Latest / His Hop Radio Podcast / Business mixer Podcast / LVBNM AUG- 29 - 2026

Transcript

Business mixer Podcast / LVBNM AUG- 29 - 2026 · His Hop Radio Podcast

• 0:04
  Speaker 1: My first guest is Coach Tate. Coach, before we get started,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: please give our listeners and viewers your full name, your organization,
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: and tell us a little bit about yourself.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Coach Tate, East Palo Alto T-Ball Pitching Machine. Our program
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: is 34 years old. We started in 1992 in East
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: Palo Alto, California. In 2003, we moved to Las Vegas.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: And we, at this point, do two cities, East Palo Alto, California,
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: and Las Vegas, Nevada, working with youngsters and trying to
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: help them become better people.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: Young people need help today, don't they?
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: Yes, they do. They're not getting much from home anymore.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's definitely a challenge with the dynamics that we're
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: living in. And so the work that you do consists
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: of what for these young people?
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: Well, we do a baseball program.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: I started coaching the league baseball in 1962 in East
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Palo Alto and up until 88. And at that time,
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: things had changed so much as far as children being
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: raised by a single parent and those types of things.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: So we're getting kids who did not know anything about baseball.
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: They come out from little league and don't have a
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: clue of what they're supposed to be doing. So a
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: friend and I, Ray Kennan, who came on board with
• 1:31
  Speaker 2: me and we started trying to see about raising funds.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: So we could start this program.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: And in doing so, it wasn't just to teach them
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: about baseball, but we also want to teach them about life.
• 1:45
  Speaker 4: Now, that is key.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: So when you have young people with you, you, of course,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: want them to become better as baseball players.
• 1:54
  Speaker 4: But the other side of it is the life skill part.
• 1:56
  Speaker 4: And how does that work?
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: Well, we do educational workshops. Whenever we leave the city,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: we tour a college campus, a group. Growing up in
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: the East Palo Alto area, we're right across the street
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: from Stanford University. We can walk to the college campus
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: in 30 minutes from where I live. So in doing so,
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: we spent a lot of time there meeting different people.
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: One of our very.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: First board members is a young man I met there
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: in 1964 when he came there to go to college.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: And in 2026, we are still best of friends and
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: he helped us tremendously with our program.
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: Okay, so you mentioned education. So why was that portion
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: very important to you? Because most people who are involved
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: in athletics, it's all about the sport.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: Well, my thing is their chance of being a professional
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: athlete is very slim.
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: Yes.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: But their chance of going along, being a doctor, lawyer,
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: or whatever, if they go about it and get the.
• 3:03
  Speaker 3: Proper training, And educationally, those things can happen.
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Just earlier today, one of my former players, I wish
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: I could have brought him over to introduce him, just
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: graduated from Vanderbilt Law School.
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: He's working for a law firm here in the city
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: and going to school.
• 3:23
  Speaker 3: He was an intern there.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: And when he left to do his senior year of
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: law school, they hired him. And this is a company
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: that works in Nevada and Arizona. So he will have
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: licenses to practice law in two states.
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: That's amazing. OK, congratulations.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: I know you have a lot of success stories.
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, just different things like that. But the.
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: Wonderful thing about that is I called his dad yesterday
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: and said, hey, can you and little Dale come over
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: to this function that we're doing so you can see
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: some of the people and possibly some of our former
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: players because they have a class going.
• 3:58
  Speaker 3: Across the hall with some of our former players.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And there's a lot going on here today with the
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: expo itself, the educational piece.
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: They're talking about finances with young people. Then there's going
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: to be a luncheon. So there's a lot going on
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: and I wish our listeners and viewers could be a
• 4:19
  Speaker 4: part of this because it's amazing. I know it won't
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: be the last time. So share with me, based on
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: your perspective, what separates.
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: A young person who simply has talent from one who's
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: prepared for long-term success?
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: What's the difference?
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Commitment.
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Ah, key word.
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: They have to have a commitment and not just.
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: A commitment to learn to play this game, but a
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: commitment to learn how to be a better person, to
• 4:50
  Speaker 2: know how to approach someone and things of that nature.
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: And these are things that we talk to them about
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: when we're on the baseball field, when we're in educational
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: workshops and that kind of stuff. And also within our program,
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: youngsters do reports for me on the ancestors.
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: When we go to school.
• 5:11
  Speaker 4: The ancestors of what?
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: Of African-American people.
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: Just in general, not baseball players, but all African-American.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: George Washington Carver has done so much for our life,
• 5:23
  Speaker 2: not just for black people, but for people in general.
• 5:27
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: I've had an opportunity to visit Tuskegee University on several occasions.
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: The Tuskegee Airmen have a museum there. They also have
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: a museum on George Washington Carver. He had the first
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: vegetable truck in the United States, a truck that went
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: around the community selling vegetables to people to help them
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: improve their life. And if you look at the work
• 5:52
  Speaker 2: that he's done with the sweet potato and the peanuts,
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: it would blow your mind. But when they go to school,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: they don't hear anything about George Washington Carver.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: Madam C.J. Walker, Bessie Coleman.
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: Bessie Coleman was the first person to The first black
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: person to get a pilot license in the United States
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: and they had she had to go to France because
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: they would not allow a black person to be. They
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: would not allow a black person to be trained as
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: a pilot in this country.
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: Yeah, there are an incredible amount of untold stories. And
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: I am so glad that you're participating at this level.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: And I sure like to see a lot more being
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: done before we wrap up here. What I'd like to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: ask you is how did your relationship begin with the LVBNL?
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: And what does that connection.
• 6:43
  Speaker 4: Meant to you?
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: It has been, uh, uh, meant a whole lot, uh,
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: for the simple reason that the way that they, the,
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: Communication that they have with others and me being new
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: and not really a computer person. Paula does a tremendous
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: amount of putting information out on social media that can
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: help people learn more about our program, who we are,
• 7:16
  Speaker 2: what we do when we're on the field, when our
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: golf tournament is and all of these sorts of things.
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: We give a golf tournament every year in October and
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: we have for the last 20 years. And she helps
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: us with putting the word out for that because our
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: program is free to the youngsters. This is how we
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: are able to pay. The city don't let us on
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: the field without insurance and paying them.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: For use of their fields and these sorts of things.
• 7:38
  Speaker 3: So we need all of the assistance that we can get.
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: OK, well, I can't wait to have you back on
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: the show and talk a lot more about some of
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: these exciting things that you're doing. But my last question
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: for you is this. When the scoreboard is taken away.
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: What does winning really look like?
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: It's not a matter of the score, but how you
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: take it and walk away with.
• 8:06
  Speaker 3: When I say walk away with, walking away with a.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Good attitude, being able to congratulate the person that you
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: played against and those types of things. You have to
• 8:16
  Speaker 2: be able to, after the game, still be able to
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: move forward in life. and communicate with others win or
• 8:24
  Speaker 2: lose exactly yes because in our program we don't keep
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: score on the scoreboard yeah we're out there and we're
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: playing the game this is how you play this is
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: what you do here there and you know but the
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: main thing is having a good attitude and being able
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: to communicate with.
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: People because that's the only way you're going to get
• 8:45
  Speaker 3: through this life Well.
• 8:47
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for those words of wisdom.
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: And like I said, I can't wait for us to
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: sit down again and have another chat about this wonderful
• 8:54
  Speaker 1: organization and the lives that you are touching.
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for stopping by.
• 8:59
  Speaker 3: Coach Tate.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: Well, we thank you for allowing us this opportunity because
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: we don't get on often.
• 9:08
  Speaker 3: Thank you very much.
• 9:12
  Speaker 4: And I'll cut it off before I say anything else.
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Okay, I'm going to turn that off so I can
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: save my battery.
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: Okay, and you can just take your magnet off and
• 9:24
  Speaker 4: it's on the back. Oops, did it drop? On the
• 9:30
  Speaker 4: back side, you've got another one, a circle. Maybe when
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: you stand up, it'll fall out.
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 9:48
  Speaker 4: Well, oh, there it goes. Do you see it?
• 9:54
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 9:55
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 9:55
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: I invite nonprofits to have a table. Okay.
• 9:59
  Speaker 6: And I invite the community to come out and check
• 10:01
  Speaker 6: out what resources they have.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: We have so many nonprofits.
• 10:05
  Speaker 4: Yes. It's a chance to go somewhere and not work.
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: That's what I do, Amy. But you love that.
• 10:11
  Speaker 4: See, to me, I'm like, oh, my goodness.
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: It's my cookies not working. You know what truly is
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: working for me? What? Them personalities.
• 10:18
  Speaker 6: Yes.
