Latest / Call Her Tatty / This Latina Converted to Orthodox Judaism 🇩🇴🕍 | Call Her Tatty ft. Madeline Garcia

Transcript

This Latina Converted to Orthodox Judaism 🇩🇴🕍 | Call Her Tatty ft. Madeline Garcia · Call Her Tatty

0:00
I feel like I'm more Jewish than people that are Jewish.
0:04
I never imagined that I will convert.
0:07
So the first time you went to Lakewood, what happened?
0:10
The kids asked me, why my skin was like this?
0:14
And I was like, oh, because I live in Miami,
0:16
and I take a lot of sun.
0:18
I'm used to it.
0:19
I'm Jewish.
0:20
You never try pork.
0:22
You don't know what it tastes like.
0:24
It's like...
0:25
Do the fake ones taste like the real thing or no?
0:26
No.
0:27
Not at all.
0:28
I'm a mere sister from another mister.
0:30
Another taxi.
0:31
LAUGHTER
0:33
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0:35
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0:37
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1:00
You won't be disappointed.
1:02
Hi, Shepa-Laz.
1:03
Today on Color Tati, we have a very special guest.
1:06
She's a Dominican diva, turned Jewish queen.
1:10
She is the owner of MG Fine Jewelry.
1:13
She has a spicy personality, and just an appreciation for life.
1:18
I'm going to let her introduce herself
1:20
and talk about herself.
1:22
Everybody, let's welcome Madeline Malca Garcia.
1:26
Yeah, thank you.
1:28
Madeline, I'm so happy you're here.
1:30
I'm so happy that we made this happen.
1:32
I feel like we just always talk,
1:34
and we don't even know where to start.
1:36
But I guess we're going to start with you.
1:37
So I know you have a very spicy personality.
1:41
Have you always been this way?
1:44
I will say yes, but with the time, the age,
1:51
I think I fix it a little bit more.
1:53
I'm more spicy now.
1:55
Oh, more spicy now.
1:56
Yes.
1:57
OK, I mean, I think that's good because you're a business woman.
2:01
You're a powerhouse.
2:04
And I think you need that edge to be successful.
2:08
You do, you do.
2:09
Yes, little spicy, you do.
2:11
OK, I want to take everybody back to your upbringing.
2:15
So tell us more about where you grew up in the Dominican.
2:19
What was it like to live there?
2:23
And how did you go from the Dominican to the US?
2:28
I, OK, I will try to say it in a little version.
2:34
But I grew up in Dominican Republic.
2:38
I grew up very poor, very poor, with nothing, I will say.
2:45
I used to dress with the clothes that my family, he
2:50
in the United States, used and they didn't want
2:53
and they sent it to us.
2:55
But I grew up very happy with a family together.
3:00
A lovely family.
3:02
And what I have today, I always dream.
3:06
I remember before I traveled to the US, I was 14.
3:13
And I was like sitting in my house where I grew up.
3:17
And I was dreaming, I want to come to the US,
3:21
I want to work, to have things to be able to work
3:27
and own my things.
3:30
And now that I have it, it's like it's a big wow.
3:37
And sometimes I pinch myself and I ask myself every day,
3:42
this is real, this is my life.
3:46
Because I have today what I dream when I was a little girl.
3:51
It's so funny because I feel like you're one of the only people
3:55
who are so sincerely appreciative of everything
3:59
you have in your life.
4:00
And I feel like even when I watch your stories in the morning,
4:04
and you go out on your balcony and you have your coffee
4:07
and you see the sunrise and you have this beautiful scenery
4:11
from your apartment, you wake up every morning
4:16
feeling, wow, like this is amazing.
4:19
I am so blessed.
4:21
And when I watch that, I feel like this
4:26
is one of the few people that I know who are really just
4:30
appreciative of everything they have in life.
4:32
And it's such a good, me die.
4:34
It's such a good, what's me done in English?
4:39
Zoli, what's me done in English?
4:42
In attribute.
4:45
OK.
4:47
So I find that it's very refreshing to see somebody like you
4:53
who you have everything you need and more.
4:56
And yet you still appreciate everything in life.
4:59
And I think that it's good for everyone
5:02
who's watching to take a good look in the mirror
5:05
and see what they have and appreciate
5:08
where they are, who they are, even the little stupid
5:11
inconveniences in life, those are so small.
5:17
And I find that you're definitely one of those people
5:20
who inspire me to really look at everything
5:23
in the bigger picture.
5:24
And I thanks every morning, I usually
5:27
would be like, oh, thanks, Hashem for another day.
5:31
And it's also for what I have.
5:33
It's thanks for another day and for what I have.
5:36
And I love that, because for me as a blessing,
5:40
I never thought in my life that I was going to do,
5:44
I could write a book, that I was going to do,
5:47
that I was going to have and be able to do what I do now.
5:53
It's like a dream.
5:55
It's like a dream.
5:56
That's why I never forget what I come from
6:00
and I would never wear like it's who I am.
6:04
What was it like growing up?
6:06
Can you describe your upbringing?
6:08
Like, what kind of house did you live in?
6:10
How many siblings do you have just to give everyone
6:14
a little bit of a background and a perspective?
6:17
Well, I grew up in a very simple house when I'm floor.
6:22
The houses in my country, they made of wood and enough floors.
6:29
And I grew up like that.
6:34
I never went to the city or like a supermarket to buy food.
6:40
I remember my mom used to go to a little grocery store
6:45
and she used to bring food to us and like,
6:49
I remember the oil, she used to bring it in little plastic bags
6:54
because we didn't have money to buy the bottle of oil.
6:58
So she used to bring a little oil and a plastic bag
7:03
and I grew up seeing her doing those things.
7:07
And I grew up with a civilian.
7:09
Her name is Marcia, she's my sister.
7:12
And we, I don't know, we grew up like that.
7:16
Which city, which area?
7:19
I grew up in a city called Liseis,
7:22
Liseis and Medio Santiago.
7:24
It's like 15 minutes from the city,
7:29
city, um, airport and now they have an airport.
7:33
But when I grew up, it was nothing there.
