity, which is something that we
talked about a little bit last week when we were
talking about fires and fire relief in ways we can help.
Elsa as a social impact strategist and humanitarian known for
her work in advocacy and community building. She's been raised
(00:45):
between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. She earned her bachelor's
and master's degree from Stanford University, and she got a
jurist doctor from Columbia Law School. I don't even know
what that means, but she's extremely smart and I'm lucky
lucky life that she's my partner with. This is about humanity,
and we actually call each other partners in good because
(01:07):
we work together to hopefully make this world a better place,
no matter how big or small the issue may be.
So let's welcome Elsa.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
I'm so excited. I am so excited you're doing this.
And I haven't talked about This Is about Humanity that
much on the podcast, and that part of my life,
which is such a huge part of my life, hasn't
been shared that much except for last week when we
were talking about the fires in La So I thought,
(01:40):
what better way to talk about this is about humanity
than to have my partner in good on, Elsa Collins.
So apart from This Is about Humanity, you also have
co founded several organizations PoTA Ristas I am a voter.
Are there more?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
But the ones that matter, the ones that it's almost
like when when I'm passionate about something or an issue
comes up, instead of just like sort of being like
I'm gonnaet involved, like I'll just start a whole new
thing and try to figure out how to how to
help and solve or show up for folks. And I
think that's one of the most amazing things that we
(02:20):
get to do with This Is About Humanity is really
figure out how to help other people show up and
create this incredible community. So I think more than anything,
whether it's paddistas, I'm a voter, this is about humanity,
whatever it might be. I think that like my favorite
part about all of it is just building that community
and then seeing all the ways that we can get
(02:42):
them engaged and involved.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Do you want to talk a little bit about who
we are at This is about humanity and how we
came to be partners. And we also have a third
partner at Yolanda, who is actually Elsa's sister. Yep, and
she is also So there's three of us. There's three
of us, and their sisters were all three moms. And
(03:05):
I'll let you take it from here.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, so, gosh, this is about humanity. I think you know,
Zoe and I sort of knew each other. We had
seen each other at our you know, neighborhood spin class.
We liked to go to this.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
Speak clear, I was in the back row and Elsa
was riding the podium, which, if you know, is a
big deal. So let's be clear, Okay, we were we
frequented the same class, but it was not the same workout.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
Okay, Well we were both there, okay, okay, And you
know we would see each other at you know, the
larder grabbing coffee after. Obviously she's born and raised in La,
as my husband is as well, so definitely like knew
her and knew who she was and just kind of like,
you know, she was in La. She's so La, you know.
And so anyways, long story short. Twenty eighteen, obviously family
(03:55):
separation became more well known, more people were finding out
about it, more people were, you know, having really strong
feelings about seeing families being separated and being from Tequana,
my sister and I, you know, I had gone to
Texas to protest what was going on, and I just
remember on the flight back being like, that's so weird.
(04:16):
I went all the way over there instead of focusing
on what I'm sure is happening, you know, right in
the backyard of where I grew up, and you know,
obviously only a two hour drive from LA. So it
really started as a donation drive. And I remember I
had just posted something like, hey, if you want to
give to the kids who are separated, like DM me
and I wish I could go. I wish you had
(04:38):
a history of that, dam But Zoe dm me back
and she was like, I don't know, She's like I
want to be doing whatever this is. And I was like,
I don't know what this is, but amazing, and so
she you know, you really just so many people showed up,
but I think I just remember you saying it has
to be more, and like, I can't be going to
sleep crying and thinking about these kids and not really
(05:02):
doing anything. And it was so amazing to see how
you just turn that passion into like here we are
six years later, you know, and like I can't believe
how much we've grown just as an organization. And yeah,
that was the beginning, you know.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
I remember that moment so clearly because it was a
defining moment in my life. And I had just had Gus,
who's my third, and he was one, and I was
seeing the families be separated, and I remember seeing this
image on the news of a mom crying and her
two year old daughter just kind of looking up at her,
(05:41):
and I just said to myself, like, I can't this
is I cannot do I can't do nothing. I have
to do something. And I obviously didn't have any background
in this, and so I didn't know where to start,
but I just knew that I had to start saying something,
and I felt like the only thing that separated me.
(06:04):
I've said this one thousand times with that mom and
me was where I was born. Because at the end
of the day, I felt exactly what she was feeling like.
I could just see her face in that picture and
I knew what that must have felt like as a mother,
and I just I don't know, I'll never forget it.
(06:24):
And there's been so many things in life where you
see something and it just feels too big, so you're
just like, you know what, Ugh, that was horrible. Let's
move on with our day, because if you stay in it,
it feels so huge and like you can't make a difference.
So you just move on. And I feel like weird
proof like this is about humanity as proof that you
(06:47):
can make a difference. You know, you can start small
and then you can grow into like a larger scale,
or you can just stay in your community and organize
in your community. You could do whatever, but you have
to do something. You can't just sit back and do nothing.
