Latest / Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane / Why Not Today? Season 1 - Episode 12 with Bianca Moskatitis, co-host of the podcast "Reel II Reel with Coach Herb & B" and B from the Facebook group "NOVA Eatz".

Transcript

Why Not Today? Season 1 - Episode 12 with Bianca Moskatitis, co-host of the podcast "Reel II Reel with Coach Herb & B" and B from the Facebook group "NOVA Eatz". · Why Not Today? with Leslie Kane

• 0:00
  All right. Hi, this is Leslie. I am the host of the Why Not Today podcast. And this podcast
• 0:11
  is to celebrate people who have been courageous and said, why not today? I started this podcast
• 0:17
  in honor of my father, Patrick Cain, who often said, why not today? I am based in Reston,
• 0:23
  Virginia, Planned Community, right outside of Washington, D.C. I am also a sales director
• 0:28
  with Mary Kay and use this platform to share courageous stories. And I am super excited.
• 0:37
  My guest today is Bianca Mosquitos. I think I said it right this time. We actually did
• 0:44
  this last week and got a love technology. It did not record. We had four seconds. I
• 0:49
  am saying, hold on, let's start again. I pray it is going to be recorded now and it is going
• 0:54
  to be even better this time. I always like to share connections and how you get to know
• 1:00
  people and how that works before we hear from Bianca. I originally met Bianca because I
• 1:06
  worked at the YMCA as a water robot instructor. It was kind of my fun little hobby, but you
• 1:12
  just never know who you are going to be in front of. They did an event one day. I do
• 1:15
  not remember what it was, but I had a Mary Kay table there. I was combining Mary Kay
• 1:21
  with that. Bianca was a brand new employee to the Y. I met her. She had a cute little
• 1:26
  baby with her. Fiona was teeny tiny. Just the perfect little angel. I know that I know
• 1:33
  that I know that when I meet somebody and I remember every little detail that they are
• 1:37
  going to be in my life. I am so grateful that you are Bianca in my life. We are going to
• 1:42
  hear from Bianca today. Why do not we start Bianca? Why do not you introduce yourself?
• 1:46
  Tell us a little bit about you. Then a fun fact that nobody would know. I cannot wait
• 1:52
  to hear from you.
• 1:54
  Yes. Thank you for having me. First of all, my intro is I am Bianca Moschitis. I live
• 2:04
  right here in Breston with Leslie. I have been in this area since 2017, like Leslie
• 2:13
  mentioned. I am very involved in the community. I love volunteering. I love just meeting people.
• 2:20
  It is so fun. I graduated from Wakeville High School in Arlington and then kind of shifted
• 2:25
  my way around to make it to Breston with the YNCA. This is my seventh location. I also
• 2:32
  do a podcast with a friend of mine who is employed with the Y as well, co-turb. I also
• 2:40
  have my foodie platform, Nova Eats, where I have my shirt on. I learned my lesson from
• 2:45
  last time. I have my shirt on today. I love to adventure around the northern Virginia
• 2:57
  area and just tell everybody where the best places to eat and who are some of the best
• 3:03
  business owners and all of that jazz.
• 3:08
  What is a fun fact that nobody knows about you?
• 3:14
  I am the oldest of five kids on my mom's side and I am the oldest of my brother on my dad's
• 3:23
  side.
• 3:24
  Okay. Lots of siblings.
• 3:26
  I have lots of siblings. I am the oldest of all of them. Same side.
• 3:34
  I am learning them now because I just recently met my other siblings as adults. It has been
• 3:42
  very nice to get to know the side of the family I have not been able to know.
• 3:47
  I think my earbuds just stopped working. Can you still hear me okay?
• 3:52
  Yeah, I can hear you. I am going to take these off because too much technology is killing
• 3:58
  me.
• 3:59
  All right. Why I asked Bianca to be honest especially is because she was, you were very
• 4:06
  instrumental in me doing this podcast. Bianca has a podcast as she mentioned called Real
• 4:11
  to Real with Coach Herb and Bee. They interviewed me. Gosh, I think it was during COVID because
• 4:19
  we did it virtually.
• 4:20
  It was during COVID.
