October 29, 2025 • 25 mins
A crash course in how to tell good disaster relief efforts from the bad—courtesy of the story of BStrong.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:12):
So Hurricane Melissa is making landfall in Jamaica now now
one hundred and seventy five mile an hour winds. I've
heard them on the news saying it's like a buzzsaw
and that this is the worst storm in the world
this year or something like that. I saw some like
(00:32):
crazy data yesterday. My team, which has been all over
the world for disaster relief, but particularly in the Caribbean,
particularly in Puerto Rico for Maria, and in the Bahamas
and Hurricane Dorian and Florida disasters in North Carolina, and like,
we have a lot of experience with storms in the
(00:56):
South and in the Caribbean, and this is horrendous. And
my partner messaged me and said, like, this is going
to be very serious, and we are positioning ourselves and
this is exactly what we do. We have a giant
warehouse in Miami filled with aid. Be Strong. When I
say we, I mean be strong. Do you want to
(01:18):
get a story about be Strong? I don't think you
know the story because people ask about it and I
haven't really told the whole story here. So years ago
I was doing I had a charity and it was
called Be Strong, and it was to help women under
Dress for Success, so like ten to fifteen women at
a time and help them to get jobs and inspire
(01:39):
them and get them on their feed. And it was great,
but it was slow moving, and I wanted to do
something that felt more drastic. I'm not saying that it's
not critical helping mothers and people who used to be
incarcerated or addicts, et cetera. I mean there are many
charities that are important. And when I chose Dress for Success,
(02:00):
I had Skinny Girl, the cocktail brand, and I wasn't
allowed to align with any charity that had anything to
do with children because of the alcohol concept. So basically
I was watching TV. It was Hurricane Katrina, and I
was extremely impacted and moved, and I didn't have any
(02:23):
real money or influence, but I just was like wait,
and I remember George Clooney was involved in that, and
I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
How could I be involved in that?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
How could I help like their babies on medical lines?
And it just was like so so incredibly tragic, and
there wasn't really anything I could do. I wanted a
way that money could be donated directly in and we
had been we had taken donations in the past for
Dress for Success, but like I said, it was very
slow and low, and so they weren't prepared for, like me,
(02:54):
to drive money to be donated in because that's not
how they do it. They don't deal in like volume,
like money's flying in and they're just taking it. And
I never knew the difference between charity one to the next.
I have such an education. I could literally speak at
Harvard on this. I'm speaking at Harvard on something else,
but I could speak at Harvard on this, because most
people just think charity is charity. But like Dress for Success,
(03:17):
admittedly it was like, we are not equipped for this,
like they're equipped for money gets donated. They decide how
to allocate it over the course of time in an
organized manner. And good for them for being responsible to
say that, because I've seen many charities. I've seen many
celebrities go public and post a link and take in
money and then have nowhere to distribute it. You can't
(03:39):
just like take in millions of dollars or hundreds of
thousands of dollars and like just dump it on some
other charity. What if that charity doesn't have a means
to distribute it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
It's no different.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's no different than like dumping a bunch of fucking
drugs on somebody who doesn't have a means to distribute it,
or laundering money, although this is legal, meaning like not
everyone can distribute hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars,
And there were people that did it in the fires
in Australia, like trying to dump money on a small
fire station. It's like, what the fuck are we gonna
do twenty million dollars? Like you're giving people a problem
(04:10):
and it happens with AID two. I'll explain that later.
So basically I was like just jamming a fucking turkey
down dressed with success is throat and they were like whoa.
So for the one Harvey they indulged me in like
I was begging people to donate rain boots and they
(04:30):
said no. By the way, I remember I called Hoveyanas
they wouldn't give rainboots. I called Casper they wouldn't give mattresses.
Now I could get five thousand mattresses in my driveway.
It's like because now I have influence, but back then
I had nothing. And one of the biggest donations we got,
which kind of helped put us on the map was
from Tinsley. She and her boyfriend Scott I think donated
(04:52):
like ten thousand dollars, which was like very meaningful because
I kept increasing the tally and by the time I
got all the aid and the money and all the things,
the tally got to like three hundred thousand dollars in
kind and in money. And I went to Texas and
I went to Dress for Success and I flew on
(05:13):
my team and we distributed aid and I remember it
was cash cards and bras and all these things, and
Dress for Success was like, people really want a gift card.
They know exactly what they want. And it never left
me the dignity of them knowing what they want versus
like me assigning what I think they want. And this
would come to pass later. It wasn't easy to just
give out credit card cash cards, like there has to
(05:36):
be a relationship to a bank, and each one has
to have a number and the number has to allocate,
but the person who gets it, there's an intention to it.
So I parked that and remembered that when they said that,
and then I wanted to do something else because I
thought I had done it. And I remember because I
had done that. Someone called me and I went in
a helicopter to Mexico City. But it wasn't really Mexico City.
