Katie Reid: Worth the Drive

What happens when the people who are supposed to love you most reject who you truly are?

In this deeply personal episode of Worth the Drive, Michael sits down with Katie Reid—founder of Reid’s Real Estate Group, longtime advocate for the Deaf community, and a proud Long Beach resident whose journey is defined by resilience, grace, and purpose.

Katie shares the painful story of coming out, being asked to leave her family, and arriving in Long Beach searching for a place where she could finally belong. What followed was a journey through heartbreak, healing, forgiveness, motherhood, and discovering that community can become family.

Together, Michael and Katie dive into faith, LGBTQ+ identity, unconditional love, adoption, accessibility, raising children with acceptance, and the power of choosing purpose over pain. They also explore Katie’s work serving the Deaf community during COVID, her passion for restoring homes and building community through real estate, and why living authentically is the greatest legacy any of us can leave behind.

This conversation is for anyone who has ever felt rejected, alone, or unsure where they belong. Because sometimes the people who have been hurt the most become the people who love the hardest.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Being accepted and uh being wanted is something I think uh a lot of people uh take for granted. There's a lot of us we're not accepted. We're necessarily wanted by our very own mothers and fathers. I'm one of those. It's hard to put into words and to really explain the pain that's felt when you were just trying to live you, your true self is ostracized completely disowned because you were living truly to yourself. There's a struggle all of us have in finding ourselves after that because we feel that who we are was not right. We feel like we're being punished, and that there's even sides of religion that alienate certain people just for being their true selves. And for a child to go through something like that, it either burns you down or like a phoenix, you rise up and double down and become more true to yourself. Today, I have my good friend, Katie, on the show. I say good friend in the idea that we met just today. But her glory and her and her true self and the grace she developed through her struggle really spoke to me. I hope she speaks to you too. If you're on a journey right now and you're feeling alienated or alone, just look around. There's people like us out there out there that are here to help. I hope you enjoyed the drive today. Because I sure did. So, let's introduce yourself. Let's say where, who, what, where, why.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Okay, who? Uh I am Katie Reed. And um I own and the founder of Reed's Real Estate Group. Where? Uh I'm a Valley girl.

SPEAKER_00 2:17

Oh no. Yeah. Alright, hang on. We pull over.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

All right, let me get let me get Wait, what Valley? Uh San Fernando Valley.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Okay, so San Fernando. I don't know if you listened to last episode, unfortunately, San Fernando. And uh the valley got a little bit of a hate.

SPEAKER_02 2:32

It does. It does, and yes, but it's okay. It's all right. You know, yeah, we established you know the show Clueless, so my wife's favorite movie of all time. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

It's funny to me because I'm like, really, why? It's uh I guess it's funny.

SPEAKER_02 2:50

Uh huh.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

But she she uh I think identifies with it a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 2:53

It's it's one of those, like it's easy watching. Yeah, you can turn the brain off.

SPEAKER_00 2:59

So the valley. So you grew up in the valley?

SPEAKER_02 3:00

I grew up in the valley, yeah, San Fernando Valley. So talking like Sherman Oaks, Mission Hills, Gornada Hills, yeah, all that good stuff.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

I was just there last night.

unknown 3:08

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

Just driving through Sherman Oaks. I was uh one of my favorite movie places is there in Sherman Oaks, the Sinopolis, which is insane. That's a way to watch a movie there. Okay, because they waiters come to your table. It's the bougiest thing you could ever do. So when did you move to Long Beach?

SPEAKER_02 3:30

Wow. Um first moved to Long Beach when I was about twenty years old. Let's see. Yeah, age myself about 22 years ago. Yeah, and then um just fell in love with it. Like the people, the culture, the architecture, like all of it, the city, the fact that I belonged.

SPEAKER_01 3:53

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:54

Like I needed a place to belong, and like Long Beach and stuff, but like if you belong here, then you're safe.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

See, I grew up, I grew up in a valley too, but San Joaquin Valley. So that's it's yeah. That's different. Oof. Oof. So it's something to be ashamed of.

SPEAKER_02 4:09

Um I'm not gonna say it.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

I can say it. But you see, I can say it.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

But um, it's true. I lived everywhere, and when I came here is when I finally felt uh the people are who uh make this place, and the people are who make it welcoming. Um and I think it's because a majority of people I can understand with and I can bond with and I can get along with, and they don't wish against my well-being or my kids' well-being or my friend's well-being. That being said, we'll drive by a couple of these houses. Okay, and you'll see signs. You're like, oh, you're not safe.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:45

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:46

Yeah. So you moved here because why?

SPEAKER_02 4:49

Um, we're going real deep, real quick. Here we go. Why? Um, I moved here at that time because I had just come out. Oh. And um I was asked to no longer be a part of my family. Whoa. And so at that time I was dating somebody, and they were like, well, just come out here, and I didn't really have anywhere to go. I didn't know anyone, I didn't have a community. I was raised in nothing against religion, but a very established, strict religion.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:22

And um, it was no longer welcoming to me. And I didn't know who I was at that age, you know, 19, turning 20. I I didn't know anything. And so I went wherever somebody was willing to take me.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Wow. So who who were these people in your family that said no moss? Is it your parents?

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Yeah, it was my parents. Um, we're in a much better and different space now. Yeah. But uh, and that was a big lesson. It was like I could either get really mad and shut down and go to drugs and be angry, or I could find my purpose. And and part of my purpose was sometimes the child is meant to teach the parent that love is unconditional when you choose it in a different way and you can show up. And it was it wasn't easy, it was very painful. Um, but I came to Long Beach because I didn't have anywhere else to go, honestly. I I didn't know where to go, and and I just I came to survive.

SPEAKER_00 6:30

See, I'm in I'm in I'm in shock a little bit about that because you know, knowing a little bit about your story and what we'll get to, um I'm a different human being. You're a way better human being than me. I maybe it's I'm a Capricorn, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

I'm a Capricorn.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Uh yeah, so we should have the same view on this, and the idea that I go, oh, you don't want cut.

SPEAKER_01 6:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Um but that's that's that means you have more courage than I do in that, and you have more ability to forgive.

SPEAKER_02 7:02

Um it also can be a different way of I have more need for acceptance, I have more need for approval, and a deep root of um when being raised in such a strong religious upstream.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

So where were you?

