July 11, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode, Gabriella Hoffman shares her journey from her Lithuanian roots to becoming a prominent voice in conservative circles. She discusses the importance of cultural heritage, the challenges of modern society, and the significance of outdoor activities in personal growth. Gabriella also delves into energy policy and conservation, emphasizing the need for a balanced approach that does not sacrifice economic prosperity for environmental concerns. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.
Learn more about Gabriella's work HERE
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My
guest today is Gabriella Hoffman. Gabriella is Center for Energy
and Conservation director at the Independent Women's Forum and a
freelance journalist.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So nice to have you on, Gabriella.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Carol, It's so wonderful to connect. I'm really thrilled to
be on.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You know, we were.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Talking about this right before we started recording, that you
and I have a lot of background similarities and yet
we've never met in real life, which is really funny
because we're in a kind of small conservative world together.
What is your background and how did you get to
this conservative world place?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I think very similar to you, although there's a slight difference.
When you were immigrating to this country a little before
my parents did, you took a similar path. You went
to Vienna, then Ledispoli.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And we went straight to Ladispoli.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, we went I thought you went to Ostria too, well,
similar but Ledispoli and then the United States. My parents
went to Austria, Ldispoli slash Rome. Then they had a
layover in New York and then California. So slightly different
from you, but my parents are from Lithuania, which was
also behind the Iron Curtain, and I have a very
interesting background. My mother is Lithuanian Catholic, my dad is
(01:13):
Lithuanian Jewish, and so I guess the best way to
describe me as a cashew. But their experiences behind the
Iron current, I would say cemented my conservative beliefs. And
I think as I got older, learned about politics, really
got interested in writing and telling stories because, as you know, Carol,
and you're a fellow writer journalist too, so many things
(01:35):
were concealed and hidden and suppressed in both of our
ancestral homelands. And I think for me to honor my
grandparents who had gone through so much in gulags and
other prison camps, and my parents not having as many
opportunities as I have had since I was born in
the United States, I think the best way to honor
my family is to do this writing stuff and now
policy analysis that I do for my day job, but
(01:57):
still also supplement with writing. And I think being kind
of a teller of lost stories or underreported stories is
what really drew me to conservatism. I've always been a
lifelong conservative, but I think I even got more conservative
when I went to college and I hosted David Horowitz,
who just passed away unfortunately recently fifteen years ago and
was a pro ISRA advocate and seeing things just balloon
(02:18):
into craziness now relating to Jews on American campuses, growing
anti Semitism, it's so alarming to me, Like I saw this,
Yeah that was a U see San Diego student, and
so much of what I think a lot of us
have observed can be addressed and fixed, but it's just
really scary to see a lot of things that like
our parents went through and maybe people individually went through.
(02:40):
And you know, that's why I've largely been inclined to,
you know, the center right way of life. That doesn't
mean I'm not open to different perspectives. I have friends
across the different political spectrum, but I just think conservatism is.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Naturally, you know, a good fit for me.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But I think also conservatism is is interpreted differently now
these days. So I still kind of view myself as
a traditional conservative. You know, you have to adjust same, Yeah, yeah,
you can't you know, necessarily be resistant to change. But
I think there's certain things we ought to maintain. So
that's kind of where I fall in my things. But
we have a very similar family history. I heard Russian
(03:15):
growing up my life. I have some Russian relatives, very skeptical,
you know, of Russia today, and it's very concerning, you know,
what's happening there. But yeah, I think very similar to you.
Although I was born in America.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Lucky, very lucky.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's a badge that I were very proudly and I
don't take it for granted.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I think a lot of people do, which is a shame.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Oh yeah, it's funny because when I was little, my
brother was born in America.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
His name is Ronald, you know, born in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Wasn't a coincidence, and I desperately wanted to be natural
born American. I didn't want to be an immigrant. I
didn't want to be born somewhere else. I made up
a whole story about, you know where, I was born
in Brooklyn. And then as I got older, it became
like cool to like not be American, and that was
(04:03):
crazy to me. Even in my teen years, even at
my height of like trying to be edgy and different,
I still saw America as this just amazing, incredible place.