• 4:21
  I hate that we say that but we do. I remember walking around the lake with you one day and
• 4:28
  I am like just in my heart was like I want to do a podcast. I am not sure what it looks
• 4:32
  like or what I am going to do and you are like just do it.
• 4:34
  Then fast forward last fall, I have told the story many times about my dad's friend that
• 4:42
  shared a picture of himself with an eye patch and he talked about and always reminded me
• 4:46
  of my dad and he said and Pat came and I always said why not today? That just stuck and just
• 4:53
  resonated with me. One day Bianca and I got together again and I was telling you that
• 5:03
  story and you are like well first of all that is the name of your podcast and why don't
• 5:07
  you just start it.
• 5:08
  So starting my podcast and it is not perfect and I am still figuring stuff out every time
• 5:16
  and sometimes it doesn't record and it just gets challenging. But I just started. I set
• 5:22
  a date. I figured out the logo and the theme and then I set a date and just started. So
• 5:29
  you are very instrumental in me starting this and getting this rolling. So you are involved
• 5:34
  in a lot and what I admire about you is just all that you are involved in is new as you
• 5:39
  are to the rest of the community and you start a podcast.
• 5:43
  So originally that is probably your big courageous why not today thing and talk about how you
• 5:49
  got that started and what you did to get going and was it something you thought about forever
• 5:55
  and just woke up one day and like I am doing this.
• 5:58
  So funny you say that right. So I don't think that to be very honest I don't think that
• 6:04
  we would have started that podcast if we hadn't been told to stay home. You know we were so
• 6:11
  wrapped up in whatever was happening at that time of life and so when we had a moment to
• 6:17
  be at home we all realized wow we actually missed talking to each other.
• 6:22
  I thought you started this before Copa and I didn't realize you started during Copa.
• 6:27
  No it started in May 2020. Okay. And you know coach and Ben and I we always used to come
• 6:38
  together for lunch and we would talk during lunch and we just would have like great conversation
• 6:43
  to the point where some people would be like oh I can't wait for lunch tomorrow what are
• 6:47
  we talking about type of situation. So when we wanted to do the podcast because
• 6:51
  we were at home we would all do happy hours in calls right.
• 6:55
  And so when we do this happy hours in calls we find ourselves creating that type of synergy
• 7:01
  between each other. And so I said to coach you know why don't we just do a podcast and
• 7:06
  he would laugh at me. And then I said so we're going to start one.
• 7:12
  And he was like okay and Ben you know said I'll help.
• 7:16
  And he started writing the questions up and in the beginning we had no idea what we were
• 7:21
  really trying to do and then when we got to maybe like the ninth or tenth episode we were
• 7:26
  like look this is fabulous we actually know now we want to focus on small business owners
• 7:33
  and you know whomever to focus on creating that type of podcast where they come off as
• 7:40
  a friend right. So we're friends with them already.
• 7:44
  But like the community doesn't see them in that light right.
• 7:48
  So what we were what we've been able to do over the past two years I think is wonderful
• 7:54
  and you know going from cold calling people in a sense and knowing a few people to interview
• 7:59
  us to now people are reaching out to us sometimes to say I'd love for you to interview us.
• 8:05
  I think it's wonderful because they see that we're fun people to interview with.
• 8:11
  That's awesome. And then from there you got involved in NovaEats.
• 8:15
  So what is NovaEats and what's it all about. So NovaEats is my foodie platform and I started
• 8:23
  that or more so took it over for my friend Marcus Toler last September in 2021.
• 8:30
  And so when I took that over I took over a page that was mainly about like bar scenes
• 8:36
  and things. It's just it's a Facebook page right.
• 8:39
  It is a Facebook page we also have an Instagram but I mainly use the Facebook group because
• 8:44
  the group is more interactive than the page would be right.
• 8:49
  And so with the group we have about 3800 people a part of that community and I took it to
• 8:55
  the point where I believe I grew it almost 1500 people within the past few months and
• 9:01
  I plan on hopefully growing it more right. But now it's starting.
• 9:05
  Yeah now it's starting to gain traction a little bit people are starting to see it and
• 9:12
  they want to be involved and I had no idea how it would turn out right.
• 9:18
  I just I really like food.