• 10:19
  Speaker 3: That's the work for me. Where cooking would be a
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: challenge is work for Pam. It's not for me. For Pam,
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: that cooking would be work for her.
• 10:28
  Speaker 8: I've grown into being more of a human person now
• 10:33
  Speaker 8: that I have a business that I'm relying on to
• 10:39
  Speaker 8: keep the lights on.
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: I hear you.
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: However, when we retire and decide to launch this full-time, I.
• 10:48
  Speaker 8: Promised my wife that I would not stick my head
• 10:50
  Speaker 8: in the kitchen. You know, like the actor sticks his
• 10:52
  Speaker 8: head in the sand. I would not stick my head
• 10:54
  Speaker 8: in the kitchen because also our eldest daughter is on
• 10:56
  Speaker 8: our LLC as well. So she, um, she helps my
• 11:00
  Speaker 8: wife with the, um, with the, with the back, with
• 11:02
  Speaker 8: the back room paperwork and grants and all that stuff
• 11:06
  Speaker 8: like that. So, but yeah, um, I've, This is not
• 11:11
  Speaker 8: the same me from.
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: 15 years ago.
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: I wouldn't be doing interviews. I'd be pushing pants. Go, baby.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Go.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: You go. You go. I have evolved over the years.
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: Oh, well, that's a good thing. We all need to grow.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: And you want my company name on here as well? Yeah.
• 11:35
  Speaker 8: Oh, no.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Just put your stuff, whatever's on there. Okay.
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: And put Paula to work, she walked over here and
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: I was like, okay, take a picture of us.
• 11:45
  Speaker 2: Paula, can I put you to work?
• 11:50
  Speaker 4: Can you take a picture of us? Oh, she's going
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: to take it with her phone.
• 12:17
  Speaker 3: Oh.
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I definitely got an action shot with my name
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: in it.
• 12:24
  Speaker 4: Take a picture?
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: Oh, just us sitting here with the little backdrop there
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: so we can look professional.
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: All right. Thank you, ma'am. Now it's time for me
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: to go to work. Okay. Hi. You're looking for conversations
• 12:51
  Speaker 4: in exchange of money.
• 12:51
  Speaker 6: You guys have a question?
• 12:53
  Speaker 4: No, not here. No, no, we're not in that. We're
• 12:58
  Speaker 4: doing a radio show here.
• 12:59
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 13:08
  Speaker 6: Yeah, yeah. Paula took it.
• 13:10
  Speaker 4: That's why God made young people to have kids. Because
• 13:14
  Speaker 4: when you get older.
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Like all that noise, y'all sit down somewhere.
• 13:21
  Speaker 8: But until you have grandchildren and then you realize that
• 13:25
  Speaker 8: it's a do-over for all the stuff you didn't think
• 13:28
  Speaker 8: about that you would have liked to have done differently
• 13:32
  Speaker 8: or had another chance.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: To do better. That's why the good Lord bless the grandkids.
• 13:38
  Speaker 4: I didn't get no do-over yet. I ain't got no grandkids.
• 13:41
  Speaker 8: And see, my brother used to say, well, if I'd
• 13:46
  Speaker 8: have known grandkids was this way, I would have skipped
• 13:51
  Speaker 8: a step.
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: See, if you skip a step, you don't get the do-over.
• 13:56
  Speaker 7: Exactly.
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: You don't get the opportunity for the do-over.
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: That is funny.
• 14:01
  Speaker 7: Thank you.
• 14:01
  Speaker 3: All right. Thank you.
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: No, I've got this. I've got some water down there.
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: Thank you for thinking of that.
• 14:08
  Speaker 9: Oh, come on.
• 14:14
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: We have about eight or nine minutes to talk.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: And when we get down to the last two minutes,
• 14:23
  Speaker 4: I'll hold up two fingers. If you're still talking, I'll
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: hold up one finger. So let me find your questions
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: and I'll do Mr. Demetrius.
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: And you already signed your paperwork. This is about food.
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: Chef Walker Smith.
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: So this is a microphone with a battery.
• 14:49
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 14:50
  Speaker 4: This is going to go. You can put it on
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: your pocket.
• 14:53
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: And if you can, probably better on this side because
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: you're facing me.
• 14:58
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: And that's the battery. And then you put this on there.
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to turn it on so they're both green. Man,
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: you are so easy to work with.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Okay. And I'm going to start the timer and the recorder.
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: And then I got to tell this young man next
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: to me that we're ready to start.
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 15:27
  Speaker 7: Oh, okay.
• 15:29
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: Welcome back. It's without eventually talking about food.
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: And my next guest knows quite a bit about both
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: food and hospitality. I'm joined by Chef Walter Smith of
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: Sadie's Kitchen and Catering. Chef, thank you for being here today.
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: Thank you for having me.
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: It's a pleasure.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: Well, Sadie's Kitchen has a very personal story behind that name.
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: So will you tell us a little bit about that
• 15:59
  Speaker 4: name and how.
• 16:00
  Speaker 6: The business began?
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: The business started as a way to honor my mother's
• 16:04
  Speaker 8: legacy and heritage.
• 16:07
  Speaker 3: It's named after her.
• 16:11
  Speaker 8: And after her passing, we were trying to figure.
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: Out a way to honor her memory.
• 16:19
  Speaker 8: So we started cooking with my goddaughter's graduation. Her mother
• 16:25
  Speaker 8: was in the process of relocating to Atlanta from California.
• 16:30
  Speaker 8: And we started, we did all of our help with
• 16:33
  Speaker 8: all of her events.
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: And as you can imagine, a high school graduate.
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: Oh, my goodness.
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: And so.
• 16:41
  Speaker 8: After everything was over, we get a call about three
• 16:45
  Speaker 8: months later saying, are you available?
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: We're trying to throw a 75th birthday party for a
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: surprise party for our mom.
• 16:51
  Speaker 8: And I really hadn't thought about putting my hand in
• 16:53
  Speaker 8: the ring that way because up until then, I had.
• 16:55
  Speaker 3: Just cooked for family.
• 16:56
  Speaker 5: Oh, yeah.
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: And close friends.
• 16:58
  Speaker 8: So we did that event. A couple months later, we
• 17:00
  Speaker 8: get another call from some of you who then fast
• 17:04
  Speaker 8: forward about two years later, I get a call from
• 17:07
  Speaker 8: the lady who has the ministry, a kitchen ministry at
• 17:10
  Speaker 8: our church.
• 17:11
  Speaker 3: And she's a long story short.
• 17:13
  Speaker 8: She said, how have you been doing all this cooking
• 17:15
  Speaker 8: around me and not cooking with me in the kitchen
• 17:17
  Speaker 8: here at the church? Unbeknownst to me, she knew several
• 17:21
  Speaker 8: people that was talking about us from, from the events
• 17:26
  Speaker 8: that we have been doing. So, We started working with
• 17:30
  Speaker 8: her at the Church of Friendship Baptist Church in Brooklyn, California.
• 17:34
  Speaker 8: Shout out to Pastor Curry. And three years later, Ms.
• 17:40
  Speaker 8: Cecil decided to announce she's retiring and she's recommending me
• 17:47
  Speaker 8: to take over the ministry.
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: Okay. Well, you stepped right in it.
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: I'm telling you.
• 17:52
  Speaker 8: With both feet. Fast forward another three years. And we're
• 17:58
  Speaker 8: running the ministry, and we get the call that Pepsi's
• 18:02
  Speaker 8: going to be.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: I worked.
• 18:03
  Speaker 8: For Pepsi for 27 and a half years before I retired.
• 18:07
  Speaker 8: We get the call that they're shutting down the facility.
• 18:12
  Speaker 8: All the while, we've been catering part-time while I'm working
• 18:14
  Speaker 8: full-time at Pepsi. My wife is running a couple of
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: schools for Medicare in Southern California.
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: So we decided to.
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: Take.
• 18:27
  Speaker 8: my retirement, relocated here to Las Vegas. We launched the
• 18:32
  Speaker 8: business full time 45 days before we, after we opened
• 18:37
  Speaker 8: our doors, COVID started.
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: Oh my goodness.
• 18:40
  Speaker 8: But we feel it was a blessing for us because
• 18:44
  Speaker 8: it kind of leveled the playing field in terms of,
• 18:46
  Speaker 8: because nobody was doing catering. And so either you, you
• 18:50
  Speaker 8: either shut down or you found a way to pivot.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 18:53
  Speaker 8: Our pivot was we signed up with the delivery platform
• 18:56
  Speaker 8: to And even though it's kind of steep, the cut
• 18:59
  Speaker 8: they take is 25%, some almost 30%. Our thought was
• 19:05
  Speaker 8: 25% of something, 75% of something is better than 75%
• 19:08
  Speaker 8: of nothing. So after COVID, we regained our ground, continued
• 19:18
  Speaker 8: with our plan. And part of our pivot was We
• 19:22
  Speaker 8: started working some of that downtown.