(06:02):
It was a town called Huhutla outside of Mexico City
where there had been a terrible earthquake. People were still
buried alive underneath the rubble. And so I went into
Mexico City and I met with this team that was
going to help me. They had offered to sort of
facilitate this for me, and then we tried to bring
in cash cards and it was a little more rogue
(06:23):
into these Mexican towns. And after us, they shut the
towns down because we found out that the two political parties,
very corrupt we had heard, were trying to take We're
seizing everyone's aid and going into those towns and distributing
it themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So it looked like they gave it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
They didn't want any other people coming in to distribute
aid in those towns.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So that was an education.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Then the Super Bowl came, then Hurricane Maria came, and
I thought I had some experience because I had done
these two things, and all I wanted was a plane.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I was like, I need a plane to take it
in there. And fill it with aid.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
More naivete as naive is thinking I could just jam
donations down dress a success's throat.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
So in this.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Case, I kept messaging all the rich people I know,
you know when in one with a plane, can I
use your plane? I was a nobody, I had no
street credit this so I said, okay, I'm going to
charter a plane. So I remember, I think it was
like thirty thousand dollars or something, calling up some of
these cargo plane companies are chartered playing companies don't remember,
(07:37):
and saying I'm chartering a plane and paying for it.
And then it was like, what am I filling it with?
So I thought we were going to go to Costco
as I've done before, and fill the plane with Costco aid.
In the meantime, this woman, Jennifer Bell, who always thanks
me for mentioning her, I was speaking to her and
(07:58):
asked her, because she's wealthy, if she knew of any
more of the plane. And she said, I know this
girl who's working with this guy Michael, and he has
this initiative or he has a charity global empowerment mission.
I don't know if she told me that. I know
it now so we start talking. He says, we will
help you fill the plane with egg. Can we go
(08:19):
on the mission with you? I don't realize that he's
run sixty missions to Haiti, but he's bootstrapping it.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
He has no influence.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
He's known because he used to build big expensive houses
in real estate, and before that he was in the
nightclub business and he used to hang out with like
Ingrid Cassaris and Madonna. But I was on TV no
one gives a shit in another arena, like you have
to get your own legs and street cred. So I was,
you know, marginally famous at that point. I mean I
was known, but it wasn't like what it is now.
(08:49):
But he picked me up at the airport and he
was super excited. We had met years ago, and he
was a hot shot back then. I remember like he
thought he was handsome and like he barely even acknowledged me,
but he was.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
He came in hot.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I got off the plane and he was like assigning
my life to me. He was like, Okay, so we
need to do this thing and you could be like
on the board and you could run it and you
could whatever. Because you know, his charity was doing fine.
But every time he had to start fresh and raise
money as if he had never done it before. It's
very hard to raise money and even harder to distribute it.
But he had had experience because he had been in Haiti,
(09:26):
where like Sean Penn was in a tent for months,
and he had done the things, and he had dedicated
his life to philanthropy after having a life of debauchery
and nightclubs. And I won't go into much more detail.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He could do that.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
So he's like jamming down my throat what it's gonna be.
I'm like, wait, bro, I have a young child, Like
I'm doing this one mission, Like this is not my life.
I'm not running this. I'm not your mask. Like he
was like, you'll run it, you'll tell us what. I
was like, WHOA. So we show up at his warehouse
and there's nothing in it. It's like a small fine
warehouse with nothing in it. It's totally disorganized. It's like
(10:11):
a hodgepodge. And I will forever say this guy, Michael,
and I I have never met a person who can
keep up with me, who can execute what I want
but still be authoritative in his own way and what
he knows, but also defer to me on what I know,
and he has never said no to me. He's like
the relief were a husband of a lifetime because I
walked in that warehouse and I've met no experience in
(10:32):
relief for two missions. And I go in there and
I'm like, listen to me, Listen to me, forgetting me,
forgetting me get involved. I'm like, listen, this needs to
get organized, like this place has to be organized like
I would envision in a place like this. And by
the way, he had no way no means no money,
no street cred, no no. Yes he had contacts, but
not like to be like on a loop donating millions
(10:53):
of dollars of aid like we do now. So it
was the perfect combination. It literally was the perfect combination.
So it was like someone every famous who's broke marrying
someone who really wants to be in the limelight, but
as a ton of money, like a real good combination.
So I walk in this warehouse and I'm like, listen,
this needs to be merchandise. This needs to feel like
a costco. This seeds to feel like an assembly line.
(11:14):
You need to create like crisis kits that you're gonna
box up. So it's easy or not. And I learned
this along the way. This was like sort of something
I said because I just envisioned it like how it
would go, Like it would be like here's where dogs
food is, here's where cleaning supplies. But there was nothing
in this warehouse. Really, we like figured out how to
get stuff at Costco and fill the warehouse. And sometimes
(11:35):
it's cheaper to go to the place you're going to,
like when we went to Guatemala and buy the aid,
because sometimes you're not gonna spend all the money for
trucking and stuff like that. But nevertheless, I was like,
we need you. Theoretically, if I ever worked with you,
you have to get this organized. Like I'm the most
organized person. I can't even stand in here with this
not being more merchandized. So also, we get the plane
(12:00):
and we're going there. I will tell you fifty three
planes later in and out of Puerto Rico. Never one
time did someone ask us for a driver's license or
a passport. We were taking people in and out of
Puerto Rico. Thank god, we were doing nothing unto ward
and thank god it was all like injured and people
who like needed to be back with their families an
in dire situation and a relative who's got a medical situation,
(12:22):
and we were bringing in aid and dedicated missions. We
brought in two celebrities for their missions, and we were
bringing and just everything else, the habbad, the Bible Belt
like everything, and then we were bringing out, you know,
desperate people. And the reason for the planes and not
the cargo ships was there was a thing called the
Jones Act where you couldn't bring boats into that harbor
(12:45):
during this time. So the planes were what we had
to do. And during that time, Ellen donated a plane,
Steve Harvey donated a plane, someone donated three planes. I
don't know if it was Ellen or Steve Harvey. I
don't remember Elvis Duran like I was like Oprah with planes,
Like people were just donating plans. I was fucking on fire.