SPEAKER_02 7:17

Catholic, uh non-denominational Christian.

SPEAKER_00 7:19

Oh, okay. So yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:21

Yeah. So I mean it's you can be taught that, or you are taught about the importance of like God the Father accepting you and salvation, all that. Yeah. So then you go from like uh you're not welcomed here anymore, and then also not accepted by parents. Wow. So it's just like that eternal message is in it's embedded into you, and so then or into me, and so then all of a sudden it's like I'm really lost, I don't know who I am, or up from down. Um, and my purpose and my why became so gigantic in that. Like I wanted to be loved and I wanted to love so desperately, so badly, almost so a fault. And you know, through a lot of work and healing, I've become like more like intentional with it and coming from a more healthy space, but it's always an evolving process. Yeah, there there is no like watering down, like it's agonizing when you're asked to leave the only thing you've ever known.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah, yeah, and I mean I can relate to that. I mean, but I I go back to I studied religion in college because my mom was a devout Christian, my father was a agnostic pagan, and my mom never said, Hey, you have to go to this church, but she said you have to go to a church.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Got it.

SPEAKER_00 8:39

And so I went to all these churches, but my mom is the one that completely disowned me because of my beliefs, and not even who I am as a person, but because of who I care about and who I fight for. I almost think you as a person haven't directly towards you. You're strong in the idea that I would have said, Well, like I'm so it's bad because I'm anti-religion, because I think the majority of what religion does is hurt people. I don't think I think people see all the good, like, oh, look at this church and this beautiful church, and they have a spot for people to gather. It's like, yeah, but what people? And for how long? And I read something yesterday that really boggled my mind. If every church in the United States adopted one child, we would have no children in foster care.

unknown 9:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

We would actually have a waiting list, right? So this thought that the church is a place of love acceptance, it is not true in my account. I'm gonna say there's maybe a church out there that is awesome and they do everything that the book says, but after studying that book, they don't know what that book says. And majority of people in the church have never read that book. Because if they did, they would be like, oh, we're messing up. Yeah, we're screwing up, especially when it comes to accepting people in the LGBTQIA community. Because the book says nothing about not accepting people.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

Yeah, it doesn't exist, Dr.

SPEAKER_00 10:15

It doesn't exist in that book. I've studied it pretty in-depth, and what they'll always go back to is they'll go back to Sodom and Gomorrah, right? Uh-huh. But then they don't want to reference the fact that they were talking about biblically accurate angels, not humans.

SPEAKER_01 10:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:31

So those people in that town did not want to rape humans.

SPEAKER_01 10:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

It was biblically accurate angels, which are these orbs with thousand eyes spinging and creepy creepy.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

And the worst part about that story that I always tell people who want to have this debate with me is like, yeah, you know what the lot what Lot did? He said, Don't rape the angels, take my daughters. How is this a moral book when you think about stuff like that? Right? Yeah. But they use this reference as a way to discriminate. And I again I don't want to say all churches, but after studying religion and knowing and being in these churches with some of these things being preached, I question. Um, granted, I'm I I give everyone their due. There's probably some great uh Christian people out there if they stay by the book of Christianity. They are actual Christians, good for them. Because I think Jesus was probably a really good guy, probably one of the best ever in the history of the world. And people believe in him. I think that's a great thing, but live by him if you're gonna live by him. And I say that as a non-religious human being.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

Well, and I I think it's like there's a lot of noise in life, right? A lot of noise, a lot of opinions, a lot of interpretation, and that's what the Bible is. It's interpretation over years upon years upon years of people changing language and changing meaning, etc. And if we go to the core message, it's love. Yeah, love people, be kind.

SPEAKER_00 12:02

Beyond all things, the greatest is love.

SPEAKER_02 12:05

Right. And so that's I think no matter how much my heart was broken, no matter how much I was devastated, no matter how much I felt lost and betrayed, I knew that at the end of the day I wanted to be loved and I wanted to love. And that's just where I come from, like in my life, whether it's with my parents, with people, with connecting with people, whatever it might be. And I think it's just a lot of noise where unfortunately people use the noise as a weapon. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

And so how was all that love instilled in you, and yet when you needed that love, yeah, how did how did you juxtapose that? Like, how did you say, okay, you've taught me love my whole life? Yeah, I need your love. Why is this happening?

SPEAKER_02 12:49

Well, it's a it was a conditional love that I was taught. So it was if if we go to church and if we behave this way, and if we do this, then this is love. Like love was more of a reward to be earned. Oh and so I at some point did the you know, the ultimate cardinal sin, and and so it was taken away. Um, and I honestly for years I really did feel like I was the run that did it all wrong, and I really didn't want to be this way. And I would pray for it to go away many, many years since I was like 12 years old, like just in agony, like don't let this be this curse on me. I don't want this to happen, I don't want to be this. Um, I don't want to go to hell, I don't want to put this on my family. It was just such a heavy burden to carry. And I often wondered like how someone wouldn't stop and think, like, Katie's got to be dying inside, like she doesn't want this, you know. And so for me, it wasn't really that I was given this like beautiful, like in-awe like example of love. It was very conditional, and that's I think a lot of times, you know, no disrespect to every single person who like has their different opinions. But my experience is that when teaching love through religion, it's it's gonna look a certain way, it's gonna have a certain interpretation, it's gonna have certain boundaries, and you have to do this to earn this. And for me, through that, it wasn't about like other people taught me this. Is honestly, I don't understand ever when I look back at it, how I'm even okay. Like I really sometimes don't, I just don't get it. Yeah, but I'm really grateful I am, and I really enjoy more so making a difference, and I want to live in such a way when like I exit this world, like there's an absence of oxygen because I live so well in love, and I really do want to be that way, and I'm not perfect, and there's a lot of because of all this stuff, like I'm kind of awkward in the way that I connect, but I know that it's my way. It's like sometimes it's I'm so passionate about connecting people, and I only know how to talk to people. Like, this kind of stuff is great for me. Yeah, but I'm really I struggle with the like shoot the shit kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 14:57

Yeah, I'm the same way.

SPEAKER_02 14:58

What are we doing here again? Be like, what's the point of this one? And I see people they'll laugh about stuff, and I'm like, that wasn't exactly funny. I don't understand what's wrong with me.