And you have been like the most integral part of
(07:08):
that and teaching me that because there I ask you
a thousand questions a day and you just have this
ability to mobilize people and lead people in a way
that is so it doesn't make anyone feel less than
or dumb, like I've never seen anyone like it.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
Well thanks, and I for sure, especially in the growth aspect,
I don't want you to minimize, you know how integral
you've been to grow just for people knowing and giving
kind of validation, especially you know in a city like
as amazing as Los Angeles', you know, to get people
to buy into something new could sometimes be hard and
(07:53):
people want to know, like, well, who is it and
what is it really doing? And and so you know,
I I remember, you know, in the very beginning getting
to know you better, and and I'm not going to
name any any brands or businesses, but I remember one
of my very first sort of like oh she can
(08:15):
really she has influenced this girl. She had ordered a
cake from a place for I think it was.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Fourth birthday, fourth birthday, and.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
They messed it up. I can't remember what the issue was,
but it was not right. And when I tell you,
in one day, she had taken it down, like she
took them down. And I was like, okay, it's not
just that it.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Wasn't right, it was that they all they made me
pay for it still, and I was like, wait, this
is not okay.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
So she was like it was like her personal mission
to be like you're done, and everyone I know is
done with you as well. And by the way, like
I've never done any business with them ever again, but
just to say that, like when you flip that to
helping people and to getting people involved and getting people engaged,
it's like, you know, you can you ask people to
(09:10):
do stuff and they show up. You know, I ask
people and I and my sister and it's like, I
do think that you know, we're not asking people to
do anything that we're not doing ourselves that we haven't
like looked into ourselves, that we haven't you know, thoroughly vetted.
You know. I think that's one of the most incredible
(09:31):
things about this is about humanity, is how careful and
how precise we want to be to be able to
point take people down the line of like you gave this,
and here is actually something that you can see that
came from it. And so it's really been an amazing
it's been an amazing journey, like truly.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
And there were challenges along the way. I mean, we
you and I had to learn how to work with
each other. We all three of us had to learn.
You know, you guys are sisters, but you had to
learn how to work with each other. There were challenges.
I think one of the biggest challenges is that people
think that we are like a political organization, and that
(10:11):
is not at all who we are. We are We
are not affiliated with politics in any way. Do you
want to talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I mean I think the name says it all,
you know, I think that we and by the way,
the name part it was funny because you know, we
started as a donation drive, so many people get I
mean I really unknowingly volunteered to receive all the donations
at my house.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I actually posted a picture last week for your birthday
and it was from our first and it was just
your entire house was filled with boxes. I mean, I
think we got over like five hundred boxes and donations.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
Well, I thought I was gonna be we were gonna
be like driving it like in my like Sue don't.
I don't know what I was thinking, but it was
basically a fire hazard and we were like, oh my gosh,
I wonder if we as part of this kind of
idea of being accountable. We'll take people and we'll take
the donations down, and we'll get to meet families and
they'll get to see what's going on, which is what
we did. And I remember specifically, we're on the drive
(11:11):
back and someone's like, like, so, when's the next bus
And we were like we I don't know where we
going to do another bus? Were we going to do more?
And then someone said what are you going to call this?
And and Mandana Diana, a good friend of ours who
was on that first bus, who had actually who had
gone to the protest with me, was like, remember you
(11:32):
wrote on your poster in the protests, like the maybe
like a month before I had written down this is
about humanity, because it's what I felt that we were
talking about. We weren't talking about politics, we weren't talking
about parties. We were literally talking about human beings. And
like what we were going to say was like okay
or not when it comes to being like a human
(11:53):
being and how we respect other humans and how we
treat each other. And so we like from the very beginning,
really couched ourselves in that lane. Is like we're not
we're talking about families. We're talking about children and we're
talking about humanity. So I think, yeah, I think it's
something that we've really tried to stay very closely aligned to.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
And we started, you know, we started as a donation drive.
We moved on. We started doing one fundraiser, like one
big fundraiser a year, which it was a dinner and
it was all chef driven, so it was this really awesome.
So the first year it was thirty people in my parents'
front yard and.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
Why think we begged them to come.
Speaker 1 (12:38):
We begged people to come. We were like, we will
do anything for you to come to this degree, we
will feed you. And there were and we've worked with
incredible chefs like Michelin Star chefs, and we've grown. Now
it is still at my parents' house, but now we've
taken over the front and the backyard and we have
about three hundred and fifty people. So we got from
(13:00):
thirty people to six years later, three hundred and fifty people.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
And by the way, and we have to like cap
it like we literally we have.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Because we want to keep it well. First of all,
we want to keep it at my parents' house because
the location is free, and also there's something really we
want it to feel really uh cozy and homie and
we couldn't exist without our volunteers. So we really, you know,
(13:27):
we but but but where we've come from. We just
we just got an email and I had to go
over and read the email. We are under we are,
we we are. We have a fiscal sponsor, which is
International Community Foundation, and Letty emailed us and do you
want to say how much we've granted out in the
last six years?
Speaker 2 (13:48):
Yeah, two point four million dollars.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
So we we went from being like begging people to
come six years ago and getting thirty people to come
to a dinner to granting out two point four million
dollars to organizeas that are helping these families. And I,
for one, like, I can't, I can't even believe it.
I'm so proud.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
It's kind of wild when you really think about it.
You were like, how you know, how like you said,
we started off so small. We started off being like
will you give soccer balls and journals and you know,
ms crayons, stuffed animals, And now we're like in a
(14:31):
place where we're you know, funding mental health programs that
are servicing you know, LGBTQ community youth teams, adults, we've got,
you know, we've done several infrastructure projects. We've built bathrooms,
we've built second floors, We've like, we've done so many
things that came from just trying to just starting with
(14:54):
one thing. And so I think it does. It does
go to show you, like you were saying, that you
can do something. I mean, I'm not sure everybody wants
to start a whole organization, because as you said, like,
there are definitely I'm sure days where we're like what
are we doing? Why are we doing this? One hundred
(15:15):
can be stressful.