We did I think what was like fifteen million dollars
in In addition, people around the country were raising aid. Because
(13:09):
everybody jumps up and is like, oh my god, I'm
posting a link, and people those random links of things
they don't even know, and they don't really understand who's
running it. Just because the celebrity posts a link does
not mean they have any clue what that link means,
and they don't even really know how the person who's
running it is.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I saw celebrities during.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The beginning of Ukraine get together to raise money, and
then we looked into who the money was going to,
and these people have no experience in disaster relief, but
they're a list people, so people are going to just
go with them. And it's like no, and we were
nobody's from a brand perspective, so we couldn't really say anything.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
In my partner'd be like, what the fuck.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
So anyway, we started doing these missions and then later
we ended up doing cargo ships. But during this whole trip,
I we first started and we were like days. It
was right after Rump went there and the paper towel incident,
and we were after that. People were still waiting on
their roof like desperate, rationing water for help, like it
(14:10):
was a disaster. And we went to the state building
and everyone was in khakis and like and like clipboards
because I thought we were gonna do things totally like
ask for permission in the beginning. We became real like
red tape cutters after that because and now we have
all the relationships with all the governments. But but back
then we were totally rogue and we were trying to
(14:30):
ask them.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
But I was like, what are these.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
People doing with coffee and like khakis, Like is aren't
there people fucking dying here with no electricity or water?
So we just went out to the like communities not
that far from like where this air conditioning building was,
and we were on the street with these trucks toilet paper, formula, everything,
and people were waiting onlines, like begging for it. And
(14:52):
I was like, these people need dignity, Like how did
we This may not be the formula they want, like
the diaper size they want, like there's humans.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So that was how I was like, no, these cash cards, we.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Will have to give out basic aid, but it should
be rationed off by households so people could have the
dignity to have their own box for their house, take
it home, and like distribute it as they need with
things they'd want, like chargers and blankets and water and
hydration and things they would need. But like, we're going
to have to come up with a cash card program
so once once they're back on their feet, they can
(15:23):
infuse money into their community. Get exactly what they need
and keep the money right there and have some dignity also,
So it started a model. Anyway, the number of missions
is I could not even count. I can't even remember.
And the amount of money I think is close to
half a billion dollars. And now you know, I bring
(15:44):
it up to people to donate, they want to know
how to donate, and most of the money has come
from you, and the awareness has come from you. But yes,
now billionaires just call us and say, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Here's a check.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
And I used to be on the plane going to
Guatemala sitting and coach leaving Britt and crying about that
because she was younger. And I used to be going
to Puerto Rico multiple times and to the Bahamas and
rescuing dogs and also working harder, not smarter. We used
to be in I used to be in What's app
Chat so obsessed with every fucking problem everyone had that
I would be talking to two hundred people, and like,
(16:16):
now I don't do it that way anymore. Now you
cannot please everybody. You have to be efficient. We're raising
tens of millions of dollars and we have the trust
and I don't have to explain every single thing anymore,
because from Matthew McConaughey to Billy Joel to the Carolina
Panthers to Steve Cohen and the Mets, to Amazon, to Delta,
to Away Bags, to Goya and the shipping company, you
(16:39):
see United Carriers like they come to us because they know,
like we now have a warehouse that looks like the
most organized, detailed costco labeled merchandise like Chef's kiss. And
I don't take credit for anything that I didn't do.
Like I used to go on all the missions, I
don't go on all the missions anymore. I go to
(17:00):
the warehouse to spread awareness and to go inspire the team.
I raise money. I guess went to the California for fires.
But like there's a team that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Does it all.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
My ex used to say, stop beating yourself up. The
president of Coca Cola doesn't need to be filling every
bottle with Coca Cola. And I'm like, okay, but like
what I will take credit for and none of us
take credit. I mean the team, Kimberly Michael, they do
fucking everything.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I do not want any credit, okay, but what I
will say is like in any business, like I laced
the track, he rocks the flow, like I created the models,
like this is the architectural plan for what this is
going to be, Like this is how a relief effort
should be as a business person, and then the combination
of us like that we are untouchable.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
We did.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Tens of millions of dollars of hazmat suits and masks,
and literally I had I think it was ten to
thirteen semis pulling up to Albany during the Cuomo era
bringing has mat suits and like bringing masks to de Blasio,
like there's nobody we haven't touched. Every government was calling
us like we are fucking gangsters. Okay, we are. There's
(18:09):
nobody faster, better, more quick, efficient, like we do it.
So now the super Bowl of fucking Caribbean disasters in Jamaica,
(18:32):
Melissa is happening, hitting landfall as we speak, one hundred
and seventy five mile wins. They have no infrastructure for this.
It will chatter them to the core and we rebuild.