SPEAKER_00 15:07

I understand, I understand completely because my touch of the TISM is exactly the same. I don't like small talk, I don't like meeting on a surface level. I think it's what you have to do in business, and it drives me crazy.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 15:21

It's funny because we're driving around, we're talking about religion, and there's a sign right in front of us that says you need Jesus. You need Jesus, but to me that's such an attack.

SPEAKER_02 15:27

Right, like if you don't have it, you don't you don't know me, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:30

You don't know me, uh maybe maybe he's more on my side than your side. I don't know. Like it's it's so your struggles, I truly believe, make you who you are, right? Uh if you if you want to look at our religious standpoint, it's not in the Bible, but a lot of people say, you know, oh, God gives his strongest warriors the hardest tasks or what have you. And it it's not it's that's not in the Bible, but people take it from the Bible. Um do you find that these struggles made you more courageous in who you are?

SPEAKER_02 16:06

Heck yeah. Um because I hit a lot of like what people would call like rock bottoms. People's interpretation of a rock bottom might be like, oh, you're making poor choices in your life, so you're gonna hit a rock bottom. But sometimes I think to take a step back and come as a hu uh like a humble human, it's to see that like sometimes other human beings shove you down to the rock bottom. And you can be in that rock bottom, and it's like, then what are you gonna do with that rock bottom? Yeah, like what do you I I didn't have anything, I didn't have a dollar in my name, I didn't have food to eat, I didn't I didn't have anything. And it's like then what? Then where do you go and how do you figure out yourself? And and then how do you come back from like what's my self-value and and and what am I worth to humanity if I have nothing? And so at that place to come from like I have to be courageous and know that I am something, no matter like if sorry that choked me up. Yeah, no, it's no matter, yeah, no matter if like someone else, you know, when when it's like your parents and your family and your upbringing, and they tell you who you are is wrong or incorrect, then all of a sudden it's like the mindset of well, the world tells me that people that are gonna love me no matter what, all of a sudden says, I love you as long as you're not this. And so then it's like, Well, I'm unlovable.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

Well, it's also saying, I love you, but I don't love you.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

Like you're not allowed to live in your authentic self. For sure. In turn, that's not you. They love the idea of having a child, they love the idea of having the perfect child to them in their view of a perfect child. That's not right. That's not, oh, it looks like we're we're filming again today.

SPEAKER_02 17:51

We're filming something.

SPEAKER_00 17:52

Yeah, we're filming here in the beautiful city of Long Beach. Uh, don't interrupt my conversations, Hollywood. It's the new 13 going on 30 uh movie they're redoing here. And in the Ferris Bueller house right here. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 18:10

I mean, these houses are just stunning.

SPEAKER_00 18:12

Yeah, welcome. Welcome to Strong Beach. So the idea of your parents, and it and it was both your parents.

SPEAKER_02 18:20

Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

See, that's even harder for me to grasp because me and my wife don't agree on everything, but we do agree on one thing, supporting our children no matter what. And we're in a situation where we're raising a child who loves bows in his hair, who has a Hello Kitty collection, who wears his Hello Kitty socks and and is true in himself. And my job is to support him to be true in himself. He's nine years old, we don't know. But I'm gonna support the shit out of him. I love that. No matter what, whatever way he wants to go. And in turn, I surround him by my friends in the queer community in order to show him like, look at the successful business person that can do whatever they want, no matter what they want, being authentic to themselves. How do you wrap your head around forgiving someone that didn't love you for your true self at that point?

SPEAKER_02 19:18

That's where grace comes in. And like, not the word grace where people get triggered in like trauma from religion, but grace where um my parents strongly believe that they were doing the best thing possible for me because they're afraid of me going to hell. So, like, their biggest fear was their child's going to die living this life because they believe so much, and their biggest fear was we raise them wrong and they're gonna go to eternal hell. So we have to distance ourselves, and hopefully that will cause them to repent and change, and that's our responsibility as parents. So, for me to humble myself and understand like that's a horrible crossed fare as a parent, and they're not trying to hate me, and they're not trying to, you know, break me down, they're so indoctrinated that they have now um like I I watch them grieve and weep and be in agony because I have a gay brother as well, and so I I watched them have two children who went the pathway of Uber Christian, very indoctrinated, then two children who are openly gay business owners, passionate, successful, night and day. And I watched them look at us and be like, I love you, but I don't accept you, and say that. And so it's for me, I had to at some point go, Well, I really feel for you that you're really missing out on me. Yeah, like you're really missing out on me, and I know I have a lot to offer, and I know there was no mistake. Like, I was born on my mom's birthday, like there's no mistake, it's so like intentional connection and purpose. And so for me at some point, I think for mental health, emotional health, physical health, I chose grace because I couldn't I I couldn't like sit in this and and and go any darker, it just was gonna keep me alive.

SPEAKER_00 21:14

When was that what was that point where you uh developed that courage and self-awareness to be like, you know what? They are missing out on me. Because that's a big step to go from I have nothing, right, I offer nothing.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

I think it's an everyday practice still, like, but I do think when I became a mom, yeah, and I like helped my son, I went through like a very confused state of how would you ever how did you do this to me? So I got angry. Oh, yeah. I had to go angry, and I didn't I didn't really want to ever visit anger. It scared me. I was like, I might get too angry and I'll never get out of there. You know, like uh go to the rage.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

I'm living in it right now. My uh my son is turning 12, and that's when my parents. I was on my own at 13 and I'm looking at my sunrise now every day.

SPEAKER_02 22:04

You're seeing it.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:06

Yes. Yeah. And so every day, choosing it right now. I mean, I still have my moments where I'm just like, what the heck? Like, yeah. I show up more than the super Christian ones. Wow. What is this? Like, how is this not God or heaven or whatever? And at the end of the day, I think it honestly is like, well, first I'm madly in love with my son. Like, I'm obsessed with my son. He's like the most amazing phenomenal human being ever. Um, I adopted my son. So I'm like, I've I I got this like clear heaven showed me like when paths can come together so purposefully, and I am like so madly in love with him. And so then it's like I generally don't know. I mean, I I just couldn't like when my son, my son's nine and a half, he wants to make sure that path is in there. Yeah, um, he's important, very yes, very important. And uh he knows a bit of my story. I tell him it in some ways he can understand, and and he knows about some religion, and he says to me, This is all just really silly. Yes, like he and I love how he says he's just very silly, Mom. Yeah because I don't think God really cares. No, and that's the thing, it's just like to simplify it all and and bring it back down to like human beings and the heart and like really the purpose.