7:36
It was like, I remember I used to walk four miles to go to the school
7:42
while going back and simple, very simple,
7:49
having nothing and now look at me.
7:54
Now you're living it up.
7:56
You go, girl.
7:58
Okay, so now that we know a little bit of your background
8:01
in the Dominican Republic,
8:02
we're gonna fast forward to you living in New York.
8:05
How did you end up in New York?
8:08
When I came to New York, I was 14.
8:13
I meet a boy.
8:16
So I was a mom by the age of 15.
8:20
I was a single mom.
8:22
My mom bring me to the United States
8:25
and I leave there for a couple of years.
8:29
I was a single mom.
8:31
Then I ended up moving with my mom.
8:36
I was working 10, 12 hours a day,
8:40
just working day by day, check by check,
8:44
hustling, making money to pay my rent
8:48
and leaving the American dream, I was saying.
8:53
Did you feel so blessed to just be in America
8:57
coming from the Dominican?
8:58
Even though you had to work 12 hours a day,
9:01
because I feel like people who come here,
9:04
they just assume it's the dream and it is the dream,
9:07
but there's still work that has to be put into that dream.
9:09
Yeah, but for where I came from to come to the United States,
9:14
it was something wow.
9:16
So I was blessed and for me,
9:18
it was like I was like where I am looking.
9:22
Everything, it was very exciting.
9:26
It was, I was very happy.
9:28
Even though that I have to work,
9:30
because I was a single mom,
9:32
so I didn't have a lot of auctions,
9:36
you have to work to pay your rent and the set.
9:42
Okay.
9:43
So you had, so you have three children.
9:47
I don't.
9:48
So you have Amelia.
9:51
I have Amelia that is Mary, that I have with my husband,
9:56
and then I have two other boys, Carlos and Oliver.
10:00
Okay.
10:01
When you met your husband,
10:04
where were you in life?
10:07
Okay, when I met him, I was working
10:11
in the only job that I had since I came here.
10:16
So I was working in a perfect store, a single mom,
10:21
and I take care of a guy that came in,
10:27
and I started talking to him.
10:31
Obviously, I didn't know he was Jewish,
10:33
right, because he came very normal.
10:37
He was not even wearing a kippah.
10:39
Okay.
10:39
So I never assumed that he was Jewish, okay.
10:43
So he came in, I take care of him,
10:46
and I was like, hi, how are you, how are you doing?
10:49
By the way, I learned everything in my perfect store,
10:54
what I used to work, and I didn't know any English like now.
10:58
Okay.
10:58
I know only Spanish, and I remember that I memorized all the names,
11:05
all the ingredients and the perfume,
11:07
because I was like, how I'm going to be able to have a conversation
11:11
with a customer, and that's how I started.
11:15
And I meet him in the rest of his history.
11:21
How did you guys end up going from a customer situation
11:28
to now being married with a child living in Miami?
11:32
And having 16 years together.
11:34
Wow.
11:35
So after I finished that transition with him,
11:40
he was like, oh, you are very pretty.
11:44
And I was like, oh, thank you.
11:46
So he was like, do you have a boyfriend?
11:50
And I said, no, you want to go out?
11:52
And I was like, hey, no.
11:53
Cause I saw him, like, he's very simple.
11:59
So opposite of me now.
12:01
So he was like, oh, I would like you to go out with me.
12:09
Whatever.
12:10
And I was like, no, thank you.
12:12
As a salesperson, you got that, you got that a lot, you know?
12:16
No.
12:17
So when I finished the transaction, I was like, oh, he has the total
12:22
whatever. And he was like, what perfume do you wear?
12:26
So I give him the perfume and he's smelly.
12:28
And he was like, well, I like it.
12:29
Can I get the biggest bottle?
12:30
And I'm like, okay, sure.
12:32
So in that bottle, he write his number and give it to me
12:36
and said to me, that's for you.
12:39
Thank you very much.
12:40
That's sweet.
12:41
Yes.
12:42
And then I was like, oh, okay, nice.
12:45
So when I got home, I texted him and I said, thank you.
12:53
So he have my number.
12:54
I have his number.
12:55
And then the rest is like, just three.
13:00
Wow.
13:00
Yeah.
13:01
That's very sweet.
13:02
That's a sweet gesture.
13:03
Guys, take a note.
13:05
Buy her the bottle perfume she likes most and put your number on it.
13:07
But you have to buy the biggest one.
13:09
Yes.
13:10
Okay.
13:11
So you guys met, you went out and you're living in New York
13:16
at this time.
13:17
And while you're dating him, I guess,
13:21
is when you went through your first conversion process?
13:25
Yes.
13:26
But obviously, when I started talking to him,
13:30
he told me he was Jewish.
13:33
I was like, what?
13:35
For me, it was new.
13:36
I didn't know nothing about it.
13:37
I only know that there was like the men's.
13:39
They were the little keepa, you know?
13:42
I was like, okay.
13:46
You only knew the facetim.
13:47
You didn't know they were like.
13:48
I stayed in yeah.
13:49
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
13:53
So I was like, okay.
13:54
And then I remember that I was like,
13:58
oh, to my mom, I'm like, I'm dating a Jewish man.
14:02
And my mom was like, what?
14:04
Because for her, she's doing it again, you know?
14:06
So she was like, it was like exciting.
14:09
It's like new.
14:11
It's like how you're going to go out with a Jewish man
14:16
and you are Dominican, right?
14:19
So the minute we started dating,
14:21
he told me like, oh, you're going to have to convert.
14:27
If you want to get married and have something serious,
14:32
you're going to have to convert whatever.
14:35
And I was like, okay, you know, for me,
14:38
I didn't have, at that time, I didn't have the love.
14:42
And I was like, I don't see myself,
14:47
what are we with, you know, the Jewish, you know,
14:50
close, woman close, it was like, I didn't know
14:54
the Jewish can have style until I moved to.
14:57
You just got to go to the right places.
14:59
Yes.
15:00
So he was like, you have to do it.
15:03
And I remember in New York, I was into the religion
15:09
but not that much.
15:10
Okay.
15:11
I didn't feel it like that.