We've done I think it was seven hundred roofs in
Jamaica before. We have two warehouses in Jamaica in Kingston,
just like we had two warehouses in Poland, just like
(18:52):
we had a big warehouse in La and that model
has stuck.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
My model is global.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Like the day I walked in there, not knowing anything,
I knew that it needed to feel organized. My model
of the boxes like that get dropped off in front
of the home so you can build something and then
it can grow into something that doesn't even involve you
day to day anymore. But in Poland there are crisis kits,
something that I created, and there are cash cards, so
(19:23):
an individual gets an actual credit card.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
It looks like a credit card to go bring to
a store.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And the dignity concept, this has been something that I
was talking about long ago, and now everyone is talking
about it. Since you go to the Hollywood Bowl and
people are digging through dirty clothes, like it.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Just doesn't matter if someone's poor.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
They don't want to wear a dirty shirt that's not
their size, Like what will make someone feel less dignified
than having lost everything they own and family members and
like an ankle deep vermin and they only have God
and clutching to their baby, and then they're gonna put
on a filthy shirt like do bad better, don't dump
your trunk full of clothes and people want to feel
(20:04):
better by doing that to get it at and they
just go want to clear out their closet, and no,
it doesn't make anything feel better. And you can fight
me as much as you want. Yes, I'm criticizing the
way you do it. Nobody nobody wants it. They need
to feel dignified. That's the only thing they have left
is some version of pride. They're in a car on
a line in many cases, like bringing a pack of
(20:25):
people because they don't even have their own car, and
they're sitting there with their handout to take a cash
card in a box to bring back of rice and
chargers and blankets. The last thing you need is some
dirty clothes. So give a gift card, give money, find
a way to go to your church and bring together
the bake sale and give the smallest amount of money,
(20:45):
whatever you want to do.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
But it's not your dirty clothes.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Because you also give the people at the Hollywood Bowl
something to stress out about, something to have to work
and sort through, and you're giving them a labor project
and they can't focus on what they really need to
focus on, which is being lean and helping people who
have a real situation.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I've never told this story and that's where we are today.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So today I wake up in pajamas and I explained
to everybody we're on the case, and yes, I want
to remind people who never heard about it how it works.
And we've never had a pamphlet. These are models that
I created. I'm like, I don't want a pamphlet. I
don't want to rub a chicken dinner. I don't want
to spend a damn dime on a chair and a
(21:26):
linen and of some caviar. Like a pomp and circumstance
concert that everybody had to have a rider and snacks
and glam and a warehouse and it was performances. The
money was a raised in the room. The money was
raised the week before. This is literally money directly to
the people. And we went to the surf Side disaster
where the building collapsed and the people were watching on
(21:50):
the news, Oh, X million dollars were raised or the
Bronx fires X million dollars. They're like, we didn't see
that money. And we know because my team goes and
talks to everybody in the condos that will talk to
us to help them relocation.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
This happened in Ukraine, refugees.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
You can be four Palestine, you can be for Israel,
you could be for pro Russia, pro Ukraine. I don't
care save lives, but it's direct to the people. Money
to the people, cash cards to the people, aid to
the people. Whether it's Evel Longori at the California fires
or other people their orgs, they come through to us
and we distribute. So many of the celebrities that you
(22:28):
see asking for donations, Zoe Saldano like, they're coming to
where we are because we are tight and right. You
don't need to start on your own. We've got it
right there. We've got the costco of aid that has
a massed aid from often all over the country, sometimes.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
All over the world.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Sometimes is it remnants suitcases as it last year's you know,
ten thousand T shirts, whatever it is, but that's what
happened during Hurricane Maria.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
That was a model.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Another model we created where we would start basically saying
to people who it's illegal to take aid and you
can't distribute it, but they had no way to distribute it,
so we would be the distributors of it.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And it was unbelievable. So we still do that now.
We don't take.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Small amounts because we move major product and I don't
care about that, like meaning, I don't mind saying something.
I'm really sorry. No, we're not going to take like
a mismatched bunch of T shirts and jeans. And I
really appreciate it. I know it's new, and I thank
you because we're dealing in big game hunting. You have
a plane, you have real volume, and AID. I'm your
(23:30):
girl because we can move like we will distribute AID
in the most efficient way that will help people affect
their lives. And everyone knows it's true, and I'm so
I'm so proud of that, more than anything in the world.
And you guys are the ones that did this. The
word of mouth, the messaging, the letting me know how
(23:52):
much you want to hear about it, the forwarding, the telling,
the talking, the passion, the pictures, the images, the sharing,
the telling. I don't know them. I often don't even
know when a disaster's coming. My partners do. But I
know how to raise money. I know what to do.
I know how to lay the tracks. And I'm a
business person. And Jessa, you know, you go do research
on me or anyone else. You make sure you know
where that money's going, even if it's a dollar. This
(24:14):
is like your four oh one K. If you don't
go dig give money to some celebrity who posted a
picture of a que koala because you know them from
a TV show. You go give money to a fucking
gangster business person who can follow through and is going
to communicate with you and be transparent, and you know
how much is going.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
We've gone.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
We went to Hurricane Harvey and saw the big charity,
the big charity. They were staying at the Waldorf. We
know the numbers and how much they they cut out
for themselves and for their bureaucracy, which is necessary, but
how much we know that the A list celebrity that
came with me to Puerto Rico had gone to the
big charity and said, I have thirty thousand dollars I
(24:54):
want to charter a plane. They're like, we don't do that.