• 9:21
  I like fun and hanging out with my friends and anytime that I can do that as well as
• 9:27
  promote that business.
• 9:28
  The best part is that you sometimes record your now that you can be in front of people
• 9:37
  record your podcast in these venues that you're promoting getting involved.
• 9:42
  Yeah.
• 9:43
  Yeah we absolutely love doing that. We have the opportunity to record all the time at
• 9:47
  Red's table.
• 9:48
  Ryan Tracy is so welcoming and you know he's all about having us come over and bring that
• 9:55
  that type of energy there and Jimmy's over at Jimmy's hotel tavern and you know the the
• 10:02
  bike lane we go and do that and we have created two beers so far and we're planning our next
• 10:07
  alone and just so much fun.
• 10:10
  And I'm excited to to be able to take that further but also with the know the eat try
• 10:16
  to see where that goes because I had no idea where that this podcast is going just really
• 10:23
  no idea and it's just having the courage to just take the next step.
• 10:29
  So I totally skipped over the question about what does courage mean to you.
• 10:32
  Let's go back to that and we can kind of talk about that.
• 10:36
  Yeah.
• 10:37
  So courage to me means stepping outside of your normal realm your your normal box.
• 10:44
  We all are so used to doing what we are normally doing all the time like we do our regular routine
• 10:50
  and that's it.
• 10:51
  And then the moment we think about something that interests us we sometimes shield our
• 10:57
  own selves from doing it.
• 10:58
  Right.
• 10:59
  You think about how fun it could be we think about I want to I want to really do this but
• 11:05
  some of us never really take that step and then later on down in life think about wow
• 11:10
  I really should have did this.
• 11:12
  So I just say step outside of your box do your thing.
• 11:19
  Don't be afraid.
• 11:20
  What is it going to hurt.
• 11:21
  What's the worst thing that can happen.
• 11:25
  It doesn't work and you're not going to be behind and I think that's why you've been
• 11:29
  such an inspiration to me is it's just taking the next step and trying like I don't know
• 11:34
  where this podcast is going you don't know where Nova Eats and it's interesting just the
• 11:38
  conversations you have and the people you talk to so with the podcast I've started having
• 11:44
  some merchandise.
• 11:45
  I've got cups and I've got some t-shirts and actually a friend of mine keeps buying I gave
• 11:50
  her a cup and she keeps buying more because she wants she's giving them as gifts she keeps
• 11:54
  giving away like I said lunch today with a friend of mine that owns a jewelry store and
• 12:02
  I was asking her about doing a charm for a necklace that says why not today or have the
• 12:08
  logo so the logo of the why not today I don't even have anything sitting here is my dad had
• 12:13
  an eye patch and hand around my mustache so it says logo and so I know a lot of people
• 12:18
  are just listening audio so I was talking to Kurt about doing I wish I had my cup differently
• 12:23
  right now.
• 12:24
  Well and this is most people listen audio we are going to have a video eventually but
• 12:31
  having the charm being the front being my dad's logo on the back inscribed why not today
• 12:36
  and you can do it either way so adding some high end merchandise and so yeah just taking
• 12:43
  that next step and you know coordinating all the pieces of the puzzle and having the courage
• 12:50
  as you said to step out of the box and try it.
• 12:54
  Once you said like I'm going to do a podcast and they all probably laughed at you or here
• 12:59
  we go.
• 13:01
  Was it scary did you do it did you second guess it.
• 13:04
  Oh it was 1000% scary and definitely second guessed it and definitely listen to myself
• 13:10
  and was like oh my goodness and the more I listen to myself the more of a vibe I understood
• 13:16
  what I was going for.
• 13:20
  So when I did tell people I'm sorry to talk to you they automatically looked at me was
• 13:24
  like who is going to listen to y'all but that also can you know kind of break you down a
• 13:31
  little bit you start listening to those things and it makes you kind of second guess maybe
• 13:35
  I shouldn't do it nobody's going to listen but realistically you never know who was going
• 13:39
  to pay attention right.
• 13:42
  It's all about who you bring on who is your guest so was I petrified absolutely am I still
• 13:50
  doing my podcast because I don't want to hear myself.