And I know that, like you probably had the same
message growing up that we could have our lives could
have been so different. We could have grown up in
the Soviet Union and so on. But so it's funny
(04:25):
because I'm from Brooklyn. I grew up in Brooklyn, and
there's a giant, you know, ex Soviet community. There was
there that community for you in California as well.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
There was actually and my grandparents settled in Santa Monica,
which probably was very similar to Brooklyn, where there were
people from Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, and the former Soviet Republic.
So I was exposed to a lot of this you know,
Russian Lithuanian language, but also the food and being very American,
you know, I didn't pick up the language. Unfortunately, I
heard it most of my life, both Russian and Lithuanian,
(04:56):
and I kind of wish I did because.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I could like talk behind people's backs. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
If you can see, it's best for like when they're
talking behind your back, it's great. I've had, like, you know,
manicurists like say stuff about me and not know at
all that I understand them.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, so I feel like, you know, being the struggle
for my parents was they were adjusting to a new country,
and they wanted me to be American, so it was
very challenging with my mom working in different corporations as
a technological consult my dad being a general contractor. They
were working, working, working, of course, very attentive to me
and my younger sister, So I didn't really pick up
the tongue, but I heard it my whole life. I
feel like if I dedicated enough time, I could speak
(05:33):
both Lithuanian Russian.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Because I've just been so exposed to it.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
But there was a lot of community, maybe not as
I would say fully integrated like Brooklyn was, because California
is so spread out, but you couldn't escape Lithuanian or
Russian or Ukrainian.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
It was there.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And actually we did have a lot of friends in
the diaspora, whether their parents were from the former Eastern
Bloc or their first generation and their kids or second generation.
So we did have a little bit of it, but
I largely had like a very American centered experience, still
tied to, you know, the cultural roots, appreciating the food,
the different customs, going to different festivals. So it was
(06:10):
a lot of fun, like the blending of both worlds
is really unique, and I think it makes me appreciate
being American more because if my parents had stayed there,
I wouldn't be here.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
That's for sure, I know that, but I.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Think it also adds to the perspective of being an American.
And I think you feel the same way too. Where
you know, suppressive societies like the former Soviet Union really
hamper your ability to speak freely, to owne private property,
to pursue your dreams. My dad experienced a lot of
anti Semitism institutionally there, and he wanted to be a
lawyer and a doctor, couldn't do it. He came here,
(06:42):
he was able to fulfill his dream of his own
general contractor business. Hasn't been perfect, no thing is perfect,
but if he would have stayed there, I felt like
he would have, you know, suffered a lot keeping with that,
and my mother and her fam my mother's family, oddly enough,
had even more horrible things happened then.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That feel like it's not easy to be I'm a
former Soviet Union either.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
No.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
My grandpa was eighteen months in one of the gulags
at the Russian Finnish border the Bella mar Canal, which
isn't really talked about it. There's not much known about
the Gulag system either because the Russians have suppressed it
so much. The Kremlin doesn't want people to know about
it. It was one of the most horrific places. I don't
know how he survived. He just miraculously did. He had
a very tough life. And so like seeing both my
(07:22):
Jewish and Catholic relatives go through so much, you know,
again going to our earlier point, like it makes you
appreciate being American. And the fact that sometimes you even
meet like kids of fellow diaspora and they're very liberal
or they're very much.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Like me, absolutely kills me.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, that's very hard for me to see because so
my community in Brooklyn, and it's funny because we used
to refer to it as just we're Russian, Like it
didn't matter if you were Russian or not, even you know,
full on like friends who were from the Ukraine, you know, Ukraine,
orre from Lithuania or from anywhere Bella was. You still
referred to our community as the Russian community.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And then ever since the war began.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
With Russian and Ukraine the most recent one, it really
has changed the way people refer to themselves. And this
almost the entire community is Jewish, so we were never
Russian or Ukrainian or Lithuanian or whatever anyway. So but
it's interesting because the community is very conservative. So I
always felt very comfortable being conservative in that world. Even
(08:21):
in very liberal Brooklyn. I didn't care because my community
was conservative and.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I didn't care what other people believed. And now seeing some.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Members of the next generation move leftward, it's like, what
are you thinking? Like do you know where we came from?
Do you know what the end result of leftism is?
But what I wanted to ask you that. So, my
community in New York is very it's it has this
reputation for being quite name brands and fancy stuff and whatever,
(08:51):
and not shooting guns and not being outdoorsy and not
being hikers, and you sort of are all those things.