15:12
And I had my daughter and I remember when she was going
15:20
to school, one of them, I was saying,
15:27
one of the things that they need in the school
15:29
was that the mom was converted
15:31
or she would not be able to attend to the school.
15:35
And obviously he wants her to have the Jewish, you know,
15:39
thing on her and he was like, you're going to have to convert.
15:43
But at that time, I didn't do the conversion or to that.
15:47
I did it.
15:48
Did you do it conservative?
15:49
I did conservative, I did it with a woman.
15:51
Okay.
15:52
What made you want to convert the first time around?
15:56
I did it the first time because,
16:01
because of my daughter, to be honest,
16:03
because I want her to be able to go to the Jewish school
16:08
and I want her to be like, I feel like she always have that
16:13
and inside of her.
16:14
So I was like, I'm going to do it because of her.
16:17
Got it.
16:18
And after that first conversion,
16:22
did you feel like you're enjoying and warming up
16:26
to the Jewish ideas and customs, traditions?
16:33
When did you start feeling, oh, you know what?
16:35
Maybe I should take this a little more seriously.
16:39
I was like living normal life
16:45
because to remind you, I live with my husband for 16 years.
16:50
So more or less, I know what, you know,
16:56
the Jewish like rules, what do you have to do?
16:59
I know what Shabbat means since I'm with him.
17:05
But when I moved to Miami,
17:08
was when I said, I think I'm going to convert or to that.
17:15
And this is the time.
17:18
So Miami did it.
17:20
I also feel like because you told me in the car
17:23
and I found this to be really interesting
17:26
is that your sons were not baptized.
17:31
Oh, yes.
17:32
So I feel like before I converted,
17:36
I feel like I had like a little sparkle of me was Jewish.
17:42
I don't know, something of me was Jewish.
17:44
It was something like main to be.
17:47
Why?
17:48
Because I grew up Catholic, Catholic, yes.
17:57
So all my family are
18:00
and I never did the baptism for my kids.
18:07
My mom was always in top of me like,
18:09
oh, you have to do it.
18:11
Why you don't do it?
18:13
We did it for you.
18:14
Why you don't do it for them?
18:15
And I'm like, because I don't want to repeat my,
18:19
I don't want to repeat my mother.
18:21
I want to be me and I didn't feel it.
18:23
I never feel it.
18:24
So my son that is 21 and the other one that is 16,
18:28
I never did for them.
18:29
They never, like I never sent them to church,
18:33
to do nothing of that.
18:35
And now that I converted and that I see how my life is,
18:39
I think and I said, so I had it on me since then,
18:43
but I didn't know, you know?
18:45
So subconsciously, you knew that your life's journey
18:50
is going to take a turn.
18:51
You just didn't know when, where, how.
18:54
But you knew that your life was headed on a different path
18:57
than maybe you originally anticipated when you were younger.
19:01
Yes.
19:02
I don't think you knew when you were 10 years old
19:05
that you were ever going to convert.
19:07
No, I never imagined in my life that I will like convert,
19:13
that I will laugh, you know, the whole process
19:17
and that I will feel the way I did when I converted.
19:21
And how did your family react to your conversion?
19:26
You know what, they accepted.
19:28
They fine with it.
19:29
They good.
19:30
Yeah, it's funny.
19:31
My mom know things that I, you know, tell her,
19:36
and it's so cute, because when I go to her,
19:39
and we go to other house or other, you know, family members,
19:43
she knew already, like what I, what I eat,
19:46
what I cannot eat, what I do.
19:48
That's so nice.
19:49
Yeah.
19:50
So at least like you can come home to your parents
19:53
and even though you have different views on things,
19:55
you can still get along.
19:56
Yes.
19:58
That's really a blessing, because I'm sure there are people
20:01
out there who their parents are like,
20:03
what are you doing?
20:05
This is how we signed up for when we had you.
20:07
Yeah.
20:08
That's very special.
20:11
When was the moment, or what was the moment you had
20:16
when you just felt, OK, now I'm Jewish
20:20
and I feel it in my bones?
20:25
I will say when I converted here,
20:29
when I went to the Midsbot here in Miami.
20:33
OK, to the Midsbot here.
20:34
Yeah, OK.
20:35
So after you came out, that's when you realize you're like,
20:39
after I came out, the moment was so special.
20:41
It was so like, I can't describe it.
20:45
I feel, I don't have the word to say it, what I feel,
20:53
but I think it was then.
20:56
Did you get all emotional?
20:57
Yes, I was crying and everything.
21:00
I was like, yes.
21:02
So it was like a very nice, spiritual awakening.
21:06
Yes, especially when you have, when you've been in the process,
21:10
because it's like three years, starting three times a week.
21:17
And by that time, you learned so much, you talk so much,
21:21
and you need different people from all over the world
21:23
who also, in the same journey as you also,
21:26
it feels very nice, it feels very good.
21:30
So now that you're Jewish, Orthodox,
21:33
and now you've seen so many different communities,
21:36
whether they're ultra-Orthodox, Hasidic, modern Orthodox,
21:40
there's so many different communities in Orthodox Judaism.
21:46
I know.
21:47
When you go to a place like Lakewood or Brooklyn,
21:52
what's the vibe shift like?
21:55
I feel like everybody's looking at me.
21:57
Who is she, where she came from?
22:00
But I'm OK with it.
22:02
Because they're not used to probably my skin, the way I am,
22:06
or probably, I don't know, the way I talk.
22:10
But I'm fine.
22:11
I'm good with it now.
22:13
I think you like that.
22:15
You like to be different.
22:16
You need to be different.
22:17
I'm a sita.
22:18
Yes.
22:18
I'm different.
22:20
You are different, but you're different in a way
22:22
that I think people can admire.
22:25
So the first time you went to Lakewood
22:28
as a from Orthodox woman, what happened on that trip
22:33
to my husband's house in Lakewood?
22:37
Yeah, OK.
22:38
So the kids over there asked me why I was in this skin.
22:45
Why my skin was like this?
22:47
And I was like, oh, because I live in Miami,
22:50
and I take a lot of sun.
22:53
And it was like, also, when we take sun,
22:55
we turn red.