• 19:24
  Speaker 3: We started working on our seasoning.
• 19:25
  Speaker 8: It was kind of like in the back of our
• 19:28
  Speaker 8: minds because people would always ask us, what did you
• 19:31
  Speaker 8: put on this?
• 19:32
  Speaker 3: And we would tell them.
• 19:35
  Speaker 8: And so that gave us time to get the label,
• 19:39
  Speaker 8: get the packaging, everything. So now we have two different products.
• 19:46
  Speaker 8: We have a sulfate product and we have a hot
• 19:48
  Speaker 8: product as well as as our regular seasoning. And the
• 19:53
  Speaker 8: hot version of our seasoning came out last October. And
• 19:56
  Speaker 8: so it's been a journey, but I've come to realize
• 20:00
  Speaker 8: in my 63 years now that it's more about the
• 20:04
  Speaker 8: journey than the destination because if you don't pick up
• 20:07
  Speaker 8: the lessons that the journey has for you, then the
• 20:10
  Speaker 8: destination means nothing.
• 20:11
  Speaker 4: Yes. And you're so right.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: And thank you so much for sharing that because sometimes
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: people don't really get the backstory. They just see someone
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: out there. They're being successful and they think, boy, I
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: wish that was me. But here you thought something bad
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: had happened during COVID and you got shut down, but
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: it turned out to be a blessing.
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: It leveled the playing field.
• 20:30
  Speaker 8: And because of the free marketing and advertising that the
• 20:33
  Speaker 8: delivery platforms were doing, It really gave us a chance
• 20:36
  Speaker 8: to get our name out here because we were new
• 20:39
  Speaker 8: to the game.
• 20:40
  Speaker 3: We weren't new to the industry. We were new to
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: Las Vegas.
• 20:43
  Speaker 8: And it really gave us a chance to get our
• 20:46
  Speaker 8: name out there. And so now, six years removed from
• 20:50
  Speaker 8: COVID and eight years here in the Valley, we were
• 20:53
  Speaker 8: part of the NFL Business Connect when the Super Bowl
• 20:55
  Speaker 8: was here. Our company was one of 150 companies that
• 20:58
  Speaker 8: were selected because we were able to cross.
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: Also, during that time, we got our federal certification.
• 21:04
  Speaker 8: We signed up with Made in Nevada because we have
• 21:06
  Speaker 8: a product that's produced here in Las Vegas.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: And so we were able to dot all the I's across.
• 21:12
  Speaker 8: All the T's for the NFL Business Connect. And now
• 21:14
  Speaker 8: it's coming back in a couple of years. So we're
• 21:17
  Speaker 8: already in that process. We don't have to start that
• 21:20
  Speaker 8: all over again.
• 21:21
  Speaker 4: Wow. I mean, that's laid out there. Thank you.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: Now, talking about what you do. People know that you cater,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: but who is your customer? And what do you want
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: people to experience when you're catering an event?
• 21:35
  Speaker 8: I can sum that up in our 30-second elevator pitch.
• 21:38
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 21:38
  Speaker 8: Have you ever been to an event where the atmosphere
• 21:40
  Speaker 8: was good, there was great conversation, and the ambiance.
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: Was good, but the food was just so-so?
• 21:47
  Speaker 8: Well, with Sadie's Kitchen and Catering, we want you walking
• 21:51
  Speaker 8: away talking about the food.
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: Just as much as the event. And part of our
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: goal is... is we treat everybody like family.
• 21:59
  Speaker 8: And Kexady's is a family-owned, federally certified women-owned business. Here
• 22:06
  Speaker 8: in Las Vegas, we have our own trademark seasoning and rubs.
• 22:12
  Speaker 8: And we are, like I said, we are made Nevada certified.
• 22:15
  Speaker 8: We are WBE certified as well. And we just love
• 22:25
  Speaker 8: serving good food to good people.
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: Well, thank you for that. I was timing him. It
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: was 35 seconds, but.
• 22:30
  Speaker 4: You did it.
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: Well, it's great to have a business and you're able
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: to cook and have ideas, but there's also the business
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: side of the business. And so what did you have
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: to learn about the business side that added to the
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: talent that you had?
• 22:50
  Speaker 8: Marketing, pricing, um, budgeting, um, And now that we've scaled
• 22:58
  Speaker 8: workman's comp, sales tax, insurance, but it's all been like
• 23:06
  Speaker 8: that journey that I spoke of earlier. It's not just
• 23:08
  Speaker 8: about buying some food, going in the kitchen, cooking it,
• 23:12
  Speaker 8: and serving it. It's about creating and being able to
• 23:17
  Speaker 8: give back to the community because that's also part of
• 23:21
  Speaker 8: our company mantra is community outreach and giving back. because
• 23:26
  Speaker 8: our slogan is two hands for a reason. That's the
• 23:29
  Speaker 8: hashtag on our website.
• 23:31
  Speaker 4: Two hands for a reason. I like that. Well, I've
• 23:34
  Speaker 4: got one other question for you because our time is
• 23:37
  Speaker 4: flown by. You're such an eloquent speaker and you've given
• 23:40
  Speaker 4: us so much information.
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: What about this relationship with the Las Vegas Business Network Mixer?
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: How has that helped you to make connections and grow
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: visibility in Las Vegas?
• 23:52
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 23:53
  Speaker 8: It helps tremendously. We've been connected with Ms. Paula now
• 23:56
  Speaker 8: for six years. We're part of the chef's corner at
• 24:00
  Speaker 8: the mixer. And we have grown exponentially as a result
• 24:05
  Speaker 8: of that relationship with Ms. Paula and Sebastian and the
• 24:08
  Speaker 8: large business network mixer. We eventually met our tax attorney
• 24:16
  Speaker 8: through Ms.
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: Paula.
• 24:18
  Speaker 8: We met our CPA through Ms. Paula, our banker through Ms.
• 24:21
  Speaker 7: Paula.
• 24:22
  Speaker 3: They were all part of the expos. And on top
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: of gaining new.
• 24:26
  Speaker 8: Customers and clients that remember us from the expo, remember
• 24:30
  Speaker 8: us from being part of the different entities, as well
• 24:35
  Speaker 8: as the Urban Chamber of Commerce, which my wife and
• 24:38
  Speaker 8: I are now members of the membership committee.
• 24:40
  Speaker 4: Awesome. Oh, very good.
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: We went from just being members to part of the
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: membership committee.
• 24:46
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: Well, I can't thank you enough for stopping by today
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: and sharing all of that, because So many times as
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: business people, there's more to us than what they see
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: when they look at your face.
• 24:57
  Speaker 4: And today you've opened up the door and you've let
• 25:00
  Speaker 4: everyone in.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: So thank you for that, Chef. And I can't wait
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: till the next time when we have some of your
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: tasty goodies.
• 25:06
  Speaker 3: Thank you for having us. It's our pleasure.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: Always.
• 25:10
  Speaker 4: Stay right with us. We'll be right back. He's got
• 25:19
  Speaker 4: his still running. I had to turn mine off. Yeah,
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: that was good. It might have been 15 years in
• 25:27
  Speaker 4: the making, but guess what? You're doing a good job.
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: Thank you. It's been an amazing journey. I started in
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: high school. I wanted to be a fighter jet mechanic.
• 25:35
  Speaker 8: I had epilepsy as a teenager.
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: I had the.
• 25:48
  Speaker 8: The background in math, I was strong in math and science.
• 25:51
  Speaker 8: When I took the ASVAB, I scored in the top
• 25:55
  Speaker 8: 95 percentile. But when they found out I was epileptic
• 26:00
  Speaker 8: and took medication every day.
• 26:02
  Speaker 4: They're like, no, you can't do that. No, boy, we're
• 26:05
  Speaker 4: not letting you in. Oh, my goodness. OK, so now
• 26:10
  Speaker 4: I've got two more people, Paula and Demetrius. And I'm
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: going to... Yes, yes.
• 26:17
  Speaker 6: Yes, I am. I am.
• 26:53
  Speaker 4: Here is this.
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: Put it under.
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: It's a magnet.
• 26:59
  Speaker 7: Oops.
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 27:22
  Speaker 4: You can click it right there on there.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: Okay. All right.
• 27:27
  Speaker 4: I see. I'm so cold. I need jacket on. Girl,
• 27:31
  Speaker 4: that's why you see me every time. I always got
• 27:33
  Speaker 4: some kind of coat or jacket on. Okay.
• 27:37
  Speaker 3: So. All right.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: Let me get my contraption going here. Got my phone.
