Latest / The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast / Almost Famous In Depth: Matt James Returns

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Almost Famous In Depth: Matt James Returns · The Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous Podcast

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: This is Ben and Ashley I Almost Famous in Depth.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: We've got Matt James on the Almost Famous podcast. He's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: here to talk about his new book coming out Tuesday
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: May third, called First Impressions. We're also here to talk
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: about everything going on in Matt's life. It's a lot.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: I follow him on Instagram. I'm probably one of his
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: biggest supporters on Instagram. I don't think I miss a story.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: The only thing is I feel like I also can
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: never figure out where in the world he is or
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: where in the world he is going. Uh. Matt, thanks
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: for joining us, Thank you for having me. Uh. I
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: feel like there's since I've talked last talk to you both,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: so much has changed. I mean, Ashley's had a son,
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: You've gotten married, your your beard is infringing on my
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: beard now. Um, it's a lot more patchy, buddy, a
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: lot more. Let's let's start there with that beard. Were
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: you offended at all that people wanted you to shave
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: it so bad? Um? No, Because you know, people get
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: comfortable with things like like once you look a certain
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: type of way, or you getting a routine, and then
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: you change it on people, it throws it off. And
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: there was a lot that went into like me growing
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: that beard and just being you know, my own person
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: outside of like this person who I felt like everyone
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: wanted me to be and expected me to be. So
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: like that beard was a representation of just like I'm
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: living my life outside of like how it's been supposed
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: to go through this experience, like I'm no longer conforming
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: to what I'm supposed to be doing. And it was nice. Yeo.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: I knew that there was symbolism to that beard. I
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: was like, this is the way for this man to
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: turn into something else, to like hide behind a blanket
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: or something like that. Yeah, pretty much. It was great.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: The I grew my beard out and it doesn't even
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: take me two weeks for people to start saying you
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: should shave Ben, you don't look good. And then I
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: shave it. So we talked about yeah, me standing up
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: for myself. Nah, I just shave it. I just trim
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: it up. Matt. You uh, you have had a lot
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: going on. You said it best. I mean it was
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: it was how we're going to broach This whole podcast
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: is talking about all the changes that have happened in
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: your life and in our lives. The growth that's happened
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: over last year. One of those big things for you. Uh,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: but it was happening when we were talking last two
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: is you and Rachel are going strong? Uh still to
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: this day, how is that going? Just for anybody curious,
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: it's been it's been incredible, Ben, I mean just being
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: able to live our lives outside of everyone's expectations has
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: been able. It allowed us to establish a really strong
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: foundation and get to know each other and learn about
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: each other and just grow in a way that it's
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: hard to do when you're trying to please everybod idea
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: else and do the things that you know all the
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: other couples are doing and being this circle and that circle,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: and go to this event like we just do our
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: own thing. And it's been so liberating and freeing in
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: in every sense that you can imagine, just to not
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: have to worry about what people think after going through
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: what we've been through. And um, we do practically everything together,
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: which allows us to spend a lot of time together
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: and just get to know each other on a more
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: personal level. So, uh, it couldn't be going stronger right now?
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: You know. I don't want to focus on a lot
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: of the the beginning of your relationship because you guys
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: are in such a great place right now. But I
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: do have one question that lingers, and that was us
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: coming here to this podcast after your finale, you know,
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: the live show, we all said no way that they
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: have a future. You know, I thought that there could be,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: but the way that he acted towards her, he was
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: pretty cold. It just doesn't seem like there's ever going
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: to be anything there. Again, how did you get over
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: that hump? And how did you do it so fast?