• 13:55
  Yeah and see that's the thing is like when you start to hear yourself and listen to yourself
• 14:00
  you start to think about wow okay maybe I should you know cut back on this or maybe I should
• 14:05
  sound this way and it really starts to get you to think about how you want your podcast
• 14:10
  to be for the next one.
• 14:12
  Right that's that's what I've been doing and that sounds like you guys to just every week
• 14:16
  it's like okay one thing add one thing get a little better this recording is going to
• 14:21
  be the best because we've done it twice.
• 14:23
  Yeah.
• 14:24
  Yeah.
• 14:25
  It's not perfect but you just do the best you can.
• 14:30
  Were there any regrets about starting it or is there anything you've regretted not doing
• 14:35
  it let's go back and just say not with that but anything in your life you're like I really
• 14:38
  wish I would have done that.
• 14:42
  No I don't have any regrets because I feel like regrets make you sad.
• 14:47
  I don't ever regret anything great you always do something because at that moment it felt
• 14:54
  right or even if it didn't feel right something just told you to do it but don't regret it
• 14:58
  because you might have did it for a reason.
• 15:00
  It's a lesson learned or it's something that's exciting so I don't regret anything if anything
• 15:05
  I learned from the mistakes that I've done and try to not do them again.
• 15:11
  Right.
• 15:12
  Right.
• 15:13
  Like they said John Maxwell who's a leadership trainer or coach and he always said if he
• 15:17
  fall down before you get up grab the lesson bring it up with you.
• 15:22
  So that's what you know it's not going to be perfect and we just got to keep trying.
• 15:26
  Because nothing is ever perfect like nothing and the more we try to make it the more it's
• 15:32
  going to hurt.
• 15:33
  Exactly.
• 15:34
  Exactly.
• 15:35
  So what encouragement would you give to somebody to say why not today and do something courageous?
• 15:45
  If I could describe what a push is that would be my encouragement like just a nice little
• 15:51
  show because you never know what that little nudge may do.
• 15:55
  I even do it to my children like my child just started that lesson she was nervous like
• 16:01
  oh my gosh I don't want to do this and then what did I do when she got there and we got
• 16:05
  to the door I just assured a little bit and then from there she's been asking when are
• 16:12
  we going back next and this is exciting I love this you know.
• 16:15
  It's just starting and once you start you know it's just putting your toe in the water
• 16:21
  and trying because you just never know.
• 16:24
  And even for me I get nervous every time I do something new but you know one thing that
• 16:30
  someone told me which is my husband why are you nervous why are you scared you do stuff
• 16:35
  like this all the time and you're good at it so just you'll be alright.
• 16:41
  Yeah but we doubt ourselves and so it's knowing to work on our strengths and what we're good
• 16:47
  at have you ever done the strength finder test?
• 16:49
  Have you ever done it?
• 16:51
  I had done the strength finder test and it was a while ago so I don't really remember
• 16:54
  what my thing is necessarily.
• 16:57
  I pulled out again recently because it kept coming up and somebody had a great analogy
• 17:02
  if you take your hand and write your name with your dominant hand right in there and
• 17:07
  then you write it with the other hand it's a hot mess with the other hand and so when
• 17:12
  we work on our strengths we're good we don't we can be a hot mess and it's like why are
• 17:17
  we trying to do things we're not good at somebody else is good at that like there's a lot of
• 17:22
  things I'm not good at and I surround myself with people that can be good at those things
• 17:27
  so I can use my strengths to do the things I need to do.
• 17:31
  So alright I think we went through pretty much all my questions I kind of forget what
• 17:37
  we talked about this time and last time but get out of the box and be courageous and just
• 17:42
  take a nap and you just never know who that's going to be.
• 17:46
  One thing and I guess we did talk about this that I admire about you is not only have you
• 17:50
  done these things but you've gotten involved in community and I love to see all that you're
• 17:55
  doing so you told me the other day and I guess we can share that you've been telling me about
• 18:01
  the task force you're going to be on.
• 18:04
  Let's talk about that again.