• 27:48
  Speaker 4: And I'm going to turn this on. Yours is green? Yep. Yes,
• 27:54
  Speaker 4: it is.
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: And I got a timer here because I'm trying to
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: keep up with it. But since I'm so sorry that
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: Sergeant Dixie isn't here, I had some really great questions
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: for her.
• 28:04
  Speaker 4: She's not well. I know. I heard. She don't like
• 28:08
  Speaker 4: to tell people that, so when you talk to her,
• 28:10
  Speaker 4: don't respond.
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: No, I wouldn't say that.
• 28:13
  Speaker 4: You know, I respect that, but I know she is well.
• 28:16
  Speaker 7: She's not well.
• 28:17
  Speaker 4: And she's an older woman, and she's been through a
• 28:19
  Speaker 4: lot in her life.
• 28:20
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 28:20
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 28:21
  Speaker 8: So, Paolo.
• 28:22
  Speaker 4: I don't know where your lady is, your assistant, your producer.
• 28:26
  Speaker 4: She's supposed to be here. Okay.
• 28:32
  Speaker 2: All right.
• 28:33
  Speaker 4: I'll get one. No, I saw her with it, but
• 28:35
  Speaker 4: I was just busy.
• 28:37
  Speaker 5: So, okay.
• 28:37
  Speaker 4: Sam?
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: Sam?
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: You ready? Okay.
• 28:41
  Speaker 4: Okay. And I couldn't leave.
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: Today without spending at least a few minutes with the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: woman who helped bring all of this together. Paula Jackson,
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: we have been talking today with business owners, community leaders, organizations,
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: and people who have become part of the Large Vision
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: Business Network mixing story.
• 29:12
  Speaker 4: That's a whole mouthful, girl.
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: Yes, ma'am.
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: But I want to go back to where it all started.
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: 20 years ago, Paula, you said Las Vegas needs something.
• 29:23
  Speaker 4: And how did you come to that conclusion? Mainly being
• 29:29
  Speaker 4: invited to mixers.
• 29:31
  Speaker 5: Okay.
• 29:31
  Speaker 4: And they were done in nightclubs. Okay. And bars.
• 29:36
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 29:37
  Speaker 4: And the idea came.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 29:41
  Speaker 4: How are they really communicating? The music's loud. They're drinking.
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 29:46
  Speaker 4: Is there really any real business going on? And that's
• 29:51
  Speaker 4: how the idea came. Okay. Okay. When you think.
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Back to those early days and then you look around
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: and you see what you see.
• 30:01
  Speaker 4: What are you most proud of?
• 30:03
  Speaker 7: I am most proud of when I see, I run
• 30:07
  Speaker 7: into a business person I haven't seen in a while
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: that was part of the expo.
• 30:11
  Speaker 3: Oh, nice.
• 30:11
  Speaker 4: And they're telling me how much it helped their business. Yeah.
• 30:16
  Speaker 4: And it helped them with communicating with customers.
• 30:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:22
  Speaker 10: I'm more excited about that than anything is that there's
• 30:25
  Speaker 10: some results there with their business.
• 30:28
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: And during the course of interviewing people today, everyone has
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: commented and you weren't even here.
• 30:35
  Speaker 4: So they weren't saying it for your benefit, but the.
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: Comments were, I have gained so much by being a
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: part of this organization. It's put me on the map
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: and it's helped me to grow. And I really love
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: working with Paula.
• 30:49
  Speaker 6: How does that make you feel?
• 30:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 30:51
  Speaker 10: I feel like I've actually achieved what I set my
• 30:56
  Speaker 10: boundaries on, my steps, and what I wanted to do.
• 30:59
  Speaker 4: I really did.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: Well, 20 years is a long time for anything, Paula,
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: and especially when you come to business because most people
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: don't make it.
• 31:07
  Speaker 4: Past that five-year mark.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: What do you believe has really kept LVBNM relevant and
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: kept people coming.
• 31:16
  Speaker 4: Back month after month, year after year? Consistency.
• 31:21
  Speaker 7: Just being consistent and staying on top of what we're doing.
• 31:27
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 31:27
  Speaker 7: And meeting new businesses, small businesses every.
• 31:31
  Speaker 10: Day and inviting them to come in and sharing what
• 31:35
  Speaker 10: we have, you know, for the small business community.
• 31:38
  Speaker 4: Of Clark County. And Paula, just quickly for someone who
• 31:42
  Speaker 4: may not have.
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Attended an expo, Tell us a little bit what they
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: should expect if they want to come in and be
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: a part of this as a business.
• 31:54
  Speaker 10: I think the very first thing they need to think
• 31:56
  Speaker 10: about before they go to any expert is their presentation.
• 32:01
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 32:02
  Speaker 10: Do they have a proper presentation? I've seen over the years,
• 32:08
  Speaker 10: I would say every year.
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: I might see anywhere from 20 to about 80 business owners.
• 32:17
  Speaker 4: That last presentation.
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: And are you talking about marketing or are you talking
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: about business cards?
• 32:26
  Speaker 4: What? I'm talking about a little bit of everything. Okay.
• 32:30
  Speaker 4: They don't know what to do. Yeah. And they have
• 32:34
  Speaker 4: no idea how to prepare.
• 32:37
  Speaker 10: Now, at the Expo, since it's moved over to the
• 32:39
  Speaker 10: University of Reno, St. James, We have a presentation series
• 32:47
  Speaker 10: that we run ourselves.
• 32:49
  Speaker 4: Great. It's a whole presentation package on exhibits. Okay. Even
• 32:56
  Speaker 4: a one-on-one conversation with someone.
• 32:59
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 32:59
  Speaker 4: Try to cover a little bit of everything.
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: Yes.
• 33:01
  Speaker 4: Okay, that's awesome. So how can people get in touch
• 33:04
  Speaker 4: with you? The best way to just call the office
• 33:07
  Speaker 4: is 702-639-6964. Okay, and repeat that number one more time.
• 33:15
  Speaker 6: 702-639-6964.
• 33:18
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: You've seen thousands of businesses and people come through these
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: events over the.
• 33:26
  Speaker 4: Years, 20 years. That's a lot of faces, a lot
• 33:29
  Speaker 4: of people.
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: Is there something about watching connections happen between people when
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: they get here that still excites you?
• 33:37
  Speaker 4: When people meet other people, how does that make you feel?
• 33:41
  Speaker 4: It makes me feel good.
• 33:43
  Speaker 6: It's rewarding.
• 33:44
  Speaker 4: It's like, wow, she's my goal.
• 33:48
  Speaker 7: You know, actually, I really, really, I basically, about 55
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: years ago, started noticing it.
• 33:55
  Speaker 6: Oh, okay.
• 33:55
  Speaker 4: And the fact that I could be anywhere. I could
• 33:58
  Speaker 4: be in the grocery.
• 33:59
  Speaker 10: Store and somebody strolls by and they say, weren't you
• 34:02
  Speaker 10: a lady to put on that?
• 34:03
  Speaker 4: And I say, yes. And they say, wow, thank you.
• 34:08
  Speaker 4: My husband or my cousin or whoever it was.
• 34:10
  Speaker 7: They came to your expo and it helped them a lot.
• 34:15
  Speaker 4: The thing about it is that the expo is consistent.
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: It's like every month it grows on the person. It
• 34:24
  Speaker 7: allows them to grow themselves and it allows them to meet.
• 34:28
  Speaker 4: Other business people that they connect with. And I always
• 34:32
  Speaker 4: tell the business person, try to connect, try to find 10.
• 34:36
  Speaker 7: Good connections that you can actually learn from.
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: Right.
• 34:41
  Speaker 4: So when they're at an expo to find 10 people.
• 34:44
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 34:45
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 34:46
  Speaker 4: Because I think sometimes people.
• 34:47
  Speaker 1: Get overwhelmed if they go to a big expo and
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: there's maybe 50 or 100.
• 34:52
  Speaker 4: They don't know what to do. But what is the.
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: Mindset to find that 10?
• 34:56
  Speaker 4: What should you be looking for? A lot of it
• 35:00
  Speaker 4: is conversation. Okay.
• 35:03
  Speaker 10: In most cases, it's a very short conversation. At that point,
• 35:07
  Speaker 10: you know. And then that's when you ask for the contact.
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 35:11
  Speaker 4: You want to be a connector with this person.
• 35:13
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 35:13
  Speaker 7: Because this person will probably connect you to other people
• 35:16
  Speaker 7: as well as you can do for them.
• 35:18
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: And that is what it truly is all about. No
• 35:22
  Speaker 1: one does it alone. No one successfully does it alone.
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: Let me rephrase that.