Speaker 1 (15:16):
I mean we also also have like other things going on.
I have a podcast, you have forty million things. I've
never met someone as busy as you. We both have
three kids. She goes to every single game, She travels
around the country. I've never seen like. She goes to DC,
(15:36):
she goes to all these places, she works on policy,
she does all of these things. I'm like tired just
listening to her or watching her.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Yeah, I mean I always say I'm better when I'm busy.
But yes, sometimes I feel like, you know, like with
anything in life, you can really just be like, did
we you know, bite off more than we can handle.
I think there's always ups and downs in anything, you know,
even in this amazing organization that we have, like with
(16:08):
anything in life. But I do think when the north
star that I think we've always sort of gone back
to is the good that we're doing and the impact
that we've had, It's like it's worth the growing pains.
It's worth you know, whatever might have happened or occurred
or whatever challenge we're facing, you know, dinners this that
(16:30):
the other I think that we've always sort of just
kept that as like the true goal of the org,
and that's really what's kept us, I think, so authentic
to who we are. You know.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
I was thinking, like, not only do you do you
have like these thirty million jobs, but you have these
three kids? And then your husband is a coach of
the Pelicans, and so he's gone on so like it's
gone months, a's gone.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
How do you leave in September and he comes back
sometime and like maybe late April?
Speaker 1 (17:08):
Yeah, I know, you, how do you feel like you
balance it? And then if there is a moment where
you might like not be able to balance it, like
what do you do?
Speaker 2 (17:23):
I mean I think the thing, well, I have like
two really hard and fast rules that I that I
completely adhere to and that are like in me and
I believe completely. One of which is I just genuinely
don't abscribe to mom guilt like I don't. I don't
think it serves me any purpose. I don't think it
serves any mom any purpose. And if if you're allowed
to let it go, I highly encourage it. And I
(17:45):
also feel that, like taking care of me is super
important so that I can handle whatever else is coming. So,
like Zoe said, you know, I used to love spinning.
I mean, basically, setting some time aside for myself to
work out is doably important to like the success of
my day. And I know that sounds insane, but it's
actually true. So, like in the morning, I need three
(18:06):
things I need to work out for at least twenty minutes,
and that's like my minimum. Sometimes it's only twenty minutes.
Sometimes I can do longer, but like twenty minutes has
to happen. I have to get my coffee and I
have to eat this muffin that I really love.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This muffin. This muffin has traveled all over the world
with her.
Speaker 2 (18:22):
This muffin has traveled. I've had this muffin every day
for maybe the last ten years, except for like in
really dire circumstances when like it didn't live further than
like five days in China or something like that. But like, anyways,
so when I have all of those things, I feel
like I can handle whatever else is going to happen
because I already did all the things that like nurture
(18:42):
me and make me feel really ready.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
You've added eggs to your morning routine.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
I have. I've added eggs and protein.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Guys, this is it brings it in a thermos. We
take bus trips to the border, and she brings the
muffin on top and then eggs and protein on the
bottom of the thermist.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yes, which I feel like now everyone knows my super quirks.
But I feel like in the last two years, you know,
women getting older, bone density whatever, lifting has become way
more important. And so yeah, I've been eating more more protein.
And then the other thing is I sort of feel
(19:19):
like I have to accept that I'm kind of only
doing everything at thirty percent. Now. Granted my thirty percent
is probably like everyone else is like eighty percent. Yeah,
but correct, I'm you know, it's like I'm I'm getting
to someone's birthday and i can only stay for an hour,
but then I'm gonna go to that screening that someone
had because I really want to show up, and then
I'm gonna you know, And so I'm kind of like
(19:39):
going like this and barely eking everything out. This morning
was a really good example of me feeling like I
didn't have it all under control.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
I'm ready, bab.
Speaker 2 (19:50):
It was. It was a crazy morning. So my son,
my youngest, he's twelve, I'd been telling him for a
couple of days like, hey, I want to cut your nails.
I want to cut your nail and this morning I
was like, I cannot let him go to school with
his nails like that, Like that's just how my brain works.
So it's like, com merebody, I'll cut your nails real quick.
And I was doing it real quick and oh did
I Oh no, oh okay, No, he was not okay.
(20:15):
He was gushing blood. I was like, oh my, I
was literally like, is a chunk of his finger it's
barely hanging off. I mean, it was so dire. So
I'm like putting water on it. I'm schoozing out and
putting alcohol and I'm just thinking, yep, I do not know.
This is not good, guys. This is and this is
where I'm like, you know, I'm I'm doing all of
my first aid techniques and by the way, I called
(20:37):
the pediatric later, I did everything right. His TENNUS is
up to date. Because of course, I call my husband
on the way to school and he's like, you know,
first why he's mad because it's on his shooting hand
for light pinky bad news, because this is a basketball thing.
He has all sorts of opinions about why this happened.
And I'm like, well, you know you're not here, so
(21:00):
we're just gonna say that. And you know, and even
with the fire and all the stress and everything that
was happening this last week, I was just like, you
just have to trust that I'm well trying to do
the best I can and be making the best decisions
I can at the moment for like mental and physical
well being for our children. Yes, I messed up and
I cut his finger. That was me, guys. But I
(21:21):
definitely was driving to school being like, yep, okay, this
is this is when maybe and it's like something as
like crazy as that that makes me feel like I'm
just doing too much. I cut his finger.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
I'm doing too much well, to be fair, cutting children's
fingernails is extremely stressful.