And I'm curious how it is for you. Do you
feel like you fit in in your world?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
What is it like?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I've never had people question my Lithuanian ancestry or jewishness
because I like guns and fishing and hunting.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
It's not usual.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's usual.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, because I think for more, let's say, like
observant Jewice because I'm more culturally Jewish than i am
religiously Jewish. I think there is a discrepancy about, you know,
for Kosher laws like can you go fishing, can you
go hunting? And I've had my friends who are more
so in the Orthodox community explain to me that they
can't do it because of just how the cuts of
meat are prepared any hooved animals, And so for me,
(09:35):
I take a little different approach there.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
But I never even realized that.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I didn't realize that there's an issue with that.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, yeah, not so much in my immediate family. But
my father was the instigator behind all of this. He
taught me how to fish. He helped me develop a
love of the grade outdoors, and early on I remember
in California being this beautiful backdrop of the grade outdoors.
You have all four seasons national parks. Fishing was right
in my at the Pacific Ocean or inland at the
different rivers. My dad got to do some fishing in Lithuania.
(10:06):
I forget if it was a relative or family friend.
So you would go to Belarus when he was a
child during the summers, living behind the Iron Curtain, and
that's where he learned how to do fishing, and there
were no suns, so he deputized me as his fishing
power right, And I first picked up a fishing rod
or started to go fishing with him when I was eight,
and I got seriously hooked. By the time I was twelve,
I caught this really consequential catfish, and I remember the
(10:29):
measurements and the increments behind it. It was Memorial Day
twenty and three, gosh, twenty two years ago, and that
fish just really solidified it for me. And ever since,
I've caught like salmon, I've caught these like big fish
that look half my size, and it's a lot of.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Fun to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And then I naturally moved towards shooting sports and then
hunting when I moved to the East Coast, just to
as way to socialize, and also I just felt like
very empowered.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
In doing these activities.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I didn't even think, you know, as a thing like
I have experienced some anti Semitism as a kid, because
it ignorant kids who always just stop, you know, they
push stupid stuff. They claim they have Nazi relatives, and
that's very uncomfortable. But for me, it wasn't really because
of anti Semitism or a threat to me personally. But
I just felt like at the time, you live in
a state where they're friendly laws for gun ownership, you
(11:16):
might as well date you take the training, get your
concealed carry. And for me that's now almost ten years ago,
but I picked up a gun actually first time in California,
went to these public lands in San Bernardino County. Was
a little skeptical at first, and then you know, spent
some time away from it, moved to the East Coast,
Finish College, et cetera, and then I picked it up again.
Befriending people and when you work in politics, shooting sports
(11:38):
is a great way to break the ice.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Into make the shows and sales community.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
And so I was able to even through those early experiences,
I would say, get interested in the journalism side of
things on firearms. So I would go to and I
haven't gone in a few years, but I've gone to
my fair share of shot shows, which is like the SAPAD.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
That's the one right I've hearn about it.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, it's a show, but you get to see celebrities,
You get to see like the who's who of the
outdoor industry, and it's a lot of fun. Vegas is
not really my scene, but I'll only go to Vegas
for that show show, Yeah, for shot show, and I've
got to I've gone to a lot of like hunting
and fishing trade shows as well.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
And it's such a unique community.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And as you were saying, you know, finding kinship with
people like minded is like I've found some people who
are Slavic or from Baltics or you know, have some
sort of ties to that through fishing and hunting. There's
actually a lot of people who like those activities. Mushroom
hunting is also another big thing I learned, Yeah, yeah,
in that corner.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Of the world.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And I've even been able to best my father when
we went to Lithuania last year for our first time
in like twenty five years, he and I. My mother
has gone like every ten years or so. But I
was able to best my father fund bigger mushrooms than him.
So that was cute, right, And it's a lot of
fun to do that. And yeah, it's just, you know,
super unique and you can find community doing that, people
(12:54):
who share similar political persuasions like you, people who don't
like I feel like it's the one industry whether it's hunting, fishing,
shooting sports that can't be riddled with wokeness because there's
so much individualism. You have to defend yourself, you have
to potentially, you know, anticipate going into the wilderness fending
for yourself. A political disposition or a fear of something,
(13:18):
or this inclination to this very kind of isolated extreme view.