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Well, Paula, I know you've got to get back to
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: handling the business at hand here, but I want you
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: to tell us right before you go, as you celebrate
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: these 20 years, what do you want the next chapter
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: of LVBNM to be?
• 35:46
  Speaker 6: Well, I'm already planning on that.
• 35:48
  Speaker 4: The next chapter is to go national. To go national.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 35:54
  Speaker 4: There'll be something. I will be like in one location,
• 36:00
  Speaker 4: but it will be national.
• 36:02
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 36:03
  Speaker 4: How interesting. I'm not going to spill things yet. You'll
• 36:07
  Speaker 4: hear about it. I know. Now she's got me intrigued.
• 36:09
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Okay.
• 36:10
  Speaker 4: Well, Paula, thank you so much. And again, before we
• 36:14
  Speaker 4: did this together.
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: I have been to many, many, many of your events,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: your expos.
• 36:21
  Speaker 4: And I always walk away with results.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: I always meet someone that I can connect with, that
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: I can work with. And I thank you for having
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: the forethought to create this and to keep it going
• 36:32
  Speaker 1: because it's not easy. Life has dealt us all kinds
• 36:36
  Speaker 1: of challenges. COVID, people get the flu, whatever the.
• 36:40
  Speaker 4: Case may be. But you have stayed on course. And
• 36:45
  Speaker 4: I thank you for that, Paula, because you've affected my
• 36:48
  Speaker 4: life as well.
• 36:49
  Speaker 9: Mimi, I just want to say one more thing.
• 36:53
  Speaker 10: I just want to say one more thing.
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 36:57
  Speaker 10: To those that are listening that are small business owners,
• 37:02
  Speaker 10: it is not about the immediate sale.
• 37:06
  Speaker 4: It's about the relationship. Yes. Because building relationships is going
• 37:11
  Speaker 4: to take you a long way. Absolutely. And that's something
• 37:14
  Speaker 4: I learned from you. And I wish I had learned
• 37:16
  Speaker 4: that sooner.
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: But I know I'm going to take Paula's class on
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: relationships because you really are the queen of relationships.
• 37:25
  Speaker 4: We'll be right back. How was it? I know you're not,
• 37:39
  Speaker 4: and you look relaxed, and I'm like, okay. It's like
• 37:44
  Speaker 4: a casual time. And I interview a lot of people,
• 37:49
  Speaker 4: and when they get done, they say, you know what?
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: It felt like a conversation. I'm thinking in the back
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: of my head, that's what it's supposed to sound like.
• 37:57
  Speaker 10: I think what a lot of people do in interviews,
• 38:02
  Speaker 10: they get frozen.
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 38:04
  Speaker 4: Therefore, they can't be themselves. And therefore, you don't get it.
• 38:09
  Speaker 4: The person doing the interview don't get.
• 38:12
  Speaker 6: What they expect.
• 38:13
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 38:15
  Speaker 4: So true. I like the fact that you've learned. I've
• 38:18
  Speaker 4: known you so many years. You've learned to be sharp
• 38:22
  Speaker 4: and to the point.
• 38:23
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 38:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: That's great.
• 38:25
  Speaker 4: And I almost didn't do this, Paula. I almost didn't
• 38:29
  Speaker 4: do this. And when Bruce asked me, I turned him down.
• 38:33
  Speaker 4: And then six months later, I'm like, girl, you're out
• 38:36
  Speaker 4: here looking for a job, looking for money. Do something
• 38:39
  Speaker 4: you already know how to do. But I thought this
• 38:41
  Speaker 4: was over for me.
• 38:43
  Speaker 9: But, you know, I thought this was open.
• 38:48
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: Shannon.
• 38:50
  Speaker 4: I had met Shannon at the chamber. I didn't know
• 38:52
  Speaker 4: her for a while. And I could never get any
• 38:55
  Speaker 4: money from Resorts World. I get turned down every time.
• 38:57
  Speaker 4: Shannon kept saying, when you're ready to do something, call.
• 39:03
  Speaker 4: I mean, it was like three years. She was, hey, girl,
• 39:08
  Speaker 4: are you ready to do something?
• 39:09
  Speaker 8: Yes.
• 39:10
  Speaker 4: Wow. You know. That's when I'm 20 years old. I
• 39:14
  Speaker 4: think I'm ready for something.
• 39:16
  Speaker 8: Okay.
• 39:16
  Speaker 9: But I explained to her, I said, see, I want
• 39:18
  Speaker 9: to do a test program. Then next year, I want
• 39:22
  Speaker 9: to really do what I want to do. Yeah, Because
• 39:25
  Speaker 9: now I know the building.
• 39:30
  Speaker 4: I just told you about the time.
• 39:32
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 39:33
  Speaker 4: I can't do this early enough. Yeah. Yeah. Because people
• 39:36
  Speaker 4: work all week long. And think about it. My expos
• 39:40
  Speaker 4: are afterwards.
• 39:42
  Speaker 6: I know.
• 39:42
  Speaker 4: And people are used to coming in the evening. Because Angela,
• 39:45
  Speaker 4: this morning, she's like, Mom, where are you going? I'm like,
• 39:48
  Speaker 4: I'm going to Paula's thing. And she's like, already? Angela
• 39:51
  Speaker 4: couldn't believe it. She's like, Mom, in the morning. I'm like, yes,
• 39:55
  Speaker 4: I'm going. So people that come to my thing are
• 39:59
  Speaker 4: the people that are open. Yeah. Or they're getting ready.
• 40:04
  Speaker 6: Yeah.
• 40:05
  Speaker 4: Because it's work time. So, hey.
• 40:07
  Speaker 10: So, what I thought about, I said, you know, when
• 40:11
  Speaker 10: I do this, I'm going.
• 40:13
  Speaker 3: To do it again.
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: Okay. Okay.
• 40:16
  Speaker 4: The doors won't open until after that. Probably the third.
• 40:21
  Speaker 4: And then it's going to be lunch. And I think
• 40:24
  Speaker 4: it's going to be lunch.
• 40:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 40:26
  Speaker 4: Had a talk with Dave. He's the vice president. He
• 40:29
  Speaker 4: said it's true.
• 40:30
  Speaker 3: What? What?
• 40:32
  Speaker 7: I went downstairs just now, and I saw an empty bus.
• 40:39
  Speaker 4: You didn't have to. I already had one. She's like,
• 40:44
  Speaker 4: Amy Jo, are you crazy?
• 40:45
  Speaker 7: She's trying to warm up.
• 40:48
  Speaker 4: I need to warm up and.
• 40:50
  Speaker 5: The drugs, girl.
• 40:50
  Speaker 7: I need them.
• 40:55
  Speaker 4: Me neither. Girl.
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Oh, girl, you got our sympathy, honey.
• 41:17
  Speaker 10: But you know what happens?
• 41:22
  Speaker 4: We just get enough of everything. And it's like, what? Stop.
• 41:27
  Speaker 4: I ain't trying to hear that. Then you went to sleep, right?
• 41:34
  Speaker 4: Embrace it.
• 41:35
  Speaker 7: When it first happened, I didn't even know what it was.
• 41:49
  Speaker 4: I remember because I was out on the road. That's
• 41:51
  Speaker 4: when I was doing the road show.
• 41:54
  Speaker 3: Oh, yeah.
• 41:55
  Speaker 4: I had to call my sister up.
• 41:57
  Speaker 10: I said, I don't know, something's wrong.
• 42:01
  Speaker 4: That is funny. Did she start laughing?
• 42:04
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 42:04
  Speaker 4: She said, you're having hot flashes.
• 42:06
  Speaker 7: I said, what?
• 42:08
  Speaker 6: But I have known women had it so bad.
• 42:10
  Speaker 1: You'd be standing there talking to me and beads of perspiration.
• 42:14
  Speaker 1: I never got it that bad.
• 42:16
  Speaker 4: Thank God. But I got more night sweats. I'd wake up,
• 42:19
  Speaker 4: my neck was wet.
• 42:22
  Speaker 6: Girl.
• 42:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: The night sweat is much better than that daytime stuff.
• 42:31
  Speaker 4: Oh, no. Girl, I'd be up there looking. Not today, girl,
• 42:41
  Speaker 4: because wait, Envy Energy's charging people. Okay, she's getting ready
• 42:46
  Speaker 4: to tell me some juice. You know what, Envy, I
• 42:49
  Speaker 4: got to tell you some juice.
• 42:53
  Speaker 6: What?
• 42:54
  Speaker 4: I got in a program about eight years ago. Seven
• 42:58
  Speaker 4: or eight years ago.
• 43:01
  Speaker 6: I don't even know what that means.
• 43:04
  Speaker 4: But when I first started out, I was kind of
• 43:08
  Speaker 4: like that.