They came to me. We know that that's happened many
times because we don't fuck around period the end. So
it's a direct to consumer model for the people. So
with that, I bid you ado Bethany dot com slash
be strong.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
One goes to the effort spread the word love you guys,
So Hurricane Melissa is making landfall in Jamaica now now
one hundred and seventy five mile an hour winds. I've
heard them on the news saying it's like a buzzsaw
and that this is the worst storm in the world
this year or something like that. I saw some like
(00:32):
crazy data yesterday. My team, which has been all over
the world for disaster relief, but particularly in the Caribbean,
particularly in Puerto Rico for Maria, and in the Bahamas
and Hurricane Dorian and Florida disasters in North Carolina, and like,
we have a lot of experience with storms in the
(00:56):
South and in the Caribbean, and this is horrendous. And
my partner messaged me and said, like, this is going
to be very serious, and we are positioning ourselves and
this is exactly what we do. We have a giant
warehouse in Miami filled with aid. Be Strong. When I
say we, I mean be strong. Do you want to
(01:18):
get a story about be Strong? I don't think you
know the story because people ask about it and I
haven't really told the whole story here. So years ago
I was doing I had a charity and it was
called Be Strong, and it was to help women under
Dress for Success, so like ten to fifteen women at
a time and help them to get jobs and inspire
(01:39):
them and get them on their feed. And it was great,
but it was slow moving, and I wanted to do
something that felt more drastic. I'm not saying that it's
not critical helping mothers and people who used to be
incarcerated or addicts, et cetera. I mean there are many
charities that are important. And when I chose Dress for Success,
(02:00):
I had Skinny Girl, the cocktail brand, and I wasn't
allowed to align with any charity that had anything to
do with children because of the alcohol concept. So basically
I was watching TV. It was Hurricane Katrina, and I
was extremely impacted and moved, and I didn't have any
(02:23):
real money or influence, but I just was like wait,
and I remember George Clooney was involved in that, and
I was thinking.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
How could I be involved in that?
Speaker 1 (02:32):
How could I help like their babies on medical lines?
And it just was like so so incredibly tragic, and
there wasn't really anything I could do. I wanted a
way that money could be donated directly in and we
had been we had taken donations in the past for
Dress for Success, but like I said, it was very
slow and low, and so they weren't prepared for, like me,
(02:54):
to drive money to be donated in because that's not
how they do it. They don't deal in like volume,
like money's flying in and they're just taking it. And
I never knew the difference between charity one to the next.
I have such an education. I could literally speak at
Harvard on this. I'm speaking at Harvard on something else,
but I could speak at Harvard on this, because most
people just think charity is charity. But like Dress for Success,
(03:17):
admittedly it was like, we are not equipped for this,
like they're equipped for money gets donated. They decide how
to allocate it over the course of time in an
organized manner. And good for them for being responsible to
say that, because I've seen many charities. I've seen many
celebrities go public and post a link and take in
money and then have nowhere to distribute it. You can't
(03:39):
just like take in millions of dollars or hundreds of
thousands of dollars and like just dump it on some
other charity. What if that charity doesn't have a means
to distribute it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
It's no different.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
It's no different than like dumping a bunch of fucking
drugs on somebody who doesn't have a means to distribute it,
or laundering money, although this is legal, meaning like not
everyone can distribute hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars,
And there were people that did it in the fires
in Australia, like trying to dump money on a small
fire station. It's like, what the fuck are we gonna
do twenty million dollars? Like you're giving people a problem
(04:10):
and it happens with AID two. I'll explain that later.
So basically I was like just jamming a fucking turkey
down dressed with success is throat and they were like whoa.
So for the one Harvey they indulged me in like
I was begging people to donate rain boots and they
(04:30):
said no. By the way, I remember I called Hoveyanas
they wouldn't give rainboots. I called Casper they wouldn't give mattresses.
Now I could get five thousand mattresses in my driveway.
It's like because now I have influence, but back then
I had nothing. And one of the biggest donations we got,
which kind of helped put us on the map was
from Tinsley. She and her boyfriend Scott I think donated
(04:52):
like ten thousand dollars, which was like very meaningful because
I kept increasing the tally and by the time I
got all the aid and the money and all the things,
the tally got to like three hundred thousand dollars in
kind and in money. And I went to Texas and
I went to Dress for Success and I flew on
(05:13):
my team and we distributed aid and I remember it
was cash cards and bras and all these things, and
Dress for Success was like, people really want a gift card.
They know exactly what they want. And it never left
me the dignity of them knowing what they want versus
like me assigning what I think they want. And this
would come to pass later. It wasn't easy to just
give out credit card cash cards, like there has to
(05:36):
be a relationship to a bank, and each one has
to have a number and the number has to allocate,
but the person who gets it, there's an intention to it.
So I parked that and remembered that when they said that,
and then I wanted to do something else because I
thought I had done it. And I remember because I
had done that. Someone called me and I went in
a helicopter to Mexico City. But it wasn't really Mexico City.
(06:02):
It was a town called Huhutla outside of Mexico City
where there had been a terrible earthquake. People were still
buried alive underneath the rubble. And so I went into
Mexico City and I met with this team that was
going to help me. They had offered to sort of
facilitate this for me, and then we tried to bring
in cash cards and it was a little more rogue
(06:23):
into these Mexican towns. And after us, they shut the
towns down because we found out that the two political parties,
very corrupt we had heard, were trying to take We're
seizing everyone's aid and going into those towns and distributing
it themselves.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
So it looked like they gave it.
Speaker 1 (06:42):
They didn't want any other people coming in to distribute
aid in those towns.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
So that was an education.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
Then the Super Bowl came, then Hurricane Maria came, and
I thought I had some experience because I had done
these two things, and all I wanted was a plane.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I was like, I need a plane to take it
in there. And fill it with aid.