It's not going to help you survive a baar encounter
in the wilderness or having to you know, find fresh
water or navigate your way back to camp or something
of that nature. So this industry has been so immune
to That doesn't mean it's not a welcoming community.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
It absolutely is.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
We have more women, more minorities, more people coming into
hunting and fishing because they want to shooting sports because
they want to defend themselves. But it's very individualistic. So
that's why I like it. And also it's a great escapism.
It's not like this escapism to rebel. It's an escapism
to become stronger in your skill set and really fend
for yourself and you know, appreciate the natural world. And
(13:58):
I would say, like a true conservationist format, and we
can talk more about what conservation is if you're interested.
But that's kind of my thinking into it. And I
love these activities and I wouldn't be who I am
without them.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
They really have cemented my thinking.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's so cool, Like I really I feel like it
is a world that I want to know more about.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
What do you worry about?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
There's a lot of things to worry about. Gosh, where
could I start? I would say probably two things. Of course,
increasing loneliness. In this very technical age, I'm in my
mid thirties. I talk to a lot of people, and
even though we're really hyper connected these days, there's a
lot of isolation. People are less inclined to socialize, even
(14:39):
talk or connect or people just fully retreat, whether it's dating, friendships,
et cetera. And that worries me a little bit because
I love solitude. I think solitude is great. But to
see more and more people and especially young men, kind
of retreat from socializing and interactions, that makes me increasingly nervous.
And another thing that makes me, I would say, increasingly alarmed.
(15:01):
And this is more kind of relating to, you know,
relationships between men and women and something we've seen like
Megan Kelly and others discuss and as a professional woman
who hopes to one day get married and have kids.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
I see this insistence.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
That for a woman to achieve that, whether she has
a career stuff, she has to like tone down herself
or like forego her accomplishments. And for any woman watching
or listening, I hope you don't feel that way, because
you should be very proud of your accomplishments if you're
a published writer, a commentator, a banker, something of that nature.
So I know that like feminism has really skewed and
(15:35):
distorted things.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yeah, and worried also the other extreme in.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Addition to this loneliness epidemic and kind of fueling this
lonely epidemic. You know, everyone you know complaining about the other, men,
complaining about women, women complaining about men. It's not healthy
for our discourse and to you know, help, let's say,
fix this population crisis. We're seeing this lack of marriage. Well,
although marriage is starting to kind of make a turn around,
I would say in terms of trends, I hope. So
(15:59):
I'm encouraged by the younger people, maybe not so much
more millennials, but I think things can be course corrected
on their own if people have the aptitude to do it.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But if we see these.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Continual wars about like women have brought about problems on
theirselves or men have brought about problems on themselves, it's
not healthy and it's going to feel this loneliness epidemic too.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, I see that absolutely. I think that those things
go hand in hand. And the loneliness like retreating into ourselves,
it's so easy to do right now. It's the main
topic that people write to me on the show, saying,
my kids don't have friends, my teen doesn't have friends,
my twenty somethings don't have friends.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It's a really.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Big problem and I think people the more people treat
online as real life, the less likely they'll be able
to have relationships in person.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And absolutely one of my top concerns.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marcowitch Show.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
What would you.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Advise yourself at sixteen?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
What is a sixteen old Gabrielle need.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
To know that life is not going to be on
someone else's timeline, or that you don't have to worry
about meeting something exactly at a particular date. You don't
have to say, like I have to be married by
twenty five or I have to achieve this goal by thirty.
And I think I used to fall into that trap.
And I've met a lot of my goals well before
thirty and all that, some other goals I have not fulfilled.
(17:22):
And I think being jealous or nervous that you haven't
reached a certain milestone in your life can create a
lot of stress, can make lead you to make horrible choices.
For settling lead you to settling in life. And you
shouldn't have to settle in life for or less. I
think you should settle for more and get what you deserve.