• 43:09
  Speaker 10: Then a few years came back, and the thing said,
• 43:15
  Speaker 10: maybe that's it.
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: $ 80?
• 43:18
  Speaker 4: This year they sent me some.
• 43:19
  Speaker 3: $ 65.
• 43:21
  Speaker 6: No, Paula.
• 43:22
  Speaker 4: I don't know what program that is, but girl, what's
• 43:24
  Speaker 4: the name of it? I don't know. I just know
• 43:26
  Speaker 4: the bill. I remember when the lady came to the expo.
• 43:32
  Speaker 4: Do you realize, Paula, I got a bill for $ 600
• 43:35
  Speaker 4: the other day?
• 43:36
  Speaker 1: And I told them, I caught on the phone, I said,
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: how can one month I pay $ 160 and And now
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: I owe you $ 600, 000. And she said, oh, and this
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: was true.
• 43:48
  Speaker 4: This was true what happened. Because in July, my account
• 43:52
  Speaker 4: got hacked. And so the bill came in, but I
• 43:56
  Speaker 4: had shut the account down.
• 43:57
  Speaker 6: So it went back.
• 43:58
  Speaker 4: But everything's on automatic payment. And I didn't realize it. Then,
• 44:01
  Speaker 4: like a week later, I got it. It's like, you're
• 44:03
  Speaker 4: past due. And I'm like, how am I past due?
• 44:05
  Speaker 4: And oh, it had gone to a new account.
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: The next month, they sent me a bill saying, we
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: need a $ 320 deposit.
• 44:13
  Speaker 4: I'm like, for what? And they said, because you had
• 44:16
  Speaker 4: late payments. I'm like, honey, you check my record, just
• 44:19
  Speaker 4: that one.
• 44:19
  Speaker 6: Hi.
• 44:21
  Speaker 4: Okay. I'm good.
• 44:24
  Speaker 9: You know, I think what's going on with.
• 44:31
  Speaker 4: America right now is something that nobody ever knew.
• 44:45
  Speaker 6: Oh, is it now?
• 44:47
  Speaker 3: Oh, wow.
• 44:48
  Speaker 4: Time is cool. The timer, we have eight minutes. And
• 45:31
  Speaker 4: we may go a little bit over, but when I
• 45:33
  Speaker 4: have to, I'll hold my fingers up. And when it's done,
• 45:37
  Speaker 4: it's like.
• 45:37
  Speaker 6: Okay, boy, cut it.
• 45:40
  Speaker 3: Just cut off.
• 45:41
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 45:41
  Speaker 6: Do I need to get closer.
• 45:43
  Speaker 4: To the mic? No, no.
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: Sam?
• 45:48
  Speaker 4: Will this screening be a problem?
• 45:51
  Speaker 6: Okay.
• 45:52
  Speaker 4: He said that you need to get closer.
• 45:55
  Speaker 6: No, he said it'll pick up. Oh, okay.
• 46:02
  Speaker 4: The young kids are here now. Okay, so I'll do
• 46:08
  Speaker 4: a little intro before you talk. And then I'll just start.
• 46:12
  Speaker 4: And it is Demetrius Skinner, right?
• 46:14
  Speaker 6: Okay. Here we go. Okay.
• 46:33
  Speaker 4: Joined now by Mr. Demetrius Skinner representing Kids in Suits.
• 46:38
  Speaker 4: What is Kids in Suits?
• 46:41
  Speaker 5: Thank you Amy and Joe for inviting me here and
• 46:43
  Speaker 5: taking this time with you.
• 46:46
  Speaker 6: Kids in Suits is.
• 46:47
  Speaker 5: A program that I coordinated and brought together to show
• 46:50
  Speaker 5: children pretty much what they're going to learn when they
• 46:54
  Speaker 5: get their first job or when they make their first
• 46:56
  Speaker 5: bit of money. I teach kids on how to not
• 47:01
  Speaker 5: only save their money, but to use it for what
• 47:05
  Speaker 5: they need, buy a few of the wants, you know,
• 47:08
  Speaker 5: because we need that to, you know, feel good about ourselves.
• 47:10
  Speaker 6: But not only that, we also tell them to invest.
• 47:13
  Speaker 5: And so the idea is for them to make money
• 47:17
  Speaker 5: with the program and we have little New York life books.
• 47:20
  Speaker 5: So what we tell them is how we make our
• 47:22
  Speaker 5: money is we ask questions and we memorize what.
• 47:26
  Speaker 6: People tell us.
• 47:27
  Speaker 5: And so as long as we memorize and ask questions,
• 47:29
  Speaker 5: then we'll make our money. And so that's how the
• 47:31
  Speaker 5: kids go through. So we sent them on a tour
• 47:34
  Speaker 5: of professional locations. Today was the Resorts World location, which
• 47:37
  Speaker 5: was really awesome. They put our logo up everywhere throughout
• 47:41
  Speaker 5: the Resorts World, which.
• 47:42
  Speaker 7: Was really fun.
• 47:43
  Speaker 4: So we was able to take pictures of that.
• 47:45
  Speaker 5: But what they did is put the young people in
• 47:47
  Speaker 5: front of other professionals so that they could tell them
• 47:50
  Speaker 5: what their job site was, what they do, how much
• 47:53
  Speaker 5: they make, those.
• 47:53
  Speaker 6: Type of things.
• 47:54
  Speaker 5: So they can kind of see different professions and kind
• 47:57
  Speaker 5: of give themselves another opportunity to do something different.
• 48:00
  Speaker 6: In their lives.
• 48:01
  Speaker 4: That's amazing.
• 48:02
  Speaker 6: So once they go through.
• 48:03
  Speaker 5: That whole tour, they're making money by asking questions and
• 48:05
  Speaker 5: memorizing what's told to them. And once that's done, they
• 48:08
  Speaker 5: come back into the room. We have the Jasmine Ballroom
• 48:11
  Speaker 5: across the way where they go through the marketplace.
• 48:14
  Speaker 6: At the marketplace, there's their needs, which are school supplies.
• 48:18
  Speaker 4: Oh, so you had them ask people.
• 48:23
  Speaker 1: Somebody came up to us while we were recording and
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: they said, If we're asking questions, do you have money for.
• 48:29
  Speaker 4: Us or something?
• 48:30
  Speaker 6: There you go.
• 48:32
  Speaker 5: So we had a few other vendors be involved with
• 48:35
  Speaker 5: the money where the kids or young people were able
• 48:38
  Speaker 5: to come over, ask questions, make some more money so
• 48:40
  Speaker 5: they can go over and invest or buy more needs
• 48:42
  Speaker 5: over there.
• 48:44
  Speaker 4: That is amazing.
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: And so when you do an event with the kids,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: how much time does that take?
• 48:51
  Speaker 6: To prepare or just.
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: No, to actually have a class like today, how much time?
• 48:56
  Speaker 6: We try to cram it into two hours.
• 48:58
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 48:58
  Speaker 5: Really easy to do that because what happens is we
• 49:01
  Speaker 5: just kind of tell kids, just ask as many questions
• 49:04
  Speaker 5: as you can. Learn what you can from the professionals.
• 49:07
  Speaker 5: Then once we take the tour, that's pretty much the
• 49:09
  Speaker 5: bulk of the event. And then after that, we run
• 49:12
  Speaker 5: them through the market where they're buying and purchasing. But
• 49:15
  Speaker 5: then one thing about purchasing and financial literacy.
• 49:18
  Speaker 6: You got to know is tax it. Uncle Sam is always.
• 49:21
  Speaker 3: Going to come.
• 49:22
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 49:22
  Speaker 5: Once they go and they do their market, go through
• 49:24
  Speaker 5: the market and they purchase things and they invest their money,
• 49:27
  Speaker 5: if they have money left over, Uncle Sam comes by
• 49:31
  Speaker 5: and we tax them the funds that they have left over.
• 49:34
  Speaker 6: Now, the whole point of that is we tell them
• 49:36
  Speaker 6: ahead of time, invest your money.
• 49:38
  Speaker 5: Because these are tax-free or tax-deferred vehicles that you're able
• 49:43
  Speaker 5: to utilize and not get taxed, right?
• 49:46
  Speaker 1: You know, I love what you're saying, and I'm laughing.
• 49:48
  Speaker 1: You're probably looking at me like, why in the world
• 49:50
  Speaker 1: is she laughing? Because I know some adults who need
• 49:53
  Speaker 1: this training.
• 49:54
  Speaker 4: 100%.
• 49:55
  Speaker 2: You know what?
• 49:55
  Speaker 6: I laugh about that all the time. Because.