Speaker 1 (07:07):
More naivete as naive is thinking I could just jam
donations down dress a success's throat.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
So in this.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Case, I kept messaging all the rich people I know,
you know when in one with a plane, can I
use your plane? I was a nobody, I had no
street credit this so I said, okay, I'm going to
charter a plane. So I remember, I think it was
like thirty thousand dollars or something, calling up some of
these cargo plane companies are chartered playing companies don't remember,
(07:37):
and saying I'm chartering a plane and paying for it.
And then it was like, what am I filling it with?
So I thought we were going to go to Costco
as I've done before, and fill the plane with Costco aid.
In the meantime, this woman, Jennifer Bell, who always thanks
me for mentioning her, I was speaking to her and
(07:58):
asked her, because she's wealthy, if she knew of any
more of the plane. And she said, I know this
girl who's working with this guy Michael, and he has
this initiative or he has a charity global empowerment mission.
I don't know if she told me that. I know
it now so we start talking. He says, we will
help you fill the plane with egg. Can we go
(08:19):
on the mission with you? I don't realize that he's
run sixty missions to Haiti, but he's bootstrapping it.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
He has no influence.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
He's known because he used to build big expensive houses
in real estate, and before that he was in the
nightclub business and he used to hang out with like
Ingrid Cassaris and Madonna. But I was on TV no
one gives a shit in another arena, like you have
to get your own legs and street cred. So I was,
you know, marginally famous at that point. I mean I
was known, but it wasn't like what it is now.
(08:49):
But he picked me up at the airport and he
was super excited. We had met years ago, and he
was a hot shot back then. I remember like he
thought he was handsome and like he barely even acknowledged me,
but he was.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
He came in hot.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
I got off the plane and he was like assigning
my life to me. He was like, Okay, so we
need to do this thing and you could be like
on the board and you could run it and you
could whatever. Because you know, his charity was doing fine.
But every time he had to start fresh and raise
money as if he had never done it before. It's
very hard to raise money and even harder to distribute it.
But he had had experience because he had been in Haiti,
(09:26):
where like Sean Penn was in a tent for months,
and he had done the things, and he had dedicated
his life to philanthropy after having a life of debauchery
and nightclubs. And I won't go into much more detail.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
He could do that.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
So he's like jamming down my throat what it's gonna be.
I'm like, wait, bro, I have a young child, Like
I'm doing this one mission, Like this is not my life.
I'm not running this. I'm not your mask. Like he
was like, you'll run it, you'll tell us what. I
was like, WHOA. So we show up at his warehouse
and there's nothing in it. It's like a small fine
warehouse with nothing in it. It's totally disorganized. It's like
(10:11):
a hodgepodge. And I will forever say this guy, Michael,
and I I have never met a person who can
keep up with me, who can execute what I want
but still be authoritative in his own way and what
he knows, but also defer to me on what I know,
and he has never said no to me. He's like
the relief were a husband of a lifetime because I
walked in that warehouse and I've met no experience in
(10:32):
relief for two missions. And I go in there and
I'm like, listen to me, Listen to me, forgetting me,
forgetting me get involved. I'm like, listen, this needs to
get organized, like this place has to be organized like
I would envision in a place like this. And by
the way, he had no way no means no money,
no street cred, no no. Yes he had contacts, but
not like to be like on a loop donating millions
(10:53):
of dollars of aid like we do now. So it
was the perfect combination. It literally was the perfect combination.
So it was like someone every famous who's broke marrying
someone who really wants to be in the limelight, but
as a ton of money, like a real good combination.
So I walk in this warehouse and I'm like, listen,
this needs to be merchandise. This needs to feel like
a costco. This seeds to feel like an assembly line.
(11:14):
You need to create like crisis kits that you're gonna
box up. So it's easy or not. And I learned
this along the way. This was like sort of something
I said because I just envisioned it like how it
would go, Like it would be like here's where dogs
food is, here's where cleaning supplies. But there was nothing
in this warehouse. Really, we like figured out how to
get stuff at Costco and fill the warehouse. And sometimes
(11:35):
it's cheaper to go to the place you're going to,
like when we went to Guatemala and buy the aid,
because sometimes you're not gonna spend all the money for
trucking and stuff like that. But nevertheless, I was like,
we need you. Theoretically, if I ever worked with you,
you have to get this organized. Like I'm the most
organized person. I can't even stand in here with this
not being more merchandized. So also, we get the plane
(12:00):
and we're going there. I will tell you fifty three
planes later in and out of Puerto Rico. Never one
time did someone ask us for a driver's license or
a passport. We were taking people in and out of
Puerto Rico. Thank god, we were doing nothing unto ward
and thank god it was all like injured and people
who like needed to be back with their families an
in dire situation and a relative who's got a medical situation,
(12:22):
and we were bringing in aid and dedicated missions. We
brought in two celebrities for their missions, and we were
bringing and just everything else, the habbad, the Bible Belt
like everything, and then we were bringing out, you know,
desperate people. And the reason for the planes and not
the cargo ships was there was a thing called the
Jones Act where you couldn't bring boats into that harbor
(12:45):
during this time. So the planes were what we had
to do. And during that time, Ellen donated a plane,
Steve Harvey donated a plane, someone donated three planes. I
don't know if it was Ellen or Steve Harvey. I
don't remember Elvis Duran like I was like Oprah with planes,
Like people were just donating plans. I was fucking on fire.