SPEAKER_00 23:29

Well, the name of my company is called Fate. Okay, and that's because in my culture we rely a lot on fate. It's all planned, it's all to teach us lessons to make us better human beings and to make us human beings we're supposed to be.

SPEAKER_01 23:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Right? You being born on your mother's birthday, it's fate.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

It's fate, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:47

It was it was a conversation that the universe needed to have with your mother. And then she didn't get to the end of that paragraph until she had to make that decision to let you go. I think a lot of times we use these things to hurt others, whereas you've developed the tool to use these things to love harder, which is incredible, because I went the opposite direction. I went into anger management. I went into uh when I finally found myself, it was fighting. And literally uh the only thing that saved me was beating people up, wrestling in high school, going into college wrestling, and and using that anger and actually having to go to anger management because I couldn't control that anger. Whereas it would have been the the use of grace would have been much for me an easier path, would have been much much less self-destructive path. But your ability to take actual hate, because I I can't put anything beyond that, is they hated your choices, they hated who you were. I just don't understand how you could wrap your head around you hated me. Like your parents who were supposed to love you, which I see all the time, my mother hates me with a passion, with a absolute passion. I am the bane of her existence, I'm the reason her whole life went wrong, so she hates me. Do I say I hate her? I hate her decisions as well. But I can't hate her because it takes too much energy to hate. So I guess that's my grace, is I at least I don't hate you.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Like I even tell my kids, because my kids, you know, they understand a lot of things. Mine are 9 and 11, and they understand a lot of things. And I try to tell them my relationship because they're like, where's grandma on your side? Well, buddies, yeah, this is this is yeah, this is who it is. And and two, that it's not the oh, that's silly, it's more of the well, that's sad for her. And I was like, Yeah, she misses out on all this.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

So, what was the point that your parents finally said, hey, I want to talk? Or did you just keep reaching out and being a nuisance and saying, You're gonna accept me or else I'm gonna No.

SPEAKER_02 26:05

Um, when my when my son was born, um, it's like they wanted to have a relationship with him. And I was just very clear that like you don't get a step over me to like hopefully save him. Oh, okay. And so, like, there gets to be some building blocks. It wasn't even a full conversation, it was just I started learning. My brother and I talk about this all the time now, uh, the importance of boundaries.

SPEAKER_01 26:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:32

And I am still, I go to therapy weekly. You know, I've worked with a life coach for four years now, and doing the work and practicing the work and practicing learning. I can tell you, like, if you were to like call a few people I've dated in my life, they'll probably say I was one of the most challenging people to love. And no surprise, because it love became a very confusing thing for me. Like, I can love very, very deeply, but my love can be very intense, very smothering. And so at some point, when my son was born and they wanted to be in it, and connection and so on, it's it took like baby steps, and it's not a hundred percent great. Like, if you still talk to my parents right now, they're still going to believe that being gay is wrong.

SPEAKER_00 27:17

Did that hurt when almost the step over? Like they were you saw the unconditional love towards your son?

SPEAKER_02 27:24

I don't see unconditional love towards him much because I don't see them give unconditional love because I think that also the grace that exists for me is understanding that parents are only like adults that used to be children that have damage and impact and baggage and stories as well. Yeah, they become these children that become these adults that then go to raise children with a bag full of stories and reasoning cause and why, and then we keep passing our bags around and shifting it in different ways.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

Our goal is to not screw up our kids as much as our parents screwed up us.

SPEAKER_02 27:58

I was in a conversation yesterday. It's like your goal as a parent is to raise your child just a better version of yourself, yeah. You know, and and so truthfully, my dad now is dying of cancer. And so I I saw him yesterday, and knowing full well it's the last father's day, my dad will be here. Yeah, and so it's what's important now, you know, like death is on the table of staring at us. Yeah, and we all know that, yeah. And so there's almost like a it's a bittersweet dang it. Look at how much years were wasted, and you can feel it between him and I when I when we hug. Yeah, like you can feel his remorse. I can feel his remorse, like, and I mean the the tear of like he still believes this religion, but gosh, he loves his child and his grandchild, and now he's gonna miss it all. What was the damn point? Yeah, you know, to be right, like to be right, or to think you're right, or to interpret a message that's been passed down and twisted and so on. Yeah, and now death is hanging out with us at everything we do, and now what? Yeah, you know, so I've just advocated and stood firm, and I never get like the I never leave the family gatherings anymore and get the whole like oh that was so fun and happy and this and that, because they're still there's still the ape.

SPEAKER_00 29:16

The cloud.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Yeah, you still feel it, you know, and and it's you still know what people think of you. You still know that like my two other siblings are praying for my salvation, and you still know that like the people are now too. Yeah, yeah, and so but the truth is like, but that isn't that that's family, and then there's you learn how to create villages, yeah. And you go, like, okay, I'm gonna have connections with these people and and these people, and and I'm kind of a loner anyways.

SPEAKER_00 29:42

I choose my family, yeah. They're mine. Like, I'm gonna pick you, you, you, and you because you have a similar life path, you have similar intentions, you have similar beliefs that everyone should just be able to be who they want to be and live the way they want to live. It's it's important to me. But this is this is the other thing I want to get to is like your dad is deaf.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 30:11

Is your mom deaf?

SPEAKER_02 30:12

My mom is hearing, my dad is deaf.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

Okay, so your dad is deaf. So your dad, though, I mean it's better now, and a lot more people know ASL now. But when your childhood, your dad relied on you quite a bit, right? Being hearing abled, like did he see that at all? That you were a gift to him, whether from God, from where, but you and your siblings were a gift to him to be able to help him through a lot of things. He passed on a gift to you to being able to communicate in a completely different way, right, to help other people. Because that's what I see, that's where I see a god is those gifts, right?

SPEAKER_01 31:00

100%.