• 49:58
  Speaker 5: When we're doing it for the kids, we allow the
• 49:59
  Speaker 5: parents to stick around, right?
• 50:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 50:01
  Speaker 6: And they say things like, you got something like this
• 50:03
  Speaker 6: for us?
• 50:04
  Speaker 5: Do you got something?
• 50:07
  Speaker 6: But see, that's where it boils down to. We can
• 50:08
  Speaker 6: follow up with the family.
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 50:10
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 50:10
  Speaker 5: We can follow up with that parent and say, hey,
• 50:12
  Speaker 5: we can set up an appointment. We can tell you
• 50:14
  Speaker 5: more about what we need to talk about. And not
• 50:16
  Speaker 5: only that, the child knows, too. So that's a good
• 50:19
  Speaker 5: conversation starter on the ride home tour.
• 50:21
  Speaker 4: Absolutely. Or at the dinner table, right?
• 50:23
  Speaker 8: Yeah.
• 50:24
  Speaker 1: Well, what made you recognize that you needed to start
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: at this young age? And we're talking teenagers, or are
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: you talking high school?
• 50:31
  Speaker 6: No, we actually go as low as five years old.
• 50:33
  Speaker 4: No.
• 50:34
  Speaker 6: So it's pretty much school age.
• 50:36
  Speaker 4: Okay.
• 50:36
  Speaker 5: So I would say making sure that we can get
• 50:38
  Speaker 5: the young people all the way up to 18, just
• 50:40
  Speaker 5: for the simple fact that the 18-year-olds, they're going to
• 50:43
  Speaker 5: be right there, you.
• 50:44
  Speaker 6: Know, getting into the world a little sooner. Yeah. Those five-year-olds,
• 50:48
  Speaker 6: they're making money from grandma. They're making money from their parents.
• 50:51
  Speaker 4: Babysitting.
• 50:52
  Speaker 6: Yeah, right? And they're doing whatever they do to get
• 50:54
  Speaker 6: that little dollar, five dollars or whatever.
• 50:57
  Speaker 5: So we give them an idea right then too. And
• 50:59
  Speaker 5: so I'm a firm believer in you can't teach an
• 51:03
  Speaker 5: old dog new tricks. So I gravitated to the young people.
• 51:08
  Speaker 5: And it's been gratifying ever since.
• 51:13
  Speaker 3: I love that.
• 51:14
  Speaker 6: I love that.
• 51:15
  Speaker 4: Well, you're also putting an educational component with the finance.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: And why did you think that it was important for
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: children to see themselves in professional environments early in life?
• 51:28
  Speaker 5: Personally, my personal experience, me and a lot of people
• 51:32
  Speaker 5: that are in my circumstances growing up, we only saw
• 51:36
  Speaker 5: what was in front of us.
• 51:37
  Speaker 6: So that's what we thought we were going to be, right?
• 51:40
  Speaker 6: Basketball player.
• 51:41
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 51:43
  Speaker 6: Any type of thing that we saw in front of us,
• 51:45
  Speaker 6: that's what our career goes about.
• 51:48
  Speaker 5: But I had a few mentors growing up that would
• 51:51
  Speaker 5: take me to a college campus or take me to
• 51:54
  Speaker 5: different businesses, take me to different things so that I
• 51:56
  Speaker 5: could kind of see different aspects of life. And so
• 52:00
  Speaker 5: I figured that that was something that would happen. And
• 52:02
  Speaker 5: we had a kids in suits at our office up
• 52:04
  Speaker 5: in New York Life. And as I was walking the
• 52:07
  Speaker 5: child in, he said, how did you find out about
• 52:09
  Speaker 5: this job? And so I was like, you know, I
• 52:12
  Speaker 5: had a friend of mine that knew about it, but
• 52:15
  Speaker 5: it gave me the context. Like this child lives in
• 52:17
  Speaker 5: an area where they probably don't even know where this
• 52:19
  Speaker 5: building exists.
• 52:20
  Speaker 6: They can't see it from their home. So let's bring
• 52:23
  Speaker 6: them in.
• 52:24
  Speaker 5: There, have them get introduced to the people that work
• 52:26
  Speaker 5: there to give them another opportunity.
• 52:28
  Speaker 6: Like I said.
• 52:30
  Speaker 3: Wow.
• 52:32
  Speaker 4: So amazing.
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: And I have a nonprofit and I work with young
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: girls between the ages of nine and 15. And for
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: the same reason that you started young, I did as well,
• 52:41
  Speaker 1: because I knew once we got to the young.
• 52:45
  Speaker 4: People, they could take those lessons with them as they grew.
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: And we didn't have to start at 18, 19 trying
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: to unlearn behaviors.
• 52:55
  Speaker 4: Absolutely.
• 52:56
  Speaker 5: You know, a lot of times we always hear they're
• 52:59
  Speaker 5: not teaching this in school. They're not teaching this in school. Well,
• 53:02
  Speaker 5: I'm a firm believer in it starts at home.
• 53:05
  Speaker 4: It does, but unfortunately, it's not starting in a lot
• 53:08
  Speaker 4: of homes.
• 53:08
  Speaker 3: There you go.
• 53:09
  Speaker 5: So this is kind of me being the beacon, you
• 53:12
  Speaker 5: know what I mean, for those areas where, you know,
• 53:15
  Speaker 5: as long as you get to a kids in suits,
• 53:17
  Speaker 5: you're going to want to know.
• 53:18
  Speaker 6: More about the whole process or you're going to want
• 53:21
  Speaker 6: to come to the next one.
• 53:22
  Speaker 4: Okay, and so is that a continuing program? Is it
• 53:25
  Speaker 4: six months, a year, a life?
• 53:26
  Speaker 6: No, we've actually been doing it since last year.
• 53:29
  Speaker 4: No, I mean when a child enrolls.
• 53:30
  Speaker 6: Oh, when they enroll, yeah, they enroll. can come and
• 53:33
  Speaker 6: be a part of every Kids in Suits going forward.
• 53:35
  Speaker 5: Because the money that they make, if they don't spend
• 53:37
  Speaker 5: it all, once we give them the idea of holding
• 53:40
  Speaker 5: on to your money and investing in it, they can
• 53:42
  Speaker 5: use that money for the next events.
• 53:44
  Speaker 6: And our gifts and our prizes, they get a lot bigger.
• 53:46
  Speaker 6: So the more money that they make over the time
• 53:49
  Speaker 6: for the Kids in Suits, the bigger and better the
• 53:50
  Speaker 6: gifts they get.
• 53:51
  Speaker 1: So they could literally be doing this for a year
• 53:54
  Speaker 1: or two years.
• 53:55
  Speaker 6: We've had kids that have been part of the program
• 53:58
  Speaker 6: for a year.
• 53:58
  Speaker 5: Unfortunately, we only had about two that have been with
• 54:02
  Speaker 5: the whole program because we had some other kids that
• 54:04
  Speaker 5: had some things going on. But, yeah, a lot of
• 54:06
  Speaker 5: the kids, they already know. So I tell them they're
• 54:09
  Speaker 5: like our ambassadors. They can tell the other young people, hey,
• 54:14
  Speaker 5: all you got to do is ask questions and memorize
• 54:16
  Speaker 5: what's being told for you, and then you can win.
• 54:18
  Speaker 6: Or all you got to do is invest all your
• 54:20
  Speaker 6: money and then you won't get taxed. So these kids
• 54:23
  Speaker 6: are all the ones that are telling us.
• 54:25
  Speaker 5: Wow.
• 54:26
  Speaker 4: So how did you become connected with, uh, the Las
• 54:29
  Speaker 4: Vegas business networking group?
• 54:32
  Speaker 6: That's a great story. So, and you've got 60 seconds.
• 54:35
  Speaker 5: All right.
• 54:36
  Speaker 6: So this Brenda, Brian, uh, the, uh, UNR extension.
• 54:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 54:41
  Speaker 6: She's one of my mentors. Great person.
• 54:44
  Speaker 5: So what I did was went to go see her
• 54:46
  Speaker 5: speak at, uh, Urban Chamber event, she said, you need
• 54:50
  Speaker 5: to meet Ms.
• 54:51
  Speaker 6: Paula Jackson.
• 54:53
  Speaker 5: She introduced me to Ms. Paula Jackson and kind of
• 54:55
  Speaker 5: just walked away. And then me and Paula talked for
• 54:58
  Speaker 5: almost an hour about what she's doing. And so from there,
• 55:01
  Speaker 5: she asked me to assist her in the expo. And
• 55:05
  Speaker 5: so since last September, I've been assisting her with the expo,
• 55:09
  Speaker 5: helping her get the tables. We were going to pick
• 55:12
  Speaker 5: up the tables and start helping her with set up.