Speaker 2 (21:37):
Yes, and I use the wrong clip.
Speaker 1 (21:39):
I could do you ever take a day off? I
don't even know the answer to that. Honestly, I would
say no. I don't think you too like in life
like you you don't take a workout day off.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
I mean, you know when we go on buses, which
will you very early? And I want to be ready
at a certain time because people start showing up, Like
I will set my alarment through forty five and work
out to make sure I get that work out in. Yeah,
there have been in this past year. I could probably
count on one hand when I've not gotten it in
(22:11):
because of some just situation where I just couldn't figure
it out.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
And do you notice the difference?
Speaker 2 (22:20):
Yeah, I always say like I And by the way,
it's not like every day I'm going I'm doing something crazy,
but I am doing something every day. But the days
that I don't, I definitely feel like I could have
gotten it in, and I it just it gives me
like a I'm just dissatisfied, truly, and I just feel
like I could have just done something. I could have
(22:41):
walked for twenty minutes and it would have been and
that would have been better than nothing. But it is
sort of like a mental It's just a mental thing
that I like check off in terms of like am
I do I ever just like lay in bed and
do nothing? Like I don't even know, No, you don't,
that's the answer. You know.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
It's funny because you taught me. I think something and
I talked about this a couple of weeks ago that
like sometimes my anxiety, I'm a really anxious person. You
do not have that issue. You are not anxious, and
like if somebody is like maybe like you have this
ability where if someone's kind of like being a jerk
or an asshole, you're like, it's not about me, you
(23:20):
know what I mean? Like you have that and like
where I will obsess over it until like three months
from now, maybe even six, and I think, but one
of the things forever, well, one of the things you've
taught me that I is like the quality of showing up.
And I think that it's such an important thing because
(23:41):
so many times you'll think like, oh it doesn't matter
if I go, like they won't notice, or there's so
many people there or this gives me anxiety, and I
just like don't want to do it. This I get
like for me, I get like social anxiety. But you
show up for everyone in your life, and I think
it's such an amazing quality and it makes people it's
it's underrated, Like I don't know that people know how
(24:03):
important it is to show up. And that's something you've
taught me. And I just I think, I don't where
did you learn.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
That, you know. I think that, like I'm the youngest
of five, right, so you're always trying to you know,
be I think like there in my you know, upbringing,
there were like the three older kids and then the
two younger kids. There's a five year gap between the
three older and then me and my my my brother Charles,
(24:32):
and so I think that like, you know, they would
take they would travel and we would be home and
things would happen like without me a lot and so
and then you know, when it was just kind of
like you know, the younger two of us with my mom,
there was a lot of hey, you gotta like take
care of yourself. Like I remember my first job when
(24:57):
I was uh, I think I just turned six. Team
but it was I really got my first job because
my mom had gotten to visit my older sister, Caroline,
who was living in New York, and she had left
my brother Charles money while she was gone. He was
he probably was like a maybe he was like a
senior in high school and I was a sophomore or
even a freshman. No, I was a sophomore. Anyways, Okay,
(25:17):
so she leaves, she leaves him the money. Three days later,
we have no more money, like genuinely, like he's blown.
I don't know what he's done with it. And so
like I'm going to school and he's like, hey, we
need like toilet paper, just like grab some from the bathroom.
And I'm like, I'm not going to steal the toilet
paper from the school bathroom, Charles. And so I call
my mom and I'd be like, are you coming back?
And she's like, well, I've extended my trip whatever. Anyway,
(25:38):
So long story short, I was like, OK, yeah, I
guess I gotta go get a job, and so like
that this idea of just like I like and just
I remember that being like the first time of like
I just got to be a self starter and figure
things out and so and then I think that like
even when once I started to have kids, and your
(26:00):
life seems so full of things and so busy, and
it's the easiest thing in the world to just stay home.
Trust me, I totally know it. And I will go
through some periods where like I do genuinely be like
I'm just not going to do anything. But it really does,
as I said, like sometimes when you're only showing up
for twenty minutes or whatever, like because this is maybe
(26:23):
in some cases that person's most important thing that they're
planning or putting on something for work, something they've worked
really hard on, you know, a special event, and I
just feel like letting people feel seen is so important,
and honestly, I get such joy out of it. I
really do, Like I love just showing up for folks,
(26:46):
and so I think it is kind of like a
superpower and it's hard one. It's hard to do, but
I do think it served me like so well, just
in my whole life, just my friendships, my relationships, you know.
And then sometimes like when you start a new organization,
you're asking people to show up for you. They want
to show up because you've been showing up for them,
(27:07):
and so I really genuinely feel like it is it
is just this relationship that we both have with with
people and that people feel, you know, like sometimes I've
had people, you know, when we first started, who wanted
to come on a trip, who wanted to come on
a bus and like you know, schedule travel, and it
took them five years to come on a bus and
(27:28):
then when they finally come, they're like, thank god you
didn't like stop inviting me, Like, thank god I still
got the emails because one of the dates actually worked
and now in here. And so I think that consistency
is also super important to me, Just being really consistent
with like the work that we do, like the work
that I do. Just that is is really important to me.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
We've talked about the bus, but I don't think we've
explained the bus. So bus trips are something that after
we did that first trip to San Diego, we started
just brainstorming and we thought it would be so incredible
to actually take people to Tijuana to see what is
going on there and hear from these families because there's
(28:11):
so much information misinformation about these families that are you know,
waiting to come to this country. And I felt like
for me as a Jewish person, it was my duty
to hear from these families because a huge part of
(28:33):
seeking asylum was created during the Holocaust when families were
coming here and America was accepting these families that had
been affected by World War Two. So it's it's always
been a really something that I don't know, it's just
like it it it to me feels very connected. But
(28:58):
so these bus trips we leave in the morning at
six am, five forty five am. We take about thirty
to forty people with us and we drive down to
Tijuana on a bus that has a bathroom, so don't worry,
and we go and visit. We opened a relief kitchen there.