• 18:05
  Yeah so yes so I'm excited you know this is something that hasn't like come out yet but
• 18:13
  I'm really excited about the journey that it potentially bring in it's being a part of
• 18:17
  the Reston Town Center North Task Force and you know kind of building our area up to see
• 18:23
  what could be helpful for the generation that's coming up next you know I'm really big into
• 18:30
  community like Leslie said and Leslie has no idea that she actually motivated me into
• 18:36
  doing a lot more of the volunteer work.
• 18:38
  Oh really?
• 18:39
  Yeah because you know you have no idea how much you have motivated me over the time that
• 18:44
  we've spent and you know that because sometimes I've messaged you and be like you know I'm
• 18:48
  in a little bit of a depression and I just need a friend to hang out with or take a walk
• 18:53
  and things like that and you're always ready to be there right.
• 18:57
  So when we spoke about being a part of the community when I first met you and you were
• 19:02
  just stating how you were a part of a few different you know volunteer opportunities
• 19:08
  in the area directly I was like wow I really should try to figure out how or what is going
• 19:14
  to interest me volunteer wise and once I started to click with that I was like you know what
• 19:20
  let me just go for it right because we would have known that Walter would have said hey
• 19:26
  would you be interested in being a part of this.
• 19:31
  I would have never thought about being a part of it before let alone know how that works
• 19:38
  right.
• 19:39
  So now to be involved in the community and get asked to be a part of some of these exciting
• 19:45
  volunteer groups like Rotary and helping with Walter Alcorn and helping with the NAACP
• 19:52
  Loud and it's just exciting to just get back and then see the people's faces after you
• 19:59
  give them a hug or you know you help their kid at this event and it's just a nice feeling
• 20:07
  that makes me feel better because when I was younger people helped me and I had no idea
• 20:13
  how they felt but now I understand it.
• 20:15
  I always share there's when I taught water ropes there's a woman in my class and also
• 20:20
  my mother are two people that are always giving and giving and giving and have a really hard
• 20:25
  time accepting help and so I told them I said when you don't let somebody else help you
• 20:31
  you're blocking their blessing like how much food do you get from helping somebody and
• 20:35
  said when you don't let somebody help you you're blocking them their blessing and so
• 20:39
  giving back and helping and if you're having a bad day they say you know be grateful and
• 20:43
  do something for somebody else volunteer help somebody else when you're down it's going
• 20:50
  to make you feel so much better and you know I came by the volunteering and then doing
• 20:54
  all these things naturally.
• 20:56
  My father passed us on and I was talking to someone today it's like when we were kids
• 21:01
  not kids but like in my 20s and 30s he was like you younger generation need to get involved
• 21:06
  and we're like yeah right and it's fun to see now not just my generation so involved
• 21:11
  but the generation before getting involved earlier and when I think we talked to you
• 21:18
  know all the connections and you know co-turb who you do your podcast with he worked at
• 21:24
  the Y which I did but one of the connections I have with him and my dad is all three of
• 21:28
  us were best arrested honorees and that it's just giving back to me wasn't I didn't do
• 21:33
  it for the accolade or for the recognition but it was just to give back and that's what
• 21:39
  you do and get involved and it's fun and then one way or the other and again that's courageous
• 21:44
  being on these task force and doing things like it's not something you've done before
• 21:48
  but you got to learn.
• 21:51
  Yeah it's it's really exciting to hear about all of the people who we both share as friends
• 21:57
  and I love seeing that like like wow yeah right.
• 22:04
  So when I go around I'm like wow I've seen some of these pictures yeah right yes you
• 22:11
  heard me but I had definitely love sharing the friends that we have because you know
• 22:19
  that they know a person who you share conflict like you when I see Robin from Pinot's power
• 22:27
  and I'm like wow she shares the same energy as I need to breathe it's nice.
• 22:32
  Yeah absolutely.
• 22:34
  So I always talk about or anything else you want to add about encouraging other people
• 22:40
  I think you're frozen so hopefully you'll come back in a second there you come can you hear
• 22:45
  me?
• 22:46
  Oh am I okay there?
• 22:47
  Yep you are.
• 22:48
  I feel like my last thing yes my one last thing would be I think you have to learn how
• 23:08
  to encourage yourself.
• 23:10
  Yes.