But of course you have to keep in mind if
(17:43):
you're of a certain age, you know you can't delay
certain things. But it's hard sometimes to meet people. But
I think I would tell my sixteen year old self
that you don't have to necessarily be worried about timelines.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
You have to go at your own pace.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Laid gratification is great and it makes you more humble
and more prepared for challenges ahead, but don't be so
nerve apect like when you hit something.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Some people are at different timelines.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
What kind of stuff do you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Work on as Energy and Conservation director at IWF.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Trying to break down complex topics relating to different energy
sources energy policy into redibly understandable, digestible materials, whether it's
blog posts, op eds, videos, policy focuses. Because energy can
be complex, and it shouldn't have to be. We immerse
ourselves in energy all day.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
We thrive off of energy.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
As we're recording, Carol, you and I are using light sources.
We have electricity that powers our house, we have makeup,
we have different derivatives of oil and gas and different.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And I think a lot of people bite the hand
that feeds them. They don't understand the energy is so
integral to everyday life, even beyond the production and consumption
side of things. And it goes back to I think,
like I said to our upbringing, I remember hearing about
centrally planned policies where the government's too heavily involved, and
you see blackouts and brownouts, you see worsened environmental quality.
(19:04):
In Lithuania. My parents always remember water quality was terrible,
air quality was bad. I bet the same ones in
Russia too, And since Lithuania has broken away and become independent,
you've seen, you know, salmon come back to full recovery.
You've seen pristine rivers, you see in anywhere else in
the former Soviet block that is independent, very prosperous like that.
And I think we're seeing this conversation, maybe not so
(19:24):
much under the Trump administration because they have really good
posturing and I really like what they're doing. We still
see some on the left say, well, we have to
trade economic prosperity environmental conservation. I'm like, you don't have
to trade one versus the other.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
You can have both, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And they never say what leads to the other.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I don't see how countries that are not economically prosperous
tend not to have the better energy systems, tend not
to have the cleaner energy, tend not to have any
of that stuff. So I don't see how it's a
trade off at all. In fact, I think you can't
have one without the other exactly.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
And when people are settled in their.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Ways, they have a job, they can care about their
environmental surroundings. Hey, when you don't have disposable income, you
don't have a roof over your head, why should you
care about it? Like it's not to be dismissive of
true environmental concerns. But polling has suggested and shown that
as you know, let's say, the cost of trying to
be climate friendly goes up, people don't want to pay
(20:23):
to fight the so called climate crisis, to fight climate change,
like nobody wants to spend more than a dollar to
reduce their environmental footprint. And that that is consistently shown
all across the board. And then when you make these
doom and gloom predictions that the world is ending and
those predictions never pan out, those people are not to
be trusted. That's why I think conservatives have an opportunity
and I hope, I hope that my center is offering
(20:44):
a solution there. But we are starting to see conservatives
steer the conversation on this about balanced use, not having
too much overdevelopment, but to have conservation which means the
natural resources, you know, usage and development that is measured, practical,
and still allows you to enjoy green spaces and waterways.
(21:04):
And I think conservatives are starting to be much better
at that. They still have some ways to go, and
they could talk to me if they need some help there.
But true conservation stewardship is a conservative value.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
I mean, you talk about.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Theodore Roosevelt and a lot of Republicans, a lot of Republicans,
even those who were even more progressive than I'd.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Like them to have been.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, they were pioneering a lot of the environmental reforms
that we see today. Things that can be improved upon,
of course, but a lot of Republican policies and administrations
did actually start a lot of these measures. They implemented
a lot of laws to ensure we had clean air,
clean water, and hunting and fishing as a means of conservation, right, And.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Those two things also go hand in hand.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
For me, I think republicanism and conservation, I mean I
see it in Florida is they're not opposed to each
other at all. I think Republican policies can and do
lead to better conservation policies in.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
A lot of places. Well, I've love this conversation.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think you're super interesting and the work that you
do is so fascinating to me and us here with
your best tip for my listeners on how they can
improve their lives.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I'm not a guru, and I don't profess to be one,
but I really think time in the graade outdoors to
wrap this conversation full circle is a way to be
really healthy, whether it's doing a ten thousand step k
walk or ten thousand step walk. Excuse me, just to
like be outside in green spaces or to go hunting
and fishing or hiking. Just something to see greenery, to
(22:26):
be in the blue mind, which means to be at
peace when you're surround by a body of water. Whether
it's green spaces or being surrounded by a body of water,
take your pick and do a ten thousand step walk.
I think those are simple ways to really improve your life.