We did I think what was like fifteen million dollars
in In addition, people around the country were raising aid. Because
(13:09):
everybody jumps up and is like, oh my god, I'm
posting a link, and people those random links of things
they don't even know, and they don't really understand who's
running it. Just because the celebrity posts a link does
not mean they have any clue what that link means,
and they don't even really know how the person who's
running it is.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
I saw celebrities during.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
The beginning of Ukraine get together to raise money, and
then we looked into who the money was going to,
and these people have no experience in disaster relief, but
they're a list people, so people are going to just
go with them. And it's like no, and we were
nobody's from a brand perspective, so we couldn't really say anything.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
In my partner'd be like, what the fuck.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
So anyway, we started doing these missions and then later
we ended up doing cargo ships. But during this whole trip,
I we first started and we were like days. It
was right after Rump went there and the paper towel incident,
and we were after that. People were still waiting on
their roof like desperate, rationing water for help, like it
(14:10):
was a disaster. And we went to the state building
and everyone was in khakis and like and like clipboards
because I thought we were gonna do things totally like
ask for permission in the beginning. We became real like
red tape cutters after that because and now we have
all the relationships with all the governments. But but back
then we were totally rogue and we were trying to
(14:30):
ask them.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
But I was like, what are these.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
People doing with coffee and like khakis, Like is aren't
there people fucking dying here with no electricity or water?
So we just went out to the like communities not
that far from like where this air conditioning building was,
and we were on the street with these trucks toilet paper, formula, everything,
and people were waiting onlines, like begging for it. And
(14:52):
I was like, these people need dignity, Like how did
we This may not be the formula they want, like
the diaper size they want, like there's humans.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
So that was how I was like, no, these cash cards, we.
Speaker 1 (15:02):
Will have to give out basic aid, but it should
be rationed off by households so people could have the
dignity to have their own box for their house, take
it home, and like distribute it as they need with
things they'd want, like chargers and blankets and water and
hydration and things they would need. But like, we're going
to have to come up with a cash card program
so once once they're back on their feet, they can
(15:23):
infuse money into their community. Get exactly what they need
and keep the money right there and have some dignity also,
So it started a model. Anyway, the number of missions
is I could not even count. I can't even remember.
And the amount of money I think is close to
half a billion dollars. And now you know, I bring
(15:44):
it up to people to donate, they want to know
how to donate, and most of the money has come
from you, and the awareness has come from you. But yes,
now billionaires just call us and say, what are you doing?
Speaker 2 (15:54):
Here's a check.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
And I used to be on the plane going to
Guatemala sitting and coach leaving Britt and crying about that
because she was younger. And I used to be going
to Puerto Rico multiple times and to the Bahamas and
rescuing dogs and also working harder, not smarter. We used
to be in I used to be in What's app
Chat so obsessed with every fucking problem everyone had that
I would be talking to two hundred people, and like,
(16:16):
now I don't do it that way anymore. Now you
cannot please everybody. You have to be efficient. We're raising
tens of millions of dollars and we have the trust
and I don't have to explain every single thing anymore,
because from Matthew McConaughey to Billy Joel to the Carolina
Panthers to Steve Cohen and the Mets, to Amazon, to Delta,
to Away Bags, to Goya and the shipping company, you
(16:39):
see United Carriers like they come to us because they know,
like we now have a warehouse that looks like the
most organized, detailed costco labeled merchandise like Chef's kiss. And
I don't take credit for anything that I didn't do.
Like I used to go on all the missions, I
don't go on all the missions anymore. I go to
(17:00):
the warehouse to spread awareness and to go inspire the team.
I raise money. I guess went to the California for fires.
But like there's a team that.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
Does it all.
Speaker 1 (17:09):
My ex used to say, stop beating yourself up. The
president of Coca Cola doesn't need to be filling every
bottle with Coca Cola. And I'm like, okay, but like
what I will take credit for and none of us
take credit. I mean the team, Kimberly Michael, they do
fucking everything.
Speaker 2 (17:21):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (17:22):
I do not want any credit, okay, but what I
will say is like in any business, like I laced
the track, he rocks the flow, like I created the models,
like this is the architectural plan for what this is
going to be, Like this is how a relief effort
should be as a business person, and then the combination
of us like that we are untouchable.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
We did.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Tens of millions of dollars of hazmat suits and masks,
and literally I had I think it was ten to
thirteen semis pulling up to Albany during the Cuomo era
bringing has mat suits and like bringing masks to de Blasio,
like there's nobody we haven't touched. Every government was calling
us like we are fucking gangsters. Okay, we are. There's
(18:09):
nobody faster, better, more quick, efficient, like we do it.
So now the super Bowl of fucking Caribbean disasters in Jamaica,
(18:32):
Melissa is happening, hitting landfall as we speak, one hundred
and seventy five mile wins. They have no infrastructure for this.
It will chatter them to the core and we rebuild.
We've done I think it was seven hundred roofs in
Jamaica before. We have two warehouses in Jamaica in Kingston,
just like we had two warehouses in Poland, just like
(18:52):
we had a big warehouse in La and that model
has stuck.