Do you want to talk about the kitchen.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
Yeah, So we run a relief kitchen in partnership with
ICF and Flumesabe. It is feeding three thousand, one hundred
asylum seekers and migrants a day at twenty seven different shelters,
including an accompanied minor, children, families, women, LGBTQ individuals, and
(29:43):
six days a week. So it's it's really like I said,
like we literally started as a donation drive and now
you know, we're feeding people every day. We're gonna we're
on track to serve a million meals in this year,
and so it's kind of mind boggling to think how
how we've grown, and like the number of people who
(30:05):
are just impacted by the programs and by the donations
and the support that we get is exponential. You know,
it's just we can't even I mean, we try to
measure it, but it's really you know, you can't really
measure sometimes like the value of like a warm meal
and feeling like you know, people are there for you
and like you have that support. And so we go
(30:27):
and we volunteer at the kitchen and then usually we
have a service activity that's related to one of the
shelters we're going to. Sometimes, you know, during Pride Month,
we'll go to the LGBTQ shelter. You know, it just depends,
and you know we always say like, well, your your
life will change in one day. Truly. I mean I've
seen people who come on buses who have gone back
(30:48):
and just been like mind blown, you know, just just
a different perspective and appreciation for you know, what we
have in our own lives. And so it's it's I
joke around because I'm so anal about you know, when
I send the emails. I'm like, okay, here's everything you need.
Here's the schedule. You know, we leave at five point fifty.
(31:08):
If you're running late, text me. And everyone's always like joking,
like have you ever left anybody? I'm like, yeah, we have,
we have.
Speaker 1 (31:14):
We Remember we had Jane from Zoop, Yeah, from Goop.
She came to write a story and we left her and.
Speaker 2 (31:20):
She drove Yeah, she's to be fair, she drove herself
down and then jumped on the bus. But but it was,
you know, like she's like, where are you. I'm like,
it's six ten. I said six we left, We left,
but yes, to her credit, she drove down and joined us.
But I'm I'm always really, you know, I think people
are surprised, but it's a it's a pretty uh it's
(31:42):
a lot of operations and logistics, so you know, it's
a tight shure. Yeah, five to seven minutes could be
two more hours on the way back for traffic, So
you know, I'm really And.
Speaker 1 (31:51):
By the way, I want to be clear, we leave
at like five five fifty in the morning and we
come back by seven pm the same day, so we
don't spend the night there.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
Yeah. Yeah, And we have lunch.
Speaker 1 (32:03):
Had an amazing restaurant, and every single.
Speaker 2 (32:06):
Type because every yeah, every bus is different. Every bus
has like a different by the way, you had some
people who come on like twenty buses, right, and I want
to be clear, but every bus has a different like
all amazing but different vibe, different focus, sometimes different personality.
Speaker 1 (32:21):
And on the way down, everybody introduces themselves, which some
people hate, some people hate, but everyone and I love
themselves that I know, it's my favorite part. And they
say like what they do for a living, why they're what,
what brought them to come on this trip? And I
love it so much.
Speaker 2 (32:39):
And also crazy to see people out in the wild
and they're like we do on our bus, you know.
Or they'll you know, people have gotten my jobs off
of the bus. They might make contacts. I'm waiting for
the dating marriage to yeah, the bus. What do think?
Speaker 1 (32:53):
What's something about running a nonprofit that you think people
would be surprised to learn?
Speaker 2 (32:57):
Oh my gosh, there's so many rules. There's a lot
of rules.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
There's a lot of rules, like you know, for instance,
like even just during this this fire relief situation, like
there's a lot of thought and there's a lot of
there's a lot of rules that you have to follow.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of rules. And then I
also think that you know, not everything is is going
to be great. I think that's that's really you know,
giving back is amazing and the impact you have is amazing.
But sometimes like it can be it can be hard,
and it can be onerous, and you can think like
(33:39):
why why are we even doing? You know, sometimes I'll
be like, no good deed goes unpunished, Like I remember
the remember the bus where like they didn't send a
bus and then we were like an hour.
Speaker 1 (33:50):
Late and you were you were beside yourself.
Speaker 2 (33:53):
I know I was gonna say, I don't have anxiety,
but I definitely like to be in control. Yeah, and
things that I cannot control are where I sort of
feel like, okay, this is yeah, and so that was
just like so awful.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
But I think we've had events sometimes that like didn't
go the way we wanted. You know, we'll do we
do like these drives, we do a holiday party, We
do a Best Birthday Ever, so like a birthday party
for kids that so we work with Immigrant Defenders Law Center,
a pro bono law firm, and we've done events for that.
(34:28):
We work with them, we love them, they are credible.
But We've like done an event where afterwards I'm like, oh,
that wasn't the best we could do for you guys.