22:56
And I'm like, yes, and I turn this color.
23:01
That's why I have this color.
23:02
I imagine that I never saw someone this color.
23:08
I think in certain communities, it's not
23:10
as common to have people who converted,
23:13
and especially for children who are very sheltered.
23:17
And they just know what's happening on the block
23:20
and not on a universal level.
23:24
For some kids, it's like, oh, there are other people
23:28
who are in the same community as us, technically speaking,
23:33
but they're just not exposed to it.
23:35
But that's a very cute response that you had.
23:39
Yeah.
23:39
What's a Jewish custom that makes you wonder, why do I do this?
23:46
This is odd.
23:48
Do you have anything that we do that makes you think?
23:53
I was saying no, because I'm living in this world
23:59
for 16 years.
24:00
So I'm used to it already.
24:02
But at first, when I started learning,
24:06
I was a lot of confused about mixing, the milk and the meat,
24:12
the places in the kitchen.
24:14
But now, I'm fine with it.
24:18
I'm used to it.
24:19
I'm Jewish.
24:20
Now that we're on the topic of milk eggs and flash eggs
24:23
and food, do you ever take any of the food that you grew up with
24:30
and try to make a kosher?
24:32
OMG.
24:32
Kos is harder, Jimmy told you.
24:34
For you, they you grew up Jewish, and you never have tried.
24:40
Like you never tried pork.
24:42
You don't know what it tastes like.
24:44
You don't know what it's that.
24:46
Me, like I had it, you know, I know what it is.
24:50
So it's hard for me to, you know, I would say, I would say bacon in the crab meat.
25:01
Bacon in crab meat.
25:02
Yeah.
25:03
Is the fake ones taste like the real thing or no?
25:06
No.
25:07
Not at all.
25:07
Guys, you got to step up your fingers.
25:09
You can't have the fake stuff.
25:11
We won't.
25:13
It's so interesting, because I guess if you've never had it,
25:16
you don't know what to compare it to.
25:17
So when you eat the fake bacon, we're like, oh, OK.
25:21
Yeah, but you don't know.
25:23
That's not the truth.
25:25
That's not the truth.
25:25
No, it's not.
25:28
But don't worry, you're not missing anything.
25:30
We're not missing anything.
25:31
That's good to know.
25:34
What's your favorite Jewish food?
25:39
I love, but I love to bake hala, which I learned during this year.
25:46
I was not into it that much.
25:47
I love hala.
25:48
Shullen.
25:52
I feel like shullen makes sense, because I feel like in a similar, yeah,
25:56
I give a similar dish.
25:57
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:58
Beans is bean and meat, and you just pour everything together there.
26:03
Yes.
26:03
Let it cook in the sand.
26:04
Yeah.
26:05
So I love that.
26:06
Shullen, I would say, is my favorite.
26:07
So I guess we're kind of related somehow.
26:11
We are.
26:13
Now that we've covered all the bases of your upbringing, your conversion process,
26:20
how that was, how it affected your family, your children,
26:25
you do have two sons who did not convert, and your husband is not their father.
26:34
So it's, you know, not that it's not a little mix.
26:39
It's a miss, but your sons accept you for being a Jewish woman,
26:47
but not only do they accept you, they understand also.
26:51
And I feel like I don't want to push them to convert, because I feel like
26:58
that when they became bigger and they know what they want, they could do it,
27:03
I don't want them to do it, because I'm telling them to do it.
27:06
You have to feel it to do it.
27:09
But I feel as a mom, I feel like my son will convert it, because he's so into it now,
27:16
which son, the one that is 16.
27:19
Okay.
27:20
He's so into it now, he knows everything, and it's so funny, let me tell you that,
27:27
my son was in New York with his father, and he was walking in Times Square,
27:33
and I don't know where, he sees a bunch of, you know, Jewish guys singing,
27:38
and my son goes, and then he was like, huh?
27:43
And they was like, how do you know this one?
27:46
And he started dancing with them there.
27:50
And he was like, my stepfather is Jewish, and my mom too,
27:54
and I have a sister that is Jewish, and I know all the songs, because this is what I hear
28:00
every Friday night, so funny, and he's like, my color, curly hair, you know,
28:07
so a very unassuming person to know Shal Malaykham.
28:12
Yes, that's very funny.
28:13
Yes, yes, so that's why I think he will convert, you know, when he's older.
28:18
Yeah.
28:19
He appreciates all the traditions that you bring home, and he knows.
28:24
I never had in my house like Christmas Street, he knows, since he's a baby,
28:30
because when I started my relation with my husband, he was one.
28:35
So I never had in my house a Christmas street.
28:38
I never have nothing related to Christmas.
28:42
There is something so popular in my, you know, but he knows.
28:47
He understands and he knows.
28:48
If he wanted a picture in this Christmas street, he goes on stairs to the lobby.
28:52
Oh, okay.
28:54
I mean, all the buildings here, Christmas Street, down there, makes life easier.
28:58
But it's interesting that he grew up in technically in a Jewish household,
29:02
but he's not Jewish himself.
29:04
Yeah, he still appreciates it, and he respects it.
29:07
Yeah, and he knows when to shoot, like, he knows what place to take, when he's going to eat,
29:12
he knows what to mix, what not to mix.
29:16
He knows, like, it was like, if I was taking classes with him,
29:20
and he knows, because he's seen separating things, and he got it.
29:24
Is he, like, the Shabbos-goi?
29:27
Yeah, we'll say.
29:28
He's the Shabbos-goi.
29:29
Yeah.
29:29
I did a built-in Shabbos-goi, basically.
29:31
That's convenient.
29:32
Yeah.
29:33
Yeah.
29:34
Okay, so we now, we covered conversion, family,
29:39
upbringing, all those things.
29:40
Now I want to talk about the most exciting part,
29:43
and something we have in common, is that we love jewelry.
29:46
We love diamonds.
29:48
We love, I mean, I'm rocking some ear cups today.
29:51
I'm wearing three of them.
29:52
You're wearing two of them.
29:53
Yeah.
29:54
I love them.
29:56
These are from MG Fine Jewelry.