And if you want to learn how to fish or hunt,
I'm more than happy to give you tips and resources
that but time outdoors is great keep you healthy.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I totally agree. She is Gabriella Hoffman. Check her out
at IWF and everywhere that she writes. Thank you so
much for coming on, Gabriella.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Thank you, Carol an Honor
Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz Show on iHeartRadio. My
guest today is Gabriella Hoffman. Gabriella is Center for Energy
and Conservation director at the Independent Women's Forum and a
freelance journalist.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
So nice to have you on, Gabriella.
Speaker 3 (00:16):
Carol, It's so wonderful to connect. I'm really thrilled to
be on.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You know, we were.
Speaker 1 (00:20):
Talking about this right before we started recording, that you
and I have a lot of background similarities and yet
we've never met in real life, which is really funny
because we're in a kind of small conservative world together.
What is your background and how did you get to
this conservative world place?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I think very similar to you, although there's a slight difference.
When you were immigrating to this country a little before
my parents did, you took a similar path. You went
to Vienna, then Ledispoli.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
And we went straight to Ladispoli.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Yeah, we went I thought you went to Ostria too, well,
similar but Ledispoli and then the United States. My parents
went to Austria, Ldispoli slash Rome. Then they had a
layover in New York and then California. So slightly different
from you, but my parents are from Lithuania, which was
also behind the Iron Curtain, and I have a very
interesting background. My mother is Lithuanian Catholic, my dad is
(01:13):
Lithuanian Jewish, and so I guess the best way to
describe me as a cashew. But their experiences behind the
Iron current, I would say cemented my conservative beliefs. And
I think as I got older, learned about politics, really
got interested in writing and telling stories because, as you know, Carol,
and you're a fellow writer journalist too, so many things
(01:35):
were concealed and hidden and suppressed in both of our
ancestral homelands. And I think for me to honor my
grandparents who had gone through so much in gulags and
other prison camps, and my parents not having as many
opportunities as I have had since I was born in
the United States, I think the best way to honor
my family is to do this writing stuff and now
policy analysis that I do for my day job, but
(01:57):
still also supplement with writing. And I think being kind
of a teller of lost stories or underreported stories is
what really drew me to conservatism. I've always been a
lifelong conservative, but I think I even got more conservative
when I went to college and I hosted David Horowitz,
who just passed away unfortunately recently fifteen years ago and
was a pro ISRA advocate and seeing things just balloon
(02:18):
into craziness now relating to Jews on American campuses, growing
anti Semitism, it's so alarming to me, Like I saw this,
Yeah that was a U see San Diego student, and
so much of what I think a lot of us
have observed can be addressed and fixed, but it's just
really scary to see a lot of things that like
our parents went through and maybe people individually went through.
(02:40):
And you know, that's why I've largely been inclined to,
you know, the center right way of life. That doesn't
mean I'm not open to different perspectives. I have friends
across the different political spectrum, but I just think conservatism is.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Naturally, you know, a good fit for me.
Speaker 3 (02:54):
But I think also conservatism is is interpreted differently now
these days. So I still kind of view myself as
a traditional conservative. You know, you have to adjust same, Yeah, yeah,
you can't you know, necessarily be resistant to change. But
I think there's certain things we ought to maintain. So
that's kind of where I fall in my things. But
we have a very similar family history. I heard Russian
(03:15):
growing up my life. I have some Russian relatives, very skeptical,
you know, of Russia today, and it's very concerning, you know,
what's happening there. But yeah, I think very similar to you.
Although I was born in America.
Speaker 4 (03:30):
Lucky, very lucky.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
It's a badge that I were very proudly and I
don't take it for granted.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
I think a lot of people do, which is a shame.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Oh yeah, it's funny because when I was little, my
brother was born in America.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
His name is Ronald, you know, born in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Wasn't a coincidence, and I desperately wanted to be natural
born American. I didn't want to be an immigrant. I
didn't want to be born somewhere else. I made up
a whole story about, you know where, I was born
in Brooklyn. And then as I got older, it became
like cool to like not be American, and that was
(04:03):
crazy to me. Even in my teen years, even at
my height of like trying to be edgy and different,
I still saw America as this just amazing, incredible place.