I'm sorry, you know, like, oh that didn't work. Let's
do this. It's a lot of troubleshooting because it's and
a lot.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
Of learning, like a lot of learning. First bus to
I don't know now we're like fifty five buses in.
You know, there's there's a lot of things that we've learned.
You know, with every bus we come back with some
type of learning how we want people to experience today.
And by the way, sometimes there's nothing we can do
about it. Like sometimes we can't. There's so many factors
(35:04):
that are just out of out of our control that
you know, we we try to do the best to
have it be a great experience, and I think it
always is. But because we know all the things, we
can be super.
Speaker 1 (35:16):
Nitpicky about it, and because we want people to leave
the experience any experience with us feeling a certain type
of way, you know.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
And I also think I guess the other thing just
about running it out or just like having an organization
or nonprofit is like what do you want it? And
it sounds weird, but like, what do you want it
to feel like? Because I do think you know, we
have a really clear idea of what we want everyone's
interaction with this is about humanity to feel like. We
want it to feel easy. We want it to feel
(35:48):
like inclusive and inclusive. We want it to feel like
you can just show up and that's all you need
to do, Like you can invite your friends, can you
can align yourselves, You'll find community, and.
Speaker 1 (36:00):
That it's not all about money. Like yes, money is
a huge part and a very necessary part for us
to be able to keep the kitchen running, keep building
these learning libraries, keep doing all of these things, keep
having these events. But it's also about your time, like
giving your time and and and showing up for these families.
(36:20):
I mean, they're so when we go to these events,
when we host these events, when we go to Tijuana,
the families are so happy that we're there. They feel seen,
they like our goal in those days is not to,
you know, look at these families and feel bad for them.
Our goal is to look at these families, hear them,
(36:41):
and then and then and then make them feel like
we hear them, we see them, they matter, and they're
not forgotten. You know, like those are the things that
that is our goal, and that's how we want people
who volunteer to feel as well.
Speaker 2 (36:56):
I know, I was talking to you know, we just
had our holiday party and I was talking to Veronica,
a good friend of ours who had gone to volunteer
with her daughter and her daughter's best friend, and she
told me, like, hey, I was talking to Sage and
her friend and they said, you know, we we've like
felt like okay, we're going to go volunteer to be fine.
But they were just saying that the experience of how
(37:19):
they felt just even interacting with these families, that it
ended up being so much more and so much more
meaningful than they ever thought it could be. And like
that to me was like, ah, the highest you know,
sort of like affirmation that like okay, no matter what,
like we're doing good and and people are feeling like
they're impacting people's lives. And we've had people who come
(37:39):
on buses, you know, like Bronico, who stayed in touch
with families who continue to help them. You've you know,
been a sponsor of a legal sponsor for aye.
Speaker 1 (37:48):
I'm a legal sponsor here for a family from Honduras.
They have three children, a mom, and a grandchild. And
I mean it's changed my life, its changed my kid's life.
I will say that holiday part my mom was in
the hospital and I was not my best self. I
could not stop crying, but no one knew. So it
(38:09):
was like I was just like I almost felt like
and then I'm so grateful that I have these two
incredible partners who I could say, like, I'm not okay.
But Ace for his bar mits for project this year,
raised money to do a toy table at this UH
holiday party, so that he raised over fifteen thousand dollars
and it was a table like as long as the
(38:31):
warehouse filled with toys that he picked up better, it
was better.
Speaker 2 (38:37):
And also like he actually was like very specific and
intentional with what yeah picking.
Speaker 1 (38:41):
He was picked every toy.
Speaker 2 (38:44):
People were into it, because sometimes you've have toy tables
where I'm like, I don't know that people are that excited.
But it was like every toy was.
Speaker 1 (38:50):
He went age by age, you know, he really he
was very but I was so proud of him, and
that day was so emotional for me and I think
I came up to you and I was like, I'm
I'm not well, so I'm going to meet you to
help me out. And that is like partnership at its finest.
I think in those moments, you know, in the moments
where we're learning from each other, you are very very straightforward.
(39:11):
You are You're moving a million miles a minute. I
am more sensitive. So it took us a second two.
I would be like, are you mad at me? And
You'd be like, I'm not thinking about you and I'd
be like, oh, okay, okay.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
You know what.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
We had to really learn.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
How to That was actually a funny. That was a funny,
like memory, remember that time when we thought we were
never going to be friends again and then somehow we
were sell it. I mean, it was that story basically
(39:50):
where Zoe was like, are you mad at me? Oh?
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Yeah, I think you called me privileged? I did, and
I was like, I.
Speaker 2 (40:01):
Like, when I tell you, I did not. We didn't.
We both did not know if we were going to
come back from that.
Speaker 1 (40:06):
I literally was like I'm done.
Speaker 2 (40:07):
This is She was like fuck this shit, and I
was like and to me, you know, but that was
the first time.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
So just to be fair. Like when we started this,
I really didn't. I didn't. To me, privileged was a
negative connotation. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure you meant it
that way too.
Speaker 2 (40:28):
We had just come back from a bus, mind you. Okay,
I've just been in charge of forty five people's safety
well being all the things.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Because we had to cross back.
Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yes, like by the way we go to a different country,
we come all the way back right Like we've heard these,
you know, heart wrenching stories where you cry, You're like,
oh my god. And you know, we get on the
we usually talk right after the bus to be like, hey,
what had you think this? That and the other? And
she's like in the first thing she does is were
(41:01):
you mad at me? And I was like, no, babe,
I no.