29:58
We'll talk about where you can buy them soon.
30:02
But I want to ask you, what made you decide to get into the jewelry business?
30:09
Okay, so I wanted to work.
30:13
I was a mom, living in Meetown, with a Jewish man,
30:20
who thinks, hey, shame, have everything.
30:23
So I didn't need to work.
30:25
I don't need to do anything.
30:27
I was just sitting here, going out with the Jewish girl from school.
30:32
So I was like, I was feeling empty.
30:36
So I said to myself, I need to find something what to do.
30:42
So I started as a reseller of a brand that I bought
30:49
and bring to the US from Brazil.
30:53
And I tell my husband, I want to do something.
30:58
First of all, I wanted to do a salon.
31:01
It didn't work out.
31:02
He was like, oh, it's a lot of time.
31:05
You need to be in the salon.
31:06
You need to know how to do hair.
31:08
You need to know about hair to open up a salon.
31:12
And I was like, you know what, you're right.
31:15
So I took that out of the page.
31:18
Then I wanted to open the daycare.
31:22
And it's a lot of responsibilities.
31:25
I love kids, yeah, but he was like, I don't see you like that.
31:31
Dressing up, taking care of a bunch of kids.
31:35
It's a lot of responsibilities.
31:37
So I don't know.
31:38
So I was like, no, so then I went to Brazil.
31:42
And I find over there a piece of jewelry that I love.
31:48
I bring here and all my friends and people that I know started
31:53
like asking me where did I get it, where's it from.
31:57
And I was like, you know what, I'm going to start buying jewelry
32:00
and bring it to the US and reselling them.
32:04
And that's how I started like nine years ago.
32:09
Wow.
32:10
So you've been in the business for a nice amount of time already?
32:13
Yes, I would say.
32:15
And I fold down because I had a partner two times.
32:19
I didn't win well.
32:21
And finally, I'm by myself now.
32:24
Thanks a shame.
32:25
And yes, I'm making all the money and it's for me now.
32:30
So that's way to do it.
32:32
Yes, but you don't know when you don't have the experience
32:37
and you knew you think that everybody is like you
32:42
and people have the same feeling or the same heart that you have.
32:47
And it's not like that.
32:48
When people see that you have something,
32:52
they see you as a dollar sign and they
32:54
trying to take advantage of you every way possible.
32:57
So that's how I started.
33:01
OK.
33:03
So it's all from just one purchase from the Dominican
33:07
that you brought here that kind of just started from Brazil.
33:11
Oh, sorry, Brazil.
33:12
Yeah.
33:14
Who is your dream celebrity to be wearing your jewelry?
33:18
Right now, I have a lot of people from my country,
33:27
women that I look up to.
33:30
They are my friend and they wear my jewelry.
33:34
For me, it's like, wow, it's a dream.
33:38
But from here, I don't have like a celebrity.
33:43
For me, I feel good.
33:46
I feel good that anybody can use my jewelry.
33:50
The more simple person that, you know, have a simple
33:55
job and they work and make their own money.
33:57
And they want to buy something from me.
33:59
I appreciate it.
34:01
And I like it as some celebrities.
34:04
What I like about your jewelry company
34:07
is that you have fine jewelry, but you also have,
34:11
I guess, semi-costume jewelry.
34:13
So you cover a bunch of different demographics.
34:18
So there's really something for everybody.
34:21
Yes.
34:22
Every packet, I said.
34:24
So if you are somebody that loves jewelry,
34:27
or you cannot buy a diamond,
34:30
you could get a fashion jewelry with a crystal.
34:33
Right, you know, gold plated.
34:35
Right.
34:36
And why red?
34:39
Yeah.
34:40
I think that's very cool that you're able to have both categories
34:44
of jewelry and be able to cater to people.
34:47
Because even with myself, I love your earcuffs.
34:50
And these are, you know, diamonds and white gold.
34:54
But once in a while, I'll tell you, I have a wedding.
34:57
I want something pretty, like something big, something big,
35:00
something like more of a statement piece.
35:03
And they're not necessarily diamonds,
35:05
but they still look good.
35:06
They don't look cheap, which is very hard to create.
35:10
Because a lot of the fashion jewelry out there, it looks cheap.
35:14
And somehow, your designs,
35:18
they are just so well-executed that when you put them on,
35:23
sometimes people are like, is that real?
35:25
Is that fake?
35:26
What is that?
35:26
And that's kind of like the beauty of doing costume jewelry
35:29
really, really well.
35:32
And MG jewelry, if you live in Miami,
35:41
I know that we have it available at the blended store
35:44
in the Aventura Mall.
35:46
Yes, we do.
35:47
And in New York, do you have any places that you did, I sell it?
35:53
I have the website.
35:56
OK, you could buy it online.
35:58
And I have a place here in Miami that is a showroom
36:04
that you could pass by and see everything and try it on.
36:07
And I have a couple of stores in my country
36:13
that is Dominican Republic.
36:15
And Puerto Rico too, because I do more wholesale than retail.
36:23
OK.
36:24
So you do have your own website for people to purchase your jewelry.
36:27
Yes.
36:28
And you're more, you're also internationally known.
36:33
So what countries do you feel like you're,
36:35
you have a very big presence there with your jewelry?
36:39
I will say Mexico.
36:43
I sell a lot to Mexico.
36:46
To Dominican Republic, of course, my country.
36:49
I have a lot of, you know, women that support me.
36:53
And just because I don't know, I'm Dominican
36:56
or the way I am, my story, they like it.
37:00
They feel like nice.
37:03
And they buy my things.
37:06
All they go to the store where I sell it and they buy it.
37:11
In Puerto Rico.
37:12
In Puerto Rico.
37:13
Yeah.
37:13
OK.
37:15
What's your dream piece of jewelry?
37:20
Ha, yeah, yeah.
37:21
I have so many.
37:24
We have a wish list.
37:25
I have a wish list.
37:27
And I said to myself, I'm not getting nothing.
37:33
I'm not going to make nothing no more for me.
37:36
Because like, I'm going to, the money that I make for me
37:40
is I'm leaving it in and, you know, buying things,
37:44
getting things.