SPEAKER_00 31:01

Like, yeah, you're born into a situation, so you adapt and you learn and you become better to the world because of your situation.

unknown 31:08

Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:09

Your dad being deaf gave you the gift of being able to sign, in turn, opening up a completely different community, in turn, opening up a community for other people.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

Yes. It's it's epic. I love sign language, I love the deaf community, I love how I can I see things differently. I see people differently, I see reactions, responses. I'm a very like my hand keeps moving, like, yeah, my dad would we'd go to a restaurant and if he I mean he pointed a menu where they'd get it wrong and not understand. And I was my dad's voice, and you know, I was the hearing people's hands and communication. So was my mom, so were my other siblings. I am a dad's girl, so like I was mainly the main kid who was with my dad constantly, and that's where I went after like doing sign language interpreting and working in Long Beach with interpreting and the accessibility and wanting to feed the culture as much as I could. Yeah, but the stars like talk about purposeful, adopting my son. My son was is connected into like the connection of like the deaf community as well. Oh that's how actually how he was brought to me. So if like my dad wasn't deaf, and I always look at this as like the cool thing, my dad wasn't deaf, like I wouldn't have learned the sign or whatnot connected me to my son and meeting me to be a mom. And I'm like, that's um that's magic. That's magic. Because I wouldn't have had my I wouldn't have had the opportunity to adopt my son if my dad wasn't born deaf. That's the fate. It's like that's the fate. Love it, and that gets me excited. So it's like you see, you know, you can either dwell on like the pain and the suffering, or you can like learn from it and obviously like process it and be in it, and then take it and then it be in awe of the magic, and then take the magic and apply the magic. Yeah, and that's the cool stuff.

SPEAKER_00 32:56

I think that's when people miss their actual calling in life, is when they fight against what the universe is telling them. You know, it's like we follow, we all have our own path, and we all go down our own path. And the greatest thing is sometimes our paths connect.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Like I would never have known you if you didn't have the courage just to reach out, yeah, and then I would have been like missing out on such an amazing human because I would never have known you. And that's this that's the great thing about our paths crossing, is now we create other links, right? And those links continue on and continue on. So I'd like to touch a little bit on what you did for the city, okay, especially during COVID, um, when access was imperative. Did you step up or you asked? Like, how did that work out?

SPEAKER_02 33:45

I worked with a company based in Long Beach and I was the supervisor, and um, so we established the accessibility with the city and interpreting, and so the very first meeting that took place where uh Mayor Robert Garcia announced in the city of Long Beach there's this thing called COVID that is happening, and it was the first patient was at the hospital, etc. All the cameras are on the news people were there, uh police, fire department. I mean, it was a big thing. Um, I was the interpreter to interpret that. Um, I remember the stress of it too, because you don't know much about it. You just feel in the space that something serious is happening and that people are scared or concerned, and but you gotta keep it together. Um and then we worked as the company to provide the accessibility ongoing. Every meeting that would happen on the news and on in the city and so on. Either I would interpret, another interpreter would interpret. We had a ton of interpreters there, we'd assign them, we'd schedule them, create that accessibility to happen. And um it was stressful though. It was too, it was really stressful, and not my favorite time ever to like be on camera. The cities, and like, you know, people when they're watching the night, they're not nice, like they're commenting, is that a girl or a guy? Is that this or that? You know, like all these things, and you're just like, can you just focus on the message people? You know what I mean? Like so it's that stuff where I was just like, I don't think I like this.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Yeah, people don't realize they could just turn it off.

SPEAKER_02 35:20

Yeah, exactly. But um, I mean, I've done interpreting with that, I've done medical interpreting, I've done, you know, K through 12 interpreting, first responder stuff, etc., um, educational, like all different stuff. But with the city, that's probably one of my most proud because I didn't want the deaf individuals to not know what's happening.

SPEAKER_01 35:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:43

And how easy it is for us as hearing people to forget that, like, if you're not being informed of a message, you just don't know.

SPEAKER_01 35:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

You don't know. And it's like, you know, okay, mask up or get this vaccine, or what all this, all this information or this is dangerous, stay at home.

SPEAKER_00 35:58

Well, especially masks in the hearing community.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

So difficult. So you're wearing a mask as a hearing person, you're complaining about I can't breathe, I can't hear, I'm uncomfortable. Well, imagine being a deaf person who relies on body language and facial expression.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

And lip reading, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:11

Lip reading and uh all these mannerisms, and it's like, okay, I put you in a scary situation and I took away more of your senses. We mute ourselves and we keep talking, and everyone's supposed to keep watching, they're like, what's going on? Um yeah, it's scary.

SPEAKER_00 36:25

Unbelievable. Uh, but I want to say this now.

SPEAKER_02 36:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

It's a podcast, it's mainly listened to in cars, but the transcript is available on Buzz Sprout. So if you uh if you know someone who is uh needing a little aid there, um, I have ADHD, so reading something while I hear it also helps. But but uh the transcripts are available for uh you to l to read through as well. So that's a give back, right? Like that's giving back to your community. Even people you don't know, you're giving them that access. In a hard life, it's hard to believe that you would want to give, right? But I find the people with the hardest upbringing with the less stuff to give monetarily are the ones that give the most. I've always found that the people with the least will always do more and give the most. I wonder if you have an idea of why. I've been trying to figure it out my whole life. Why do the poor people in the pews give them the most and the rich people hold it for themselves? Why do people with access withhold the access when people like you and I want to give the most? What makes you different than those people?

SPEAKER_02 37:55

So I don't want to focus on real estate, but I'll give you an example because that's obviously an area I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 38:01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

I fell in love with developing homes when I started seeing homes in Long Beach that I started feeling like I could relate with them because they were falling apart. And I I I remember standing at a home and thinking, you're not really falling apart, you've just loved very well. Yeah, you've held families together, and in those homes, maybe it was fights, maybe it was love making, maybe it was meals together, divorces, agony, death, whatever it is. And a home has to hold you together for so long, and you've loved so well, and then you know the wood chips off and so on. And I feel like I could relate with that. Yeah, I felt like I was like, I'm a human being that's been bumped several times, and I got these bruises and so on. But really, in it all, I loved well, and I want to love more, and I want to, but I think to answer your question, it's like those houses love well and they want to keep loving human beings when they get bumped and so on, and maybe they're bruised, they know what it feels like. They know what it feels like to be sad or to be lonely. I know what it feels like to feel very, very alone. And like, so for me, it's like I find these houses that maybe are falling apart and so on because I believe in them and I know they've loved so well, and I want to love them back, and then we make them beautiful again, they get to love another family, they get to keep going, and that's a legacy. Same as me. Like, I I think that maybe it's because we know what it's like to feel the agony and the sadness and the rejection, and we've been bummed, but we were really loving still, and then we just don't want anyone else to feel what we felt.