Speaker 1 (41:04):
No, I think I texted you on the bus.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
No, no, but yes, right after we got on the
bus from gatatas are you mad at me? And I
was like, no, not mad at you. Again, I'm a
super straight forward person. Not mad at you means I'm
not mad at you.
Speaker 1 (41:17):
I'm not used to super straight for our people.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
Sorry, I don't know, I guess the very beginning. Just
so we're clear, Just so we're clear, this was like
bus three. Okay, this is bus three year, this is
not even your one. This is like month two. We
get home, she calls me, hey, Babe, I just wanted
to make sure you weren't mad at me. And I
was like, I literally told you I wasn't mad at you.
And she's like, but I'm pretty sure you were mad
(41:40):
at me. I'm pretty sure you were mad at me.
And I'm like, Babe, I was I'm not mad at you,
nor was I mad at you, although I'm getting kind
of mad right now.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
We've had we've had moments like we communicate completely differently
and we have completely different backgrounds. So like like.
Speaker 2 (42:02):
I like, babe, so I literally say, I wasn't even
I were not even thinking about you, Like when I
got on the bus, I'm making sure that I'm counting
how many people like and so this is why I said.
The fact that you think that I'm mad at you
or I'm thinking about you like might be it just
I did say privileged. And and then by the way,
it was like a nuke went off.
Speaker 1 (42:26):
By the way, that moment I'll never forget because I
was able to say, like I was able to think
about it and take a few days, and I am privileged.
And that does come with sometimes thinking that without even
knowing it, you think that your importance or your needs
(42:48):
in that moment are like them. And and so I
had to learn and I had to check that about
myself because to me, it was always like, how do
I you know, I never wanted that to be but
but but I had to realize, like, Okay, this is
part you are who you are and learn to be better,
(43:09):
you know.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
But it was such an important again, and one of
the things that I so appreciated about that moment and
even our relationship in the years after, is that you
genuinely do want to like you want to know, like, hey,
if there's something I need to work on, Like, I
genuinely want to know.
Speaker 1 (43:28):
You're the same way.
Speaker 2 (43:30):
Yeah, for sure, I have like a healer. You know,
you got all sorts of people who will tell you
all the tricks and things and I need I need
to get the cliff notes. But yeah, I'm the same
way too. By the way, I'm I'm always you know, it's.
Speaker 1 (43:42):
Actually got you a session with my healer and you
loved it.
Speaker 2 (43:44):
No, I did love it. I really did that way.
Speaker 1 (43:47):
Yeah, we we both I think that is something we
both do and and it and and and the relationship
has grown so much in six years.
Speaker 2 (43:58):
Yeah, by the way, I think that I it really has,
you know, becoming partners and working closely with you has
really helped me be more sensitive to you know, two
different ways of communitydling, communicating, you know what I mean.
Like I think for me, who's such a as you said,
(44:20):
like straightforward person, you know, like if I were mad
at you, I would just be like I'm mad at you,
you know what I mean? And so I so it
was always confusing, like I what no I And then
you know, and for someone again who like measures every
output of everything, I was like okay, Like and then
you got to know me better and you would now
(44:41):
like if she were mad, she would say out.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
But we started this, we were not friends like we
know each other and we would say hello to each
other and maybe give each other a hug and yeah,
you know, but we were not like we were not
super close. We didn't and we really like our friendship
grew as the years have gone on, Like there were
years that we just like in O and we would
sort of like we were just going going down the
road and we were working really hard and we were
(45:05):
respectful of each other, but we weren't like hanging out,
you know. And I only feel like in the last
couple of years we've really grown to to get to
know each other as human beings, not just partners in business.
And I'm so grateful for that. I'm so thankful.
Speaker 2 (45:20):
I know, same same. I think. You know, sometimes, you know,
we'll be having a conversation about something and you'll bring
something up and I'll be like, yeah, no, not even
about me, just like in general, like this thing happened
or like this person said this, and I'll be like, literally,
not about you. Yeah, it's And I think that that's
one of the things again that is showing up I'm
(45:42):
really good at. The Other thing I'm really good at
is like, literally I don't teach anything personally, Like I don't.
Speaker 1 (45:46):
I've never met anyone like that. But you genuinely you're
not just saying that you don't. And I'm always like.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Oh okay, I'm literally like, oh, I don't even care
like whatever, And I do feel like but it's it's
a I think it's an important skill because you know,
you always want I always want people to feel like
they can always come whenever they can, show up whenever
they can, and so a lot of times, I think,
(46:12):
especially in the nonprofit space, there's like pressure to do things,
to show up to whatever, and I'm like, great, like
we'll be here. This is going to happen regardless, So
like extra points if you're there. If you're not, the
people who are there are going to be super excited.
I'm going to be super excited. And I do think, again,
(46:32):
what do we want? This is about humanity to feel
like we wanted to feel like a no pressure situation,
and so it really, it really has been an amazing
experience and also just an incredible way to even in
this time, you know, with the wildfires that are happening,
be an organization that can think about like, okay, yeah,
(46:53):
we usually focus obviously our north stars on these families
have been affected, but guess what, some of those same
families are being affected by this fire, and some of
the people in their extended family have been affected by
this fire. And some of our donors and our support systems,
some people who have helped us build this organization to
what it is today, have been everything.
Speaker 1 (47:13):
Why don't you why don't you tell a little bit
about like what we are doing for this wildfire relief situation?