• 23:11
  So that you have to learn how to encourage yourself too and the little things that make
• 23:16
  you happy like for me when I wake up in the morning and I go into the bathroom I love
• 23:21
  to tell myself you're gonna have a great day you're gonna have an exciting day and if I
• 23:25
  do that then it starts me out smiling and then I kind of like go into my day with a little
• 23:30
  bit of encouragement right so it's just like you know start to encourage yourself you deserve
• 23:36
  it.
• 23:37
  Absolutely and you know it's in your gut like you have the intuition you have the idea
• 23:41
  somebody placed in your you know God placed it in your heart and or not that much like
• 23:47
  go for it and that's I think what I really like to focus on this with this podcast is
• 23:51
  so many people don't do those things because they're scared and we all do it scared we
• 23:57
  just got to do it.
• 23:58
  So I always connect back in the podcast to my dad and I know we talked before you did
• 24:04
  the interview we did the interview and you're like well I don't know your dad how do I connect
• 24:08
  back?
• 24:09
  I always like to look like after a conversation figure out the connections so first of all
• 24:13
  the why connection with working at the Y and her being there and I remember my dad had
• 24:20
  a major stroke in 2000 and the first event he went to was actually the grand opening
• 24:27
  ribbon cutting of the Y and I took him there because he couldn't navigate on his own he
• 24:34
  couldn't drive.
• 24:35
  So that was kind of cool your community involvement just getting involved and as I said he was
• 24:41
  a big proponent of that and one thing we talked about and I don't think you talked you brought
• 24:47
  up this time but just ask and I think we did kind of talk about that what's the worst thing
• 24:52
  can happen if you try it but just ask you know you said in the beginning you reached
• 24:56
  out to people and you're afraid and you didn't think they would say yes but they did and
• 25:01
  if they didn't who cares and I remember that was one thing my dad always taught me just
• 25:04
  ask the worst thing somebody's gonna say is no and I remember the sleepover so it's a
• 25:08
  little girl you know you have a sleepover with your friends and then my friends were
• 25:11
  like I'm afraid to ask my parents I'm like why are you afraid what's the worst thing
• 25:15
  to say?
• 25:16
  Yeah.
• 25:17
  No in your staying at home you're not hanging out with me so just ask.
• 25:21
  After especially after dealing with everything that we've dealt with you know I think just
• 25:28
  ask people are so willing to be a part of your life now because it just may help them
• 25:34
  too.
• 25:35
  Yeah people want to help.
• 25:36
  And it's flattering when people ask you for help.
• 25:40
  Yeah.
• 25:41
  So I've genuinely had more help over the past two, three years than I've probably had in
• 25:49
  a long time.
• 25:51
  It's awesome.
• 25:53
  And it's because of me meeting people like yourself and meeting people like her with
• 25:58
  me meeting people you know like all over the community that kind of help you feel comfortable.
• 26:05
  And you have definitely jumped into this community and I love it.
• 26:09
  So where do people find you?
• 26:12
  You can find me at my Facebook is Bianca Mosquitos my Facebook page is Bianca Mosquitos as well
• 26:20
  or know the eats with a Z or at real the real with coach herb and B and we are everywhere.
• 26:29
  You are and I love that.
• 26:32
  Yeah.
• 26:33
  All those places and be all those places.
• 26:38
  Have no idea.
• 26:39
  That's okay we just do it.
• 26:42
  Yeah.
• 26:43
  Well thank you again for sharing your story and thank you for doing it twice and hopefully
• 26:47
  this report work.
• 26:49
  You can find the why not today podcast on Spotify and iTunes and we're working on a website.
• 26:56
  We have some merchandise if you want to why not today cup or a t-shirt got all kinds of
• 27:01
  fun stuff and maybe we'll have some fun jewelry to go with it too.
• 27:05
  So again thank you share this with your friends like and comment and if you know somebody that
• 27:11
  is courageous and done has a story that you think I should share on why not today let
• 27:15
  me know.
• 27:16
  Thanks Leslie with why not today thank you Bianca for sharing and sharing your courageous
• 27:22
  so thank you so much for having me thank you.
• 27:26
  You're welcome and we are here every other Saturday is the goal this one didn't work
• 27:30
  but it'll be okay.
• 27:31
  All right thanks again.
• 27:32
  Bye.