SPEAKER_00 39:42

I love that, and that is like the best analogy I've ever I love that so much. And maybe it's because to me, houses have hearts too. They totally do. And um we were lucky enough. Well, uh the house we live in, we found short sale, and so I put all the blood, sweat, and tears in it to bring it back. And we lived there for a very long time with my wife. We had our kids in that house, and it's a beautiful home. I still live in it. I don't ever imagine moving. Our neighbor, uh Ruth, wonderful lady, basically thought she was her own. She always did her own thing. But that house next door had vines growing through the window into her house. She never watered the yard, she never took care of the house. So everything I did, I would help Ruth. Ruth unfortunately passed away two years ago. And I saw developers come because they're building the quadplexes.

SPEAKER_01 40:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

And I saw the guy walk up to the house, and I ran out and made an offer as quick as possible. How much do you want for this house? And the nephew is the one who ended up selling it. He uh he recognized us. He was like, Oh, hey, yeah, yeah, okay, okay, we'll give you, you know, it's gonna be this much. This is what this guy offered me. I said, okay. And then as he's cleaning out the house, he's finding letters from my kids to his aunt. He's finding their toys in the backyard. He told us he's like, Aunt Ruth wouldn't want it to be anyone else's house. As we went through that house, we found the years. That house had not been touched since 1952. We found the cigarette stains on the wall. They gave her the first round of lung cancer. We, you know, we never know where to do her to smoke. But restoring that house was a passionate project for us because to honor her life, honor her dad's life, who was the first person to own the house, and to put love back into that house.

SPEAKER_01 41:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 41:44

Because what caused us to get that house was my children's love for this lady who was just their neighbor, but they treated her like she was a family member. Houses do have that, they have that ability, and you give people that ability to move on and grow their life. A one-bedroom apartment. Do I have dreams of having a family in a one-bedroom apartment? No, it's it's you bringing me a two, three-bedroom, and then I say, Hey, well, I have an office and I have another room.

SPEAKER_02 42:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:13

And I have all this love. I could expand on this love. So that's I that's why when people go, oh, I'm just in real estate, or I'm just a real estate person. That's not it. That's not it.

SPEAKER_01 42:23

Not at all.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

You are building community. You get to curate your city with the people you feel would better your city. You you get to give people the ability to harness their dream. And that's that's that's more of a gift than I think even a lot of people in real estate realize.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

And I nowhere in my life am I a just. Like, I'm not just anything. It's interesting when people come in and they'll say, Oh, I'm just an agent, I'm just a neighbor, I'm just wherever it is, you can a coffee shop, oh, I'm just looking. Yeah, you're not just, you're you are literally a wavelength, an energy force. Yeah, you know, you are butterfly in the Amazon, you are everything, and every person is just like so rad, and it's so exciting to be here. And I just think like, like as we talk about it, and I I I'm really feeling I love this conversation. It's just like, what do I do with the agony? What do I do with the pain? What do I do with the love? What do I do? And it's like live, live in. And I talk to people I love so much. I say, let's lean into it. Whether it be the pain, whether it be the happiness, the joy, maybe people afraid of war, etc. Really, let's lean in, let's lean into this conversation. Yeah, let's not be afraid, let's take up space. Yeah, let's be unapologetic. And I mean, I could just you know, shut down and all of that, but what fun is that?

SPEAKER_01 43:46

True.

SPEAKER_02 43:47

Like, why? Why? We wouldn't have this conversation if I chose to shut down. No. You know, and and even like you're talking about how you had your anger and and all about your mom hating. Like, it's just like I I take that in, I process that. But you're doing something where you're making conversations with people and you're connecting with people and you're creating an awakening.

SPEAKER_01 44:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:08

So you're doing something with that now. And that's so exciting for us as humans to just to make a radical difference, just because we can't.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:17

There's like a million things we can do, and it's like.

SPEAKER_00 44:19

I think the conversations are the most important. I think there's a very loud demographic in this country. Very loud, very angry, very mean, very anti-anything I believe in.

unknown 44:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:35

And I think they're very loud.

SPEAKER_02 44:37

Very, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 44:39

And I think they live in an echo chamber, so everything they say comes back to them. Whereas a lot of people on how dare I say our side are quiet, calm, collected. The only way I see moving forward is conversation. Is us having the conversations, us teaming up in our ideology and the idea of what we believe in. Because then we feel less alone. We know we're the quiet majority now because we have these conversations. We're not just the loud people yelling. My father taught me uh very young, a barking dog doesn't bite. The quiet ones are the ones you have to worry about. All these Nordic sayings are pretty crazy, but um I live my life by those teachings now, more so than my Catholic Christian mother um believed because they're more true to me. I believe people like us need to get louder.

SPEAKER_01 45:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:43

It's hard for us because I'd much rather be the silent, deadly type. But I think in a world where people are responding to that noise, we need to make our own noise and make it good noise. Hence why I do this on my Mondays off. Driving around in a car, talking to people that actually do the work in the community. Because a lot of people will talk and never do the work. We should do this, we should do this, why is this this way? Well, it's this way because we're allowing it to be this way.

SPEAKER_02 46:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:17

If you want to do something, get out and do it. If you want to make change, get out and do it. If you want to help a community, literally get out and do it. Literally hang your flags to make people feel comfortable in your neighborhood.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:32

Literally show yourself because there's a group of people that are hanging their flags and wearing their hats.

SPEAKER_01 46:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:41

To let their community know that they're there. We need to do this. Otherwise, why? We can say we're fighting and not.

SPEAKER_02 46:50

And the message is loud and clear. When I'm out door knocking and such, and I see those, I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna go over there because I I don't think it's gonna end well for me. And you're right. So it's like, well, then how can we, you know, do the opposite and and create that statement and be the be the source for love?