37:46
So I recently did this piece for my birthday.
37:52
It's something that I created and I make for myself.
37:54
It's a necklace and a tennis bracelet together.
37:59
So I love it.
38:00
Yeah, you open it here and.
38:03
So it's at a wedding.
38:05
Yeah, yeah.
38:05
So to a necklace and a bracelet.
38:07
Yes, that's very smart.
38:08
I love this now.
38:10
I find that it's so different.
38:12
And I will say, right now, this is the piece.
38:15
But I was in New York last week and I make a beautiful ring
38:20
that I also was like, this is my ring now.
38:23
So I have so many.
38:25
I can't stop.
38:26
You know how this is.
38:27
I do.
38:28
You send me photos of like the emerald ring.
38:31
I don't even know how big it was.
38:32
Like 10 carrots, 10 carrots.
38:34
You still have it?
38:36
Yes.
38:36
They are waiting for you if you want it.
38:38
It's waiting for me.
38:39
OK.
38:40
I got to sell some houses first.
38:43
How do you differentiate yourself from all these other jewelry
38:49
brands?
38:49
Because we know there's so many jewelry brands out there.
38:52
And some of them are known more for like just their styles.
38:56
And I'm just going to name a few.
38:58
Ariel Ratner, Stephanie Gottlieb, MLP Wheeler.
39:03
They all have very different styles
39:05
than the cater to different personalities.
39:08
Who is your customer and how are you different
39:11
than all these other brands?
39:13
I think what makes us different is
39:15
that we create what the customer needs.
39:21
Like if you come to me and you tell me I want this
39:25
or I always dream to have a type of necklace,
39:29
I could do that for you and make it happen.
39:32
And also, we do everything in handmade.
39:37
And the fashion jewelry we use all like natural stones.
39:42
Most of the jewelry places I would say they buy, I don't know.
39:47
They don't use a lot of natural right now.
39:51
You go to shine out and you know?
39:53
Right.
39:54
Well, then I think that is what makes us different.
39:57
We create whatever you need, whatever the customer needs.
40:02
That we do natural stones and we are in top of our clients.
40:10
It's not just you do custom.
40:12
I do custom and it's not just like, oh, I sell you a piece.
40:16
I always in top.
40:18
And I also told my team that you receive the package,
40:23
that you got it, that you were in it, how you feel.
40:26
Because it's like what is behind, you know, not just
40:30
to sell you to make sure that you happy with what you pay for.
40:36
Right.
40:37
Right.
40:37
Well, we're definitely going to put your information and a plug
40:40
so people watching this podcast can look at your website.
40:44
You can see what you offer.
40:46
And do you want, you're going to give it discount code
40:50
for the people who are watching this podcast.
40:52
Sure.
40:52
We can do that.
40:53
We'll do that.
40:54
We can do that.
40:55
Guys, we're going to help you up with the seal.
40:56
You know why?
40:57
Because I love deals.
40:59
Yes.
41:00
Oh, we should do Tati.
41:01
We should do Tati.
41:02
Tati what?
41:03
Yeah.
41:04
Tati 10.
41:05
Yeah.
41:06
10 percent off.
41:07
10, 15 percent off.
41:08
Okay.
41:09
We'll work on that.
41:10
Yes.
41:11
Tati.
41:12
Okay.
41:13
What are we talking about now?
41:14
Madeline.
41:15
Okay.
41:16
What's the craziest thing that happened to you this week?
41:18
The crazy things that happened.
41:20
I don't know.
41:21
I just went.
41:22
Where were you?
41:24
I went over the place.
41:25
Yeah.
41:26
You weren't even in town.
41:27
I didn't see you in school.
41:28
I was like, where's Madeline?
41:29
I told you I travel like three places.
41:33
You're the person who comes to school and I'll be schmoozing with Rookie and her baby
41:40
and outside of the main sanctuary.
41:42
And you come in with your hat, your Zimmerman dress, grab a sitter, have a, you gotta come
41:50
to school, get a book, go inside.
41:55
Why are you here?
41:56
Go pray.
41:57
Yes.
41:58
You're my, you're like my mother.
42:00
Yes.
42:01
All over again.
42:02
It's true because, no, I love it.
42:06
I love it.
42:07
And when you're not in school, I always look for you and I look and I'm like, where's
42:11
Hava?
42:12
I like, I know she's in town and she didn't came to school.
42:14
You know what's very funny?
42:15
We always come to school wearing literally the same outfit.
42:20
That's crazy.
42:21
The same outfit.
42:22
Will we wear in the same hat?
42:23
We'll be wearing the same shoes.
42:24
We'll be wearing the color.
42:26
We will color coordinate and I, we like have this telepathic communication going on
42:31
where we just know blazer, long skirt, flat hat, and then we show up to Shul and Dinyan
42:39
Rookie are looking at us like, did you guys plan that?
42:43
It's the funniest thing.
42:44
I find it very weird, but we also have very similar style.
42:48
You're my sister from another mother.
42:50
I'm your sister from another, Mr.
42:52
Another tattoo.
42:53
It's so funny because I do see, it's what I do see that like we are kind of these like
43:01
long lost sisters because we do enjoy a lot of the same things.
43:06
I knew fun.
43:07
I have fun.
43:08
You're fun.
43:09
Like you, one of the Jewish girl that I'm like, oh no, Hava is totally different.
43:15
Like you stylish, you fun and when you talk, you make sure like people feel like,
43:23
comfortable and you're like, you because sometimes you know, when you around Jewish girl,
43:29
they like so like, so you have to pretend for a lot of guys like, you have to pretend
43:36
that you are somebody you're not just to fit into that, you know, person or conversation.
43:43
When you talk to you or some other girls in Shul, you like, you know what, you, you,
43:49
you don't need to.
43:50
It's one of the reason why Zoli and I love the Shul so much is because you have so many
43:54
different flavors of people and everyone just gets along.
43:58
Nobody, nobody like judges you, like you do you, like you want to be more religious, less
44:03
religious.
44:04
Everyone is, everyone is like, you know what, I don't really care what you look like,
44:09
where you come from as long as we can have, you know, a meal together and laugh and that's
44:15
very special.