Speaker 2 (47:20):
Oh we I think we all maybe even on that
day as some of us were, you know, Zoe and
I live in LA.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
We live in West LA. We were packing up, we
were both packing up to evacuate. We're like, well, what
are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (47:34):
Yeah, what are you doing? Are you leaving? Are you
saying what's happening? And so I think even while that
was on our minds, we were also thinking like, how
do we set something up where we can really Yeah, yeah,
how can we help? And it's just as the trusted organization,
how can we do our best to support other organizations?
(47:55):
And so we launched the This is About Humanity Emergency
Fund for that Los Angeles wildfires, and we are supporting,
you know, frontline workers, second responders, immigrant families, and individuals
impacted by by the fire. We're you know, supporting organizations
(48:16):
on the ground who are giving emergency relief, cash assistance,
legal services, you know, essential needs, necessities. And I think
in a longer in the longer run, we will also
start to get engaged a little bit more in like
housing assistants and getting people sort of set up to
(48:38):
for a longer term, you know, solution. I think it's
like it's such a dynamic situation. I mean, even right now,
I think the Palisades fire is only twenty seven percent contained,
you know, the eat and fire a little bit more.
So it's not like it's over. And of course, now
since we've all become meteorologists and wind experts, I know
that the wind is going to be picking up in
on Monday, and so talk about like I don't have anxiety,
(49:01):
but I also am now addicted to the watch study
app and I know all sorts of things about buyers
and so so yeah, so it's an amazing way that
we we have this ability to show up for people
when we can, and so I think it's been an
amazing experience we had. You know, we set out an
urgent call for fifty thousand dollars EVA Longoria match to
(49:24):
fifty quickly, and by the way, we probably have had
over two thousand donations come in, which is incredible, you
know for an organization like we're pretty small still, by
the way, to have that kind of support from everywhere
has just been really impressive.
Speaker 1 (49:41):
I think it's also important to my dad always says
this whenever he talks about organization, but there's no staff,
it's the three of us, and then he's our fiscal sponsor.
Like that's it. There's no like, there's no warehouse like
the warehouse has been our garages like it is. You know,
we are like a very thin grassroots organization that is
(50:02):
able to help people. Don't like donate where where it
is going to be safely and and respectfully attributed distributed.
Speaker 2 (50:17):
Yeah. No, I feel like, you know, we some people
be like, so who should I see see? I'm like me, Yeah,
there is no assistant, there is no you know, X person,
And so sometimes it makes me laugh because I, you know,
I dream of having someone help me do something. But
(50:37):
you know, then by the time I think about like that,
I'm like, oh, I should just do everything myself.
Speaker 1 (50:42):
You know, I don't feel like delegating is your is
your is your strong suit?
Speaker 2 (50:47):
Mmm? I mean if I could like clone myself, yeah, yeah,
I would love to delegate to to another me. Yeah
for sure, I would like that. Yeah. No, it's been
you know, these past this past week has just been
obviously challenging for so many people, obviously, people who've lost
(51:09):
everything and people who've had to evacuate people who've been
close to areas. You know, I think there there is
this sort of collective like, you know, we're all not
all of our shoulders are just up a little bit,
you know, and we we just want to do the
best we can for our community, you know. And I
think that that's that's kind of where we're at right now.
Speaker 1 (51:33):
I know that you have so much on your plate,
but if you could like magically start one more thing,
what would it be?
Speaker 2 (51:39):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1 (51:41):
Oh let's see you could add like one more project,
what would that project be?
Speaker 2 (51:46):
Oh my gosh. You know, I would love to have
someone sort of say, hey, you've been on the ground
in so many different places and spaces. You've seen important
work that grassroots ors are doing, different individuals in different spaces.
(52:08):
Like here is like, here's a blank slate for a
blank slate for you to make the change that you
think is best and go out and do that. Because
I think that, like, you know, as a I have
a consulting company, and I do a lot of work
in a social impact space, and you know, it's depending,
it's dependent on different projects and different focuses, and so
(52:31):
sometimes I'm like, you know, this is recumended is a
good example, right, this is not this is not our job, right,
We're not getting paid.
Speaker 1 (52:39):
We don't make it. We don't make a sense, we.
Speaker 2 (52:41):
Don't make a sent we don't take a salary, you know.
But it is very genuinely like a project that I
would do like in my regular work, except for that
it's a passion project that we do because it's you know,
it matters to us and it's important. And so I
think that a version of that, you know, but in
a broader in a broader way like elsa, go make
(53:04):
some change, and.
Speaker 1 (53:05):
Well if anyone can do it, you can do it.
Speaker 2 (53:07):
So oh for sure, I'm like ready, look at us,
look at us, look at us, look at us. Okay, well,
I hope that's amazing. Thanks, iHeart, don't forget give what
in the Winkler Pod? A follow on Instagram at what
in the Winkler Pod?
Speaker 1 (53:24):
What in the Winkler Pod? And also there's people trying
to like make fake accounts. It's what in the Winkler
Pod not podcast?
Speaker 2 (53:32):
Oh what in the Winkler pod pod?
Speaker 1 (53:35):
That's right.
Speaker 2 (53:37):
If you don't follow it, Zoe might take you down
like you put that cake company.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
Down so handsOn Now it was Handson's. Everyone it was Handso.
Speaker 2 (53:44):
I didn't say it.
Speaker 1 (53:45):
Tell a friend, please listen. Thank you for listening. You
guys are the best and I will see you next week.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
S
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