SPEAKER_00 47:08

How do we use our tools that we've developed over our our lives and our hardship?

SPEAKER_02 47:13

Well, I think definitely you doing what you're doing is great. It's a great start. And then also like it's in this conversation, it's like, okay, well, how do I how do I give and my hope, even you know, you have no idea how this conversation is gonna go when we get into this car? No idea. You don't know, I don't know, we don't know. Didn't know that it was gonna hit religion and community and all that. And now my hope is like, okay, my thought is I hope and I pray that somebody who's walking the path of LGBTQ or you know, depression, anxiety, loneliness, if they follow this. Yeah, and so it's like, okay, then who do I get to talk to today after I leave you? Yeah, you know, and and to continue that in the thing, and how do we get to do that? It's just it's so important. Like, even instead of having a coffee at home, go have a coffee at a coffee shop and commit to connect to three people in that coffee shop just to have a conversation because you don't know how they're doing.

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 48:06

You know, like and sometimes it's like just going out in public or finding three neighbors, five neighbors a week in your neighbor that you don't know, and have a conversation with them because you don't know what happens when they go back into their house and what they're feeling.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

Yeah, we don't know what people are going through.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

We have no idea.

SPEAKER_00 48:22

And I think that's that's that's hard, right? Like there are days where I don't want to talk to anybody, but then that one person says hello, and I'm like, okay, okay, this is why I'm here. I don't know. I and I think using our tools that we've developed through our our lives in our hardships, right?

SPEAKER_01 48:38

Right.

SPEAKER_00 48:38

I can fight. The one thing I'm proud of, I can fight verbally, I can fight physically. Uh my wife always kits, she's like, How do you think of stuff so fast? And I was like, I I was raised that way.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 48:51

Someone shoots something at you, you fire right back.

SPEAKER_02 48:55

I don't know if that's something that's Oh, I love it.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

I love it because some of these people that are loud and boisterous and hate-filled have never been fired back at. And my favorite thing ever, I have the Black Lives Matter sticker on my front window at the shop. And someone was at the comedian store next door, and he had the guts to look at me and say, All lives matter. I looked right back at this fool who I guarantee no one's ever confronted him, uh, and says, Yeah, but yours fucking doesn't. He had never been responded to. I think people think uh more liberal people are gonna be more peaceful. I think I hear it all the time. Oh, the tolerant left.

SPEAKER_01 49:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:45

You know what? There's a until a point. Until a point when your beliefs hurt my family, hurt my friends, hurt my community, and that's when I'm finally gonna step over the line and tell people, I'm so far left, I have guns again. I think peace, yes, I love peace, but if if people aren't being peaceful, how do we defend against them? How do we step to their level without going low? How do I at least confront and educate? I think some people don't care to be educated, they just want to spout hate, and so I'm gonna spout it right back towards them. At least I know I'm not being quiet about people being taken advantage of and people being hurt.

SPEAKER_02 50:39

I think for me it's like I'm not responsible for someone else's peace. I'm not responsible for someone else's hate. So I'm gonna be very clear every single morning that I am intentional with my purpose. So I'm not gonna allow someone else's hate and their lack of peace to take up space for me.

SPEAKER_01 50:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:57

But I'm gonna be very clear on my purpose that I'm gonna make a difference if everyone that I connect with during the day. And if I have an off moment and I don't let someone in, not purposeful with them, then I'm going to be clear on, you know, being responsible for that. Yeah. But all I can control is how I respond to the noise out there.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

How do I turn down their volume and live with purpose with my volume? What is my message? How can I live radically? How can I live in love? And I'm not gonna allow the people to continue to rob me of my grace, my peace, and my purpose. There's no way in hell. So that's for me, that's how I do it. Wait for it.

SPEAKER_00 51:34

That's inspirational, though.

SPEAKER_02 51:36

Get clear on your purpose.

SPEAKER_00 51:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:38

And the more that people are living in hate, and if I react back to them, they keep winning.

SPEAKER_01 51:44

Sure.

SPEAKER_02 51:45

But if I dig into my purpose, my intention, my why, what am I doing here? I want to make a difference with younger people who are struggling in their identity. I want to make a difference in, you know, parents who are out there raising their children. Um, I'm big on Black Lives Matter. My son is beautifully, perfectly mixed, and I'm like, I'm all about it. And yes, all lives matter. And yet the privileged lives don't have to fight for their purpose in their lives. So there's a difference. There's a conversation there.

SPEAKER_01 52:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

But at the end of the day, I'm gonna make a difference in deaf people, in hearing people, in houses, in real estate, and people I meet, and all of it. And the truth is, and then I at the end of the day, I still struggle with my own anxiety or my own sadness or my own feelings. But what is my purpose? Yeah, my purpose is to live so meaningful that when I die, there's an absence.

SPEAKER_00 52:33

Yeah. And so I'm gonna that's the only void I ever want to create. Because when I'm gone, people remember, oh, he fought for this, he fought for value.

SPEAKER_02 52:43

Radically for your absence to be felt.

SPEAKER_00 52:45

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 52:45

If you're just living the mundane, you'll be forgotten within a couple of days. So we have to, like you're saying, like, well, what do we do? Get really clear on your purpose. You know, I mean, get really, really clear, and on the purpose, it'll be like the light in the dark tunnel that's like, all right, and now do this.

SPEAKER_00 53:01

Yeah, it becomes it echoes throughout. People see you living your purpose, see you living in a certain way, and then they react to that and they live in a certain way. And that's that's paramount in our society. Otherwise, you just become the blur that didn't matter because you didn't stand for anything.

SPEAKER_01 53:16

Right.

SPEAKER_00 53:17

I think there are a lot of people comfortable not standing for every anything, and I think you're really misusing your time on this planet by doing that.

SPEAKER_02 53:27

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 53:28

So, what drives you every day?

SPEAKER_02 53:32

Uh I mean, I I love feeling like I'm winning. Like that feeling of winning, meaning lasting relationships, connecting with people, feeling loved, being able to love, being a great mom, being great in real estate, knowing that the people that are in my life, like they know they can call me and I'm gonna show up. So it it my purpose drives me, my purpose to make a lasting difference, my purpose to be a kick-ass mom, my purpose to be a kick-ass businesswoman, my purpose to, you know, block out the hate or the sadness or the feeling of rejection. And and every day I write down, I am loved, I'm loving. I'm loved, I'm loving. And coming from that, that that drives me. And meaningful conversations like this, it inspires me. Um, I want to know that I'm I'm living in such a way that I matter and that I make a drastic difference to people's lives.