Speaker 2 (18:57):
My model is global.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Like the day I walked in there, not knowing anything,
I knew that it needed to feel organized. My model
of the boxes like that get dropped off in front
of the home so you can build something and then
it can grow into something that doesn't even involve you
day to day anymore. But in Poland there are crisis kits,
something that I created, and there are cash cards, so
(19:23):
an individual gets an actual credit card.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
It looks like a credit card to go bring to
a store.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
And the dignity concept, this has been something that I
was talking about long ago, and now everyone is talking
about it. Since you go to the Hollywood Bowl and
people are digging through dirty clothes, like it.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Just doesn't matter if someone's poor.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
They don't want to wear a dirty shirt that's not
their size, Like what will make someone feel less dignified
than having lost everything they own and family members and
like an ankle deep vermin and they only have God
and clutching to their baby, and then they're gonna put
on a filthy shirt like do bad better, don't dump
your trunk full of clothes and people want to feel
(20:04):
better by doing that to get it at and they
just go want to clear out their closet, and no,
it doesn't make anything feel better. And you can fight
me as much as you want. Yes, I'm criticizing the
way you do it. Nobody nobody wants it. They need
to feel dignified. That's the only thing they have left
is some version of pride. They're in a car on
a line in many cases, like bringing a pack of
(20:25):
people because they don't even have their own car, and
they're sitting there with their handout to take a cash
card in a box to bring back of rice and
chargers and blankets. The last thing you need is some
dirty clothes. So give a gift card, give money, find
a way to go to your church and bring together
the bake sale and give the smallest amount of money,
(20:45):
whatever you want to do.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
But it's not your dirty clothes.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
Because you also give the people at the Hollywood Bowl
something to stress out about, something to have to work
and sort through, and you're giving them a labor project
and they can't focus on what they really need to
focus on, which is being lean and helping people who
have a real situation.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
I've never told this story and that's where we are today.
Speaker 1 (21:04):
So today I wake up in pajamas and I explained
to everybody we're on the case, and yes, I want
to remind people who never heard about it how it works.
And we've never had a pamphlet. These are models that
I created. I'm like, I don't want a pamphlet. I
don't want to rub a chicken dinner. I don't want
to spend a damn dime on a chair and a
(21:26):
linen and of some caviar. Like a pomp and circumstance
concert that everybody had to have a rider and snacks
and glam and a warehouse and it was performances. The
money was a raised in the room. The money was
raised the week before. This is literally money directly to
the people. And we went to the surf Side disaster
where the building collapsed and the people were watching on
(21:50):
the news, Oh, X million dollars were raised or the
Bronx fires X million dollars. They're like, we didn't see
that money. And we know because my team goes and
talks to everybody in the condos that will talk to
us to help them relocation.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
This happened in Ukraine, refugees.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
You can be four Palestine, you can be for Israel,
you could be for pro Russia, pro Ukraine. I don't
care save lives, but it's direct to the people. Money
to the people, cash cards to the people, aid to
the people. Whether it's Evel Longori at the California fires
or other people their orgs, they come through to us
and we distribute. So many of the celebrities that you
(22:28):
see asking for donations, Zoe Saldano like, they're coming to
where we are because we are tight and right. You
don't need to start on your own. We've got it
right there. We've got the costco of aid that has
a massed aid from often all over the country, sometimes.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
All over the world.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
Sometimes is it remnants suitcases as it last year's you know,
ten thousand T shirts, whatever it is, but that's what
happened during Hurricane Maria.
Speaker 2 (22:54):
That was a model.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Another model we created where we would start basically saying
to people who it's illegal to take aid and you
can't distribute it, but they had no way to distribute it,
so we would be the distributors of it.
Speaker 2 (23:06):
And it was unbelievable. So we still do that now.
We don't take.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Small amounts because we move major product and I don't
care about that, like meaning, I don't mind saying something.
I'm really sorry. No, we're not going to take like
a mismatched bunch of T shirts and jeans. And I
really appreciate it. I know it's new, and I thank
you because we're dealing in big game hunting. You have
a plane, you have real volume, and AID. I'm your
(23:30):
girl because we can move like we will distribute AID
in the most efficient way that will help people affect
their lives. And everyone knows it's true, and I'm so
I'm so proud of that, more than anything in the world.
And you guys are the ones that did this. The
word of mouth, the messaging, the letting me know how
(23:52):
much you want to hear about it, the forwarding, the telling,
the talking, the passion, the pictures, the images, the sharing,
the telling. I don't know them. I often don't even
know when a disaster's coming. My partners do. But I
know how to raise money. I know what to do.
I know how to lay the tracks. And I'm a
business person. And Jessa, you know, you go do research
on me or anyone else. You make sure you know
where that money's going, even if it's a dollar. This
(24:14):
is like your four oh one K. If you don't
go dig give money to some celebrity who posted a
picture of a que koala because you know them from
a TV show. You go give money to a fucking
gangster business person who can follow through and is going
to communicate with you and be transparent, and you know
how much is going.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
We've gone.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
We went to Hurricane Harvey and saw the big charity,
the big charity. They were staying at the Waldorf. We
know the numbers and how much they they cut out
for themselves and for their bureaucracy, which is necessary, but
how much we know that the A list celebrity that
came with me to Puerto Rico had gone to the
big charity and said, I have thirty thousand dollars I
(24:54):
want to charter a plane. They're like, we don't do that.
They came to me. We know that that's happened many
times because we don't fuck around period the end. So
it's a direct to consumer model for the people. So
with that, I bid you ado Bethany dot com slash
be strong.
Speaker 2 (25:11):
One goes to the effort spread the word love you guys,
Host
Bethenny Frankel
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