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Because it was only about a month later that we
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: saw you guys together. Um, what you didn't see on
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: the final rose was that you know, we left the
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: stage hand in hand. Yeah, really well, but what was
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: going on before the run and show? Um, we we
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: we weren't speaking and when you went out, when we
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: both went out there, like anyone who's been um and
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: in my seat before and that you know environment, it's
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: there's not a lot of room for uh, you have
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: to stick to the script. And there wasn't a lot
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: that we could have discussed that would have progressed our
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: relationship on the stage. And there was I feel like
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: things that the show wanted and things that um, you know,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: there's things that the show wanted out of that moment
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: that you know, we we were done given um control
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: of our narrative and lives to be exploited for the
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: most part, so I understand. Yeah, we just we just
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: had enough, so we weren't budgeting on anything that we
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: wanted to share and had to say. And after that moment,
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: it was just like we could finally just be at rest, like,
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: all right, let's go figure this out. And UM it
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: took me going through a lot of things to get
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: to the point where, um, I was ready to admit
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: that I was in the wrong on a lot of things,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: and Rachel was very loving and understanding and accepting my
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: apology and getting back on track with our relationship. And
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: that was literally a year ago, like a couple of
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: days ago. So we hit our one year mark and
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: it's been smooth sailing, and you know, there's things that
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: we go through that we have conversations about, but it's
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: all growth and it's all good. Oh. I'm so happy
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: for you guys. That's awesome. I feel sense of relief
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: for you. I can just see it on your face. Yeah, No,
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: it's nice. Like I, like I said earlier, just nice
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: not having that the expectations of of other people's relationships
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: and whatnot. Honest looking back now, though, do you feel
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: like in your relationship is very strong? It's very fun
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: to watch people enjoy watching it. You guys have a
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: good time together. You eat a lot of stuff together.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: And do you do you feel like part of that
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: time period helped you to grow closer together or build
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: a I mean, I'd like to think of maybe building
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: like a trust in the two of you coming out
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: of it, or how would you explain what that time
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: that was difficult? It was difficult for a lot of
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: people that we're watching it very closely. What did it
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: do for the two of you? When you're you are
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: the two people people are watching. I mean, I truly
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: can't imagine a couple having to go through more conflict? Yeah,
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: I think I think conflict turmoil. Ultimately, uh, you know,
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: it's been or break and it really bent um our
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: relationship and um it ultimately made it stronger though, because
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: we went through things that I feel like, you know,
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: couples don't experience, and you know, five or ten years
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: of being together sometimes ever, um and being battle tested
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: means a lot because we both know how we're gonna
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: respond when adversity comes. And you know, Rachiel trusted me,
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: and uh, I've I've always respected that, you know from
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the very beginning when um, we would have conversations. Uh,
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: she just trusted me. And it's it's it's hard to
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: to blindly trust someone when you're in her shoes and
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: you have no certainty and no reason to trust what
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I'm saying to the next person because it's seems like
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: everyone's being told the same thing and just being built
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: on trust is the biggest thing. And it's taken um
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: some time for me to regain that with her, but
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: we're we're in a really good spot now and um,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: now I gotta work on being a better communicator because
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: she always pulled it out of me, like whenever she's
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: feeling some type of way, we like address it on
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: the spot, like you feel like you're this, I feel
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: like this, I feel like that. And it's and it's
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: still like a process for me to to get to
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: that point where I'm just like openly like, yeah, that's
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: where I'm at. Um, So the communications the next thing
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: I'm working on with her, and just like meeting her
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: where she's at you'll get it, because I was, of
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: course the Rachel in this scenario where everything I was
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: feeling it was like in Jared space, and he would
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: stay silent about things for days, and I'd be like,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: I know there's something up. I know there's something up,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: and he just wouldn't admit to it. And now he
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: comes home and he's just like, blood, these are my problems. Yeah,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: I'm getting there. I'm getting there. Actually teach me your ways, guys.
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: It's a conversation, Jessica, I have very often, is you
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: ain't talking, I'm like, I don't know what to say.
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Uh um, very very common. Um. Hey, I have a
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: random question. And and I know a lot of this
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: is mentioned in your book, this part will not be
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: I don't think you know. When you came onto the show,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: you were a friend too many. You still are a
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: friend to many, just as many. But your life was like,
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: definitely like a bachelor life. You were on a boat,
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: you were in Florida, you were in New York, you
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: were traveling, eating, doing all this stuff, hanging out with
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: your buddies, filming weird videos, doing all the things that
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: friends do together. And then you go on the show,
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: come off the show. You've got a girl who feels
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: like very much I won't put words to you, but
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: feels like one of your closest friends, maybe your best friend.
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: You can say that if you'd like, and that not
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: that your boys are neglact did but I'm here too,
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I'm I'm saying this all from experience, right, I'm married now, Ye,
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: how how has that changed for you? Because originally when
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: we first started following you, it was all a bunch
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: of dude content and now it's you and Rachel content. Yeah,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: so like, how is that changed for you? Oh? Man,
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: that's a great question. Ben. Uh. You know, you know
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: what's funny you said that, you know, you mentioned best friends,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: and um, early on in our relationship, Rachel referred to
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: me as her best friend, and I was like, oh,
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: that's awesome, like that you feel that, you know what
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: I mean? I was I didn't. I didn't uh reciprocate
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: that because like my I've never had a girl who
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: was the best friend, you know, like my best friend's
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: always been like a teammate or you know, and you
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: do best friend things together, you know, like you go
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: out and you do travel and and then as I'm
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: thinking about what you do with the best friend. Like
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: that's what I was doing with Rachel, Like she was
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: my best friend and it was like okay to date
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: and be with someone who is your best friend. And
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: it kind of changes the way that I thought about relationship. Um,
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: and I always thought that you should be friends with
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: someone before. That's just my thesis. Like I think a
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: strong relationship is like build on a friendship and then
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: you know, you see the things that you like in
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: that person. And that's just my opinion. But UM, I
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: was reluctant to call Rachel my best friend because I
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: just felt like that title was reserved for like a
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: guy or like for like some other But yeah, no,
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: Rachel is my best friend, and um, it's fun to
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: do life with that person that knows you the best.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And um, and you can go to about anything. Uh
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: and you're traveling and your your highs and your lows
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: like it's it's it's awesome. So like, yeah, the content
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: is definitely gonna change because you know, um, friends are
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: forever and there, but they're different seasons in your life.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: And when uh, where I'm at in my life, you know,
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: I'm not doing the things that I was doing before.