44:16
I feel bad for people who can't experience that because I grew up very, very religious
44:22
and my parents are very open-minded in the sense where we used to have Friday night dinners
44:27
and people would come from all different walks of life, whether it's business related
44:33
or just, you know, people in the area and they weren't necessarily religious.
44:39
I'm pretty sure we've had people who were maybe politicians.
44:42
You know that I love that to have people in my house wash a bad, by the way, every Friday
44:48
and I have people over which I want to kill my husband because sometimes I'm like super
44:54
tired and I don't want to have like I'm being working, I'm a mom, I have to go here,
45:00
go there, I just want to go home and relax.
45:03
All we have three people coming over, all we have five people and I'm like, what?
45:07
I love and sometimes people come, I invite people from my own building, they're not even
45:12
Jewish, they don't know what is, you know, Carla is nothing and it's nice to have people
45:19
over and you teach them, they know, they be like, oh wow, this is something cute because
45:27
having people over is like a tradition for Shabbat, they're not a lot of people have
45:32
and I don't really call it like Shabbat, I call it like a family dinner.
45:36
It is because it's a really family dinner, it's, it's, I love it, I like it.
45:41
Did you ever think you would enjoy Shabbat as much as you do now?
45:44
No, no, I don't know what to tell you, if you would put me like back, I never thought
45:51
I will be the person that I am and I will like, no, no, no, do you enjoy Shabbat?
46:02
I don't know, it's so much and sometimes I tell my husband what to do and he's like, oh,
46:07
I'm like, also you went to the bathroom, you don't watch your hand, you didn't pray, you
46:11
didn't, I haven't used a door, no, no, no, no, no, he goes, oh, come on, so you're becoming
46:15
like the, like I'm all, I find that, he goes, oh, why did you run, I teach you that, like
46:23
I'm like, you haven't, oh, so you're like, you got to do niggle vassers, you have to do
46:27
that, yeah, why you didn't do that, yeah, yeah, I do it sometimes, I love that, I love
46:34
that, I feel like I'm more Jewish than sometimes people that are Jewish, I don't know how to explain
46:42
it, it's like I take it more serious than people that grew up Jewish, well I think when
46:51
you're born into it and you get born, you're not given a choice and it's just like this
46:56
is how life is, whoops, I'm spilling wine everywhere, it's, it's clear, it's, oh, it's
47:04
tea, I'm sorry, that tea, whoops, let's put it here, when people are born into Judaism,
47:19
especially orthodox Judaism, it's just a way of life, you're not given a choice, you eat
47:29
kosher, you keep chavis, you dress a certain way, you do certain things, you're not given
47:34
a choice, so some people do things by habit and I also feel like a lot of people do things
47:44
because they want that sense of community and there are people out there that do things
47:50
because they just don't want to be judged but do they necessarily believe it, that's hard
47:55
to tell, so I think someone like you who chose a certain way of life and you got to the
48:03
point where you're like I believe it and that's why I'm doing it, it's very different
48:07
than someone who was just born into it and was told this is what you have to do because
48:11
nobody told you you have to be Jewish, that was your decision, so the attitude is different.
48:17
That's why you think it's the difference, I think so, I mean I can't speak for everybody
48:23
but, but I think if you grew up like that, if you was like, if you was like that, you
48:31
should like keep it like that, but some people, some women stayed on, I don't know, I think
48:37
also trauma, like if there was like a kid who was traumatized in school or they just didn't
48:44
have a good experience in a Yashiva that can turn them off, I don't think it's necessarily
48:51
okay for someone to blame an entire religion on a trauma because every religion has their
48:57
own bag of problems, like we're not that special, like everybody has their own bag of problems
49:04
and it's easy for people to blame religion for certain things that happen in their life, even if
49:10
it's not necessarily related, like there's a difference between correlation and causation,
49:17
so just because someone is religious doesn't necessarily mean that a trauma happened because of
49:24
that or they don't like, they don't want to live a certain lifestyle because they're religious,
49:29
I do think that there are people who choose to not be religious or just don't want to be because
49:39
they just never connect it to it, but I mean like I don't know who I am to say, like that's wrong,
49:45
I got it, but yeah I think that religion is a very interesting thing to really think about
49:55
because growing up, we never really thought about it because we just were, it's true,
50:02
like when you were growing up Catholic, did you really think about oh like I'm Catholic,
50:06
how did that happen? No, no, no, it's true, when you converted to orthodox Judaism,
50:12
what's a big lesson that you learned that you would want other Jewish women to understand and
50:21
acknowledge could be something that you learned in one of your classes that you found, wow,
50:27
this is such a beautiful thing that I learned, anything in particular? What the whole process
50:37
of converting it was special when you want to do it, when you fill it because also some people
50:49
just do it because you want to do it because of something, but when you feel it,
50:56
that you like, like I told you that I was, I have something inside of me, when you do the
51:04
process on your own, you like it, it's special because you want to do it, you're not doing it
51:14
because you want to fit into a family, because you want to get married, or because you know,
51:21
you want to do it because it's something that you want to do it, so as a person you feel like
51:26
complete that you do it, so the whole process I would say I like it, I enjoy it, and if you want to
51:34
do it and if you feel like that you want to take, you know, the classes and learn is the most
51:42
gorgeous and beautiful religion that I have ever seen. I never seen other religion
51:52
that New Year's going to to synagogue and pray, people ask and say like, oh Jewish people,
52:00
they own the world, or they own New York City, or like, if you have a business and you Jewish,
52:09
and I have a business, and I'm not Jewish, you will go more up than me, and we started here,
52:14
and you go here, and I go here, it's because what I have seen is because Jewish people,
52:19
they help each other, they support each other, oh, you Jewish, I want to go and buy you something
52:25
because you Jewish, you're nice, and then another religion, I don't see that, and also,
52:31
yes, and also New Year's, in my religion, I never, ever went to
52:40
to pray the first year, the first day of the year, we just drunk, you just sleep, and you just
52:48
like stay in bed until, I don't know, two, one, and you just stay home and what,
52:53
hangover, you know, whatever, and the Jewish religion, you go to, you go to the synagogue,
53:00
and you pray for a year with happiness, for a year of health, and you ask, oh, you tell
53:07
her shame, what you want, so that is the different, you know, and for me, that changed me also,
53:15
wow, yes, next time we're in school,
53:22
no, well, you know, the first year, the first, the New Year, no, I understand that,
53:27
it's so funny because I, I always found in other religion, you don't see that, I know,
53:32
I always found it weird that like, we take it so seriously, but I mean, it is the beginning
53:38
of the New Year, and I was like, oh, I wish, I wish we could party hard, and then your perspective
53:42
is the total opposite, you're like, no, we all party hard, and then it's like not meaningful,
53:48
and here it's like a spiritual, and sometimes you ask, and you'll be like, how did this happen?