• 55:15
  Speaker 5: And then she invited us for the kids in suits.
• 55:17
  Speaker 3: At the expo.
• 55:18
  Speaker 4: Well, I love that concept.
• 55:22
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to contact you separately about my nonprofit
• 55:26
  Speaker 1: and see what we can do together because it's an
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: amazing program.
• 55:29
  Speaker 4: So, Demetrius, I want to thank you.
• 55:31
  Speaker 1: And I think any time we can help young people
• 55:35
  Speaker 1: understand money, opportunity, professionalism, and their own possibilities before they
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: become an adult, We're giving them some very important information
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: and they have a head start.
• 55:47
  Speaker 4: So thank you for what you do and thank you
• 55:49
  Speaker 4: for being here today.
• 55:50
  Speaker 6: Thank you for having me.
• 55:52
  Speaker 4: I appreciate it. And do you have a website?
• 55:54
  Speaker 6: Yes, you can go.
• 55:55
  Speaker 5: To Demetrius Skinner backslash NewYorkLife.com or you can find me
• 56:02
  Speaker 5: at Demetrius Skinner on any social media platform.
• 56:05
  Speaker 4: Okay. And do you spell it a special way?
• 56:07
  Speaker 5: D-E-M-I-T-R-I-U-S. Skinner, S-K-I-N-N-E-R.
• 56:14
  Speaker 4: There you go. There you have it. We're going to
• 56:16
  Speaker 4: take a quick break and we'll be right back. That
• 56:25
  Speaker 4: was great.
• 56:26
  Speaker 6: That was great.
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: And I'm glad you enjoyed it. And hopefully, you know,
• 56:30
  Speaker 4: we'll be doing some other things together because I know
• 56:33
  Speaker 4: what you're doing.
• 56:34
  Speaker 1: I've been doing what I've done with my group for
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: 20 years. I just celebrated my 20 years last year.
• 56:40
  Speaker 1: And it has not been easy.
• 56:42
  Speaker 4: And the dynamics of Las.
• 56:44
  Speaker 1: Vegas are changing. Funding's changing. The philanthropy has changed. And
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: so it's really, you know, it's a little bit harder
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: than when I first started.
• 56:54
  Speaker 4: It was just like hey, we're going to do this.
• 56:57
  Speaker 4: And now it's like, could you help?
• 56:59
  Speaker 5: That's crazy to say that because.
• 57:02
  Speaker 6: You've been doing this for 20 years.
• 57:03
  Speaker 5: Miss Paula told me the same thing. She's like, man,
• 57:06
  Speaker 5: when we first started, it wasn't as hard as it.
• 57:08
  Speaker 6: Is right now.
• 57:09
  Speaker 4: Seriously.
• 57:12
  Speaker 5: I kind of understand it because it's almost like, man,
• 57:16
  Speaker 5: the powers that be, I would say. Because last year
• 57:18
  Speaker 5: we were planning to do an event called Caesar's Palace.
• 57:22
  Speaker 6: Yeah. And You know, it was a good idea. Everybody
• 57:26
  Speaker 6: was thinking it was a good idea and they were
• 57:27
  Speaker 6: all for it.
• 57:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 57:28
  Speaker 6: But then there was like, well, where's the funding going
• 57:30
  Speaker 6: to come from?
• 57:31
  Speaker 3: It was supposed to come.
• 57:32
  Speaker 6: From them and get back out.
• 57:33
  Speaker 4: Yeah. And Caesars, I mean, they used to really.
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: Be in the community and try to help, but no.
• 57:45
  Speaker 11: I honestly feel like with the communication and the relationship
• 57:48
  Speaker 11: that I've built with David, that this is probably going
• 57:50
  Speaker 11: to be an opportunity for us to, you know, bring
• 57:53
  Speaker 11: people back to the strip type of thing.
• 57:55
  Speaker 4: Good.
• 57:57
  Speaker 6: And then see that professionalism type of thing. You know
• 58:00
  Speaker 6: what I mean? Because locals, they don't come on the strip.
• 58:03
  Speaker 4: No, they really don't.
• 58:04
  Speaker 1: And they've almost made it prohibitable to want to come here.
• 58:08
  Speaker 1: They took out free entertainment. They started charging for each
• 58:12
  Speaker 1: and everything. a cup of water, to park.
• 58:16
  Speaker 4: To park? We have to pay to park? Right. And
• 58:19
  Speaker 4: then they really saw a big hit, and then.
• 58:21
  Speaker 1: They said, okay, well, we'll let you have four hours
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: that you don't have to pay, but still. They sold
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: out all the entertainment, the restaurants. They used to be casino-owned.
• 58:32
  Speaker 1: Now they sell them to other people, and they're just
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: coming in like, this is our price, this is our.
• 58:36
  Speaker 6: Level of service, like, Yeah.
• 58:40
  Speaker 1: And then all of the philanthropy side, most of it,
• 58:42
  Speaker 1: they just started giving to big organizations.
• 58:46
  Speaker 4: It's not like they're not giving.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: Because the corporate responsibility is still being fulfilled, but they're
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: doing it with people.
• 58:52
  Speaker 4: Who already have a lot of money. Boys and Girls Club. YMCA. YMCA.
• 58:58
  Speaker 4: Girl Scouts.
• 59:00
  Speaker 3: You know the crazy thing is.
• 59:01
  Speaker 6: We've been involved with those programs, too.
• 59:04
  Speaker 5: Because they basically asked for us to come and do
• 59:06
  Speaker 5: a kids in suits with them.
• 59:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 59:08
  Speaker 6: So, but then they, there's no kickback. You know what
• 59:12
  Speaker 6: I mean? Like you said, they have a ton of money.
• 59:15
  Speaker 4: United Way.
• 59:16
  Speaker 3: United Way as well.
• 59:17
  Speaker 11: I actually had a meeting with United Way probably two
• 59:20
  Speaker 11: weeks ago.
• 59:22
  Speaker 5: They want to get involved as well. See, that's my thing.
• 59:24
  Speaker 5: Because we're doing the kids in suits program on a podcast.
• 59:28
  Speaker 5: We get donations here and there. But then for the
• 59:30
  Speaker 5: most part, like I say, we're trying to look for sponsors.
• 59:33
  Speaker 5: We're trying to look for all that stuff. So I
• 59:34
  Speaker 5: would really love to get to 20 years with the
• 59:37
  Speaker 5: Kids on Suits program.
• 59:38
  Speaker 6: So when you say it's tough to do.
• 59:40
  Speaker 3: That, I already know.
• 59:41
  Speaker 6: I've been doing it for a year and I've been
• 59:43
  Speaker 6: doing it.
• 59:43
  Speaker 1: So 20 years of this has been even more difficult,
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: especially through the pandemic when we totally shut down for
• 59:49
  Speaker 1: like a two-year period because you couldn't meet in person
• 59:52
  Speaker 1: with anyone. Everybody was afraid you're going to make somebody sick.
• 59:55
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 59:56
  Speaker 2: You know?
• 59:57
  Speaker 6: It makes sense.
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: So anyway, but yeah, so no, I look forward to
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: chatting and we'll have to have you come on the show.
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 6: Let me make sure I got your information.
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 4: Yes, and I'm digital now.
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 3: Me too.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 6: I'm glad you told me that because you know what?
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 5: Everybody's been giving me crap for not having actual.
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 6: Cards when that's the new wave. They always say you
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 6: got to get with the.
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 3: New technology, right?
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 6: And your blink, even better.
• 1:00:25
  Speaker 3: Yep.
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 7: Okay.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 5: Test, test.
• 1:00:40
  Speaker 4: All right, everybody.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 6: We're going to go ahead and start moving over next door.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker 4: For our leads.
• 1:00:49
  Speaker 1: You guys can go ahead and just come to the
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: lobby area.
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 3: And then we will let.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 4: You guys see each other for lunch. Thank you guys
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 4: so much for joining us. And I will see you
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 4: guys later.
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 6: All right.
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 4: And what are people supposed to do with all their stuff?
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 6: They may have it all pretty much secure.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 4: Oh, okay.
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 6: If you want to tell me which one you can. Yeah,
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 6: we pretty much came last night.
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 7: Yeah.
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 11: Okay.
• 1:01:28
  Speaker 4: Because I see some people like rolling out.
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 6: Some people can wrap up and bring.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 3: Their stuff out.
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 4: I don't know if.
• 1:01:34
  Speaker 3: You want to carry it all with you.
• 1:01:36
  Speaker 4: Well, I've done stuff like this for a minute. Okay, Mr. Sam.
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 4: Here's your golden baby. Thank you. Is that Muna? Yeah.
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 4: I remember that. Yeah, it's a good one.