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: I was in a relationship. You know, a lot of
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: that time spent, uh has now spent with Rachel and
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: doing things, uh that I would want to do with
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: someone that you know, I'm hoping to marry one day.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: And um, the people who are in my life who
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: are in that same trajectory understand it because you know, uh,
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: they're in serious relationships, and the ones who aren't, you know,
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: have a hard time kind of getting that because they've
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: never been in the serious relationship. So uh, it's it's
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: a it's a it's a difficult line to balance for
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: people who don't get it, But for people who get
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: it's fun because you get to do things as a
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: couple and you know, we look forward to like those
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: couples things now. So does Tyler Cameron get it or
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: does he not get it? Tyler gets it because he's
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: been in he's been in serious relationships like I had,
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: Like he was in more serious relationships than I had
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: been in up until this point. It, Um, so he
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: gets it. And when he's in a relationship he kind
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: of uh had he kind of goes into the same pattern.
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: You know, you you travel with that person, you meet,
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: that person's family, spend time with that person's family. UM,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: so yeah, he understands, and I think most of my
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: friends do. M that's beautiful. Ben recently interviewed Tyler, and
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: it seems like Tyler like he loves the Hollywood life.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: You know, he'll always like I like to involve that,
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: but he wants to kind of have Florida be his
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: home base, build houses with his dad, which I think
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: is super cool. So where do you envisioned you and
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: Rachel ending up? And I imagine that you envisioned your
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: future with Rachel Rachel races in the room. So I'm
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: gonna have to tread lightly on this question. Okay. UM
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: so beforehand, you know, uh, living in New York was
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: was incredible because I worked in commercial real estate. Um,
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: I established friends up there. And when you live in
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: New York, like so many people come through New York,
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: so you don't really ever have to leave. It's like
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: no one's like when I lived in Pittsburgh, no one
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: was making their way through Pittsburgh. It's like, hey man,
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I'm casually Pittsburg. Like I didn't get those phone calls.
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: But being in New York, I got this all the time.
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: So I love the social aspect of New York. But
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: with everything that's gone on with you know, the COVID pandemic,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: people changing their working patterns and they're uh desire to
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: live in cities like this. Uh. It's changed my view
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: on how I wanna, you know, go about spending the
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: rest of my life. And I want to be somewhere warm,
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: because when I was quarantining, I love Jupiter. Jupiter is great,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: but it's also like an older people's village. You know,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: I need more livelihood. I need uh, I need something
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: that you know has an economics center the it Uh
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: you're going to be close to the pulse of business.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: And the closest thing to that in Florida is Miami.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: And that's where I moved. I moved to Miami a
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: couple of months ago from New York. And you know,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: I get to reap the benefits of being close to
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: the New York. You know, it's it's it's become a
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: tech chub, and it's become a crypto hub and two
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: things that I'm really interested in. And and so Miami
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: has been incredible. I got the water right there and
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: got traveled back to North Carolina is not very Uh,
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: it's it's not very difficult because you've got Florida, You've
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: got Fort Lardale Airport, Miami Airport. Um, the weather is great. Um.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: The plan was always for me to get back down
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: to Florida. And Rachel Uh initially was not a fan
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: of the idea because like many people, when they think
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: of Miami, they think of like, yeah, like clubs, like
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: you know, staying out there. But you know, that's not
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: my vibe. And I think as she spent time with
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: me down there, she's realized that, you know, it's like, oh,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: like there is a residential side to living in Miami.