53:55
How did I get this money? How did I get this contract? Where it came from? And most of the people,
54:02
they ask, oh, I want to have money, I want to close a business, I want to do this,
54:08
oh, Hashem, send me this, but you're asking him to send it to you now because you need it,
54:14
but you didn't did it when you were supposed to do it, you know, right? So you have to see it that
54:22
way too. It's such an interesting perspective, because I feel like you do appreciate the beauty
54:28
of Judaism, and you do have a deep spiritual side, but you're also a little party girl.
54:36
No, because it's a balance. It's a balance. We balance it. Yeah, we do. So I am also, you know,
54:45
you have to live. You have to live. Yes, I do it very well. Why? Because life, I see life like this,
54:54
the life is like a little, the light of the candle, it's on, and you don't know when it's
55:00
going to turn off. So since you don't know when it's going to turn off, you need to enjoy it,
55:09
and when that light is up, it's some fire, you have to do what makes you happy, and live your
55:17
life without, you know, doing nothing wrong to others, but that's the way I see life now. Yeah,
55:23
you are full of life. You love a good time. Yes. You're like my hype woman, because I feel like
55:30
sometimes I'm like, I'm so tired. I don't know. You're like, come on, let's go. Yes, especially when
55:36
you have three kids, a husband, a business, sometimes I'm like, oh my god, what else? And you have
55:41
to travel and you have to go here. They are cute. No, you have to do this. You have to do that.
55:45
You have to do it. What to do it? What's a piece of advice you can give women who are married
55:54
with children running a business? What's something that you can give them any advice on how to be
56:03
successful and manage everything, or maybe tell them, don't think about something too much.
56:11
How do you juggle it? And what's your advice to them? Well, I think everybody have 24 hours.
56:19
I have the same 24 hours as you do. The difference is the way you
56:27
see your 24 hours and what you do. It's not way that I don't have 26. I have 24 as you. So you just
56:35
have to plant your day, put it in mind like what you have to do. What is the more important thing
56:43
to do it? Like if you want to go to the gym and be fit, you need to wake up early in the morning
56:49
and run and do something. You're not going to get a nice body if you don't do anything for it.
56:57
You have to do it because nobody was born with a fit body. Those people, they have
57:04
like a nice body and you see that they take care of themselves. It's because they have a discipline
57:12
and they do it. We live in Miami. We could just get surgery for that.
57:19
You do. We could get a little light. You do trust me. I love that. We do. We love
57:29
plastic. We're pro plastic surgery. I do. Botox filler. But it's not going to be the help.
57:35
You know, it's going to help. It's going to help. It's going to help. It's going to help.
57:39
It doesn't maintain. You got to maintain. You have to maintain. You have to see what you do. You
57:43
have to, you know, you're 24 hours. Just, you know, see the way. How can you be a mom?
57:50
How can you work out? How can you cook? How can you do your business? Because if somebody else
57:56
do it, you also can do it. That's true. That's true. What's your advice for anybody going through
58:04
a conversion right now or thinking about going through a conversion?
58:12
To get a good rabbi. That's the more important thing. You have to love and like your rabbi.
58:18
Because it's like your, it's the person that you're going to talk to all the time.
58:23
And for me, I feel like he's my, I have a free therapy. No, okay?
58:30
I know. Terrible, very expensive. And I feel like with him, it's like having a free therapy
58:37
because I'm like, oh, I have a problem in my job. This customer is not happy. Ta-da-ra.
58:44
And he will find the way. I will understand the problem and find the solution. I don't know how
58:54
he talked to me. I don't know what he used. But I think if you have a good rabbi, if you have a
59:03
rabbi that you connect that you feel good with, it's going to be easy. It's going to be like having
59:08
free therapy, having a friend and it's going to be easier. I love that you go to your rabbi for
59:15
just regular life questions. I had a drama the other day. He was like, listen, Madeline.
59:20
No, no, Madeline. He called me Malka. You are queen. So you never saw the queen talking or going
59:31
to a fight with people that are under them. You have to look down. Your crown is going to fall off.
59:39
It's you can. You have to be up. You have to have you face up and you cannot fight with everybody.
59:46
You need to choose the person. Okay, if it's another queen, now you know you can have your little
59:53
disagreement. But don't go and try to fight or into problem, into drama with anybody that comes
1:00:02
to your life and want to have drama for you. I was thinking, I'm like, wow, you know what? He's
1:00:09
right. He's right. The way he explained it to me. I love him. You are a queen. Yes, thank you. So
1:00:19
are you. Thanks. Well, I'm so happy. First of all, did you finish your cooking for tonight?
1:00:27
Did you cook? I left everything in the oven. Oh, you did. I have to finish cooking. We have to
1:00:33
go. I know we have to do it. We have really do have to go. But Madeline, it was such a pleasure
1:00:39
to have you on the podcast today. And we're going to link below her website with a promo code.
1:00:49
So all of you viewers can shop her jewelry, MG find jewelry. And I guess I'll see you in
1:00:56
a short tomorrow. Are you going to show tomorrow? Yes, I am because I'm leaving on Sunday. Okay.
1:01:01
Yes, but thank you for having me, my pleasure. Thank you for letting me tell all your
1:01:08
friends and people to see you. My little story is my pleasure and I hope I come back.
1:01:15
I hope you come back to come back.