SPEAKER_00 54:35

That's an awesome driving force because uh I've got a lot of people in the car, and they'll say specific, like people, but you're saying actions. You know what I mean? Like, and I think that's that's important because our actions are what cause those ripples in life. So being who you are, give me some organizations, some businesses that you believe are worth the drive to go to to support in order to make this city, this state, this world a better place.

SPEAKER_02 55:13

Well, I know that the merchant, which is right near here, they they're really great. They've got great coffee, great food, and and there's some construction going around them. So the that's been on my heart a lot. Like I'm gonna go there today. Yep. Um so the merchant, please go visit them, connect with them because the construction is happening around them is blocking them from doing business.

SPEAKER_00 55:33

I love them more than you know, so I'm glad you shout out the merchants. The merchants they do our tree lighting every year, they set up their little booth right here on the street, and um they've supported the community a lot. And uh, Mike, uh I love them to death. Uh, I think they deserve that support. I was there every other day last week getting my black iced tea and my breakfast sandwich.

SPEAKER_02 55:59

That's awesome. Yeah, I merchant's important. Um, Dairy Market by Breezy's their first location opened in North Long Beach, and then they have another location. So I would say go to the North Long Beach one if you're focusing on Long Beach. Uh that's a veteran-owned business. I know the family well. Great brunch food, yeah, and um great culture there. And they work they work hard. They're providing like jobs and they're providing amazing food, and the interior design in there is phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 56:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 56:29

And so it's it's brilliant. Um, definitely give them some love.

SPEAKER_00 56:34

Uh North would be at Long Beach needs love.

SPEAKER_02 56:36

North Long Beach needs love. And I'm very proud of them. They're on the corner of Dairy and Markets, the market. Um, so yeah, North Long Beach needs love. One that's different, like I don't really get body piercings and such anymore, but I was a Somatic on Broadway and Redondo because the owner, Erica, created such a safe space there that when I first came to Long Beach and I didn't really have anywhere to go and I'd wander to the streets. Um, I would go sit in there.

SPEAKER_01 57:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:01

And I was allowed to sit in there for hours. And so I'll always shout Erica out in Somatic because of the fact that I was very kind to them. Yeah. And they kept me in a safe space. And that's pretty awesome. And I love female-owned. Um, the center. Uh, I spent a lot of time using their computers at a young age because I didn't have anywhere to go. So I'll say LGBTQ and the center, give them love. And then um That's another one.

SPEAKER_00 57:23

The center I absolutely love. Yeah, I love everyone over there. Uh Ellie um is going to be on the show, uh, the executive director, hopefully next month. She had to put a pause on it. She was supposed to be on last week, but things are going on. But I will be at the black and white gala Saturday. Love it. Uh to um have fun with my friends and Ellie and and Janelle sit at the table, and um I don't think people realize how old and how important our center is, yes, and how it went through some drama. It did, yeah, and it's still going through a little drama, but I think it all revolves around the same people. Um, I do have to say this about the center it's the LGBTQIA community. We cannot leave out our trans brothers and sisters, they're an important part of the LGBTQIA community, especially here in Long Beach. And I do find that there's still even people in the queer community that aren't supporting our trans community, and we need to step up and be better at that. Awesome shout out. That I I think you're killing it. What's the one more? You got you got one more. I thought you were gonna say something.

SPEAKER_02 58:40

I think that like the animal shelter is like go even volunteer. Like these animals are in these cages, and there's so many volunteers there, but there's so much. The cats, the dogs, if you can just go and connect with them, get them out of their space, give them a bit of love, you'll experience the joy and the connection. But also, you know, the shelter is they've got a lot on their hands. And you know, get some blankets, go donate blankets, go donate the food. They have the list of items that they need, bless them. Um, and it's cool because you go over there and they can go over to like El Dorado Park and take a walk and enjoy the nature center. And I mean, it's there's so many beautiful things, and and then bless that area because El Dorado Park is a huge responsibility for an upkeep.

SPEAKER_00 59:22

But yeah, definitely adopt, don't shop. Both of my both of my pups are uh um rescues, and both of them are the best thing in the world. They're they're definitely parts of our family. Yeah, um, I of course represent Barks of Love. Barks of Love, they're a great organization, and uh I do a lot of work with them, and they give me both my babies, so I'm very happy with that.

SPEAKER_02 59:43

I got Remy over there, that's my cat, and he's he's my homie. So yeah, I just there's there, I mean I could go on for hours about how many people to bless, but hopefully that gives a few. That gives a few.

SPEAKER_00 59:54

Yeah, I I really appreciate you, and I I'm glad we actually went deeper than I actually thought I was gonna go on the show. I had I had notes on a bunch of stuff, but being who you are as a person um is amazing. And I hope people hear this, and maybe if they're in a state where you were, they see that there's actual light at the end of this tunnel, and that light can be a spectacular future. Um because I think sometimes hearing the story is just as important as living the story, because you're giving motivation to kids that are out there that may be in the same situation. And my favorite thing is there's people that listen to this show in Alabama. I don't know who you are, it's awesome. But the fact that you're listening to a podcast that revolves around gender-affirming hair care, the queer community, the uh people of color community that I feel get overshadowed in, especially in the podcast world. Um, I've always said this, I don't think cis white males should have podcasts, but I have one anyway. But I'm gonna use it to highlight non-cis white males uh in the I want to rid us of the manosphere and uh make the world a better place. Thank you again for being on.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:09

Thank you. Thank you for giving me a safe space to open my heart. I feel so filled today and so blessed. And if anyone is in it and having a hard time or don't know if they belong or anything like that, find us because you belong with us.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

Yeah, we're here. You just gotta look. You're here. I mean, I have the sticker on my door right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:30

You are welcome here. And that's Ellie as well. So we go all the way back to Ellie. Ellie, come on the show. We miss you. We'll see you soon. And thanks for joining us on Worth the Drive.