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: And when we leave now, and you can ask Rachel
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: about this, when we leave now, we will like we
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: had to go to Minneapolis or something New York for something,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: She'll be like, I missed, I miss Miami, like, and
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: I'm like, I need to get this on record. That's
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: a big victory for you, man. Yeah. I don't know
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: if it's a long term, but for for the for
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: the right now, I love it down there and I
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: could see myself living there nice. Well, hey, we need
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: to wrap here with you. And I don't want to
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: leave this without mentioning two things. And I'm just for
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: sake of time, I'm gonna allow you to speak on
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: them as as much as you want. Your book. First impressions,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: why should people read it? What should they look forward to?
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Why did you write it? Would probably be the questions
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: there and then ABC Food Tours, what's going on with that?
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: Where does that stand? And where do you hope that goes? Yeah,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: so the book, uh, you know selfish that I initially
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: started in the book because I was frustrated with my
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: time on The Bachelor. I was I didn't feel like
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: it left people with a great representation of what I
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: was about, what I was interested in, and what brought
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: me to this point. And so that's what I set
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: out to provide for people who had all these questions about,
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: you know, who I was. And as I began to
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: collect these stories and put it to paper, and I
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: started to realize that a lot of people could benefit
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: from the things that I've been through, and uh it
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: became a you know, a celebration story and uh and uh,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: something that a lot of people I feel I could
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: relate to. There's a lot of themes in my life
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: that a lot of people have been through, from the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: family aspect, from my relationship with my dad, being in
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: a multi racial relationship. Uh, the risk that I've taken professionally,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: you name it. And I think a lot of people
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: I think that they experienced things by themselves. But what
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: I realized through the Bachelor experiences when you share with
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: people and you're vulnerable about where you're at in life,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: what you've been through, and what you're going through, a
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: lot of people are going through similar things and it
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: allows them to be like, hey, I'm I'm actually I've
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: been through that, Like let me offer this advice. So like,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: I'm hoping that when people read this book, they're able
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: to see themselves and me and my experiences and pull,
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: you know, strength and energy from the things that I've
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: been through and be a champion for them going forward. Um.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: So that was a really big part of why I
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: wrote the book and why I'm excited for people to
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: have it in their hands. Matt, Can we please, please
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: please have you back on when after I read the book,
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: because I could have so many more questions after I
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: read the book, and I want to like further this
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: discussion so much more. Absolutely, there's some good tea in there,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: you know, I'm sure there is, because you gave us
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: the t about walking off the stage hand in hand,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: and I feel like there's gonna be a lot more
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: of that. So we're gonna have to, like, you know,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: talk it out. And now, okay, let's talk about ABC
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: Food real quick. First impressions come out May third, and
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: so it's I'm assuming it's everywhere you buy books, right, yes,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: and there's an audiobook every every which way you can
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: you can get to information. We've got to cover great Okay,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: ABC Food Tours. ABC Food Tours. So another thing I
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: was hoping that you know, the show would want to
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: highlight and dive a little bit deeper into because it's
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: a lot of who I am. You know, I put
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of time and resources into that, uh, that
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: nonprofit that um you know, we we we very quickly
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: brushed over and we took a little bit more time
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: and things that I didn't think were was important. So
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of antidotes from you know, why I
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: started ABC Food Tours with Tyler, uh, the impact it's
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: had on my life, and different and different stories from
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: the students that we've worked with. That again, I think
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: can relate to a lot of different people, and it
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: just adds perspective for people who are going through things
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: or think that they have uh life tough, and I
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: I just can't wait to share those stories with people
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: and see how they respond to them. Um. It's it's
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: a long time coming sharing with those students, especially after
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: everything that happened with with COVID and the pandemic and
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: the plans that we have to to work with them
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: and their families in their community. So uh yeah, there's
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: there's some very very strong characters in there that I
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: think will resonate with a lot of people. So to
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: learn more about ABC Food Tours, they can pick up
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: your book First Impressions on May three, anywhere you can
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: buy books. You can listen to it on audio books.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: You can learn about ABC Food Tours. You can from
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: there go and look it up. Um, so much going
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: onto your life on your on in your Life, Matt.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: From Ashley myself, we want to wish you and Rachel
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: the absolute best, have a great time. Thanks for joining us.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Sorry we went over so many minutes here, um, but
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: we're celebrating the two of you. We're celebrating your book,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: uh and your work with ABC Food Tours and everything else.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: They're up to in this world. Um that again. I
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: try to follow you on Instagram. I usually don't know
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: where you're at, and I usually don't know what you're doing,
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: but I usually know you're eating some type of food
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: and that's enough. I know you're healthy. Hey, thanks a lot, Matt,
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: Congrats Matt, thank you, Ashley, see you guys. Follow the
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: Benn and Ashley I Almost Famous podcasts on I Heart Radio,
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: or subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.