And I know that, like you probably had the same
message growing up that we could have our lives could
have been so different. We could have grown up in
the Soviet Union and so on. But so it's funny
(04:25):
because I'm from Brooklyn. I grew up in Brooklyn, and
there's a giant, you know, ex Soviet community. There was
there that community for you in California as well.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
There was actually and my grandparents settled in Santa Monica,
which probably was very similar to Brooklyn, where there were
people from Ukraine, Lithuania, Russia, and the former Soviet Republic.
So I was exposed to a lot of this you know,
Russian Lithuanian language, but also the food and being very American,
you know, I didn't pick up the language. Unfortunately, I
heard it most of my life, both Russian and Lithuanian,
(04:56):
and I kind of wish I did because.
Speaker 4 (04:57):
I could like talk behind people's backs. I'm just kidding.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
If you can see, it's best for like when they're
talking behind your back, it's great. I've had, like, you know,
manicurists like say stuff about me and not know at
all that I understand them.
Speaker 4 (05:11):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, so I feel like, you know, being the struggle
for my parents was they were adjusting to a new country,
and they wanted me to be American, so it was
very challenging with my mom working in different corporations as
a technological consult my dad being a general contractor. They
were working, working, working, of course, very attentive to me
and my younger sister, So I didn't really pick up
the tongue, but I heard it my whole life. I
feel like if I dedicated enough time, I could speak
(05:33):
both Lithuanian Russian.
Speaker 4 (05:35):
Because I've just been so exposed to it.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
But there was a lot of community, maybe not as
I would say fully integrated like Brooklyn was, because California
is so spread out, but you couldn't escape Lithuanian or
Russian or Ukrainian.
Speaker 4 (05:48):
It was there.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
And actually we did have a lot of friends in
the diaspora, whether their parents were from the former Eastern
Bloc or their first generation and their kids or second generation.
So we did have a little bit of it, but
I largely had like a very American centered experience, still
tied to, you know, the cultural roots, appreciating the food,
the different customs, going to different festivals. So it was
(06:10):
a lot of fun, like the blending of both worlds
is really unique, and I think it makes me appreciate
being American more because if my parents had stayed there,
I wouldn't be here.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
That's for sure, I know that, but I.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
Think it also adds to the perspective of being an American.
And I think you feel the same way too. Where
you know, suppressive societies like the former Soviet Union really
hamper your ability to speak freely, to owne private property,
to pursue your dreams. My dad experienced a lot of
anti Semitism institutionally there, and he wanted to be a
lawyer and a doctor, couldn't do it. He came here,
(06:42):
he was able to fulfill his dream of his own
general contractor business. Hasn't been perfect, no thing is perfect,
but if he would have stayed there, I felt like
he would have, you know, suffered a lot keeping with that,
and my mother and her fam my mother's family, oddly enough,
had even more horrible things happened then.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
That feel like it's not easy to be I'm a
former Soviet Union either.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
No.
Speaker 3 (07:02):
My grandpa was eighteen months in one of the gulags
at the Russian Finnish border the Bella mar Canal, which
isn't really talked about it. There's not much known about
the Gulag system either because the Russians have suppressed it
so much. The Kremlin doesn't want people to know about
it. It was one of the most horrific places. I don't
know how he survived. He just miraculously did. He had
a very tough life. And so like seeing both my
(07:22):
Jewish and Catholic relatives go through so much, you know,
again going to our earlier point, like it makes you
appreciate being American. And the fact that sometimes you even
meet like kids of fellow diaspora and they're very liberal
or they're very much.
Speaker 2 (07:35):
Like me, absolutely kills me.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, that's very hard for me to see because so
my community in Brooklyn, and it's funny because we used
to refer to it as just we're Russian, Like it
didn't matter if you were Russian or not, even you know,
full on like friends who were from the Ukraine, you know, Ukraine,
orre from Lithuania or from anywhere Bella was. You still
referred to our community as the Russian community.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
And then ever since the war began.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
With Russian and Ukraine the most recent one, it really
has changed the way people refer to themselves. And this
almost the entire community is Jewish, so we were never
Russian or Ukrainian or Lithuanian or whatever anyway. So but
it's interesting because the community is very conservative. So I
always felt very comfortable being conservative in that world. Even
(08:21):
in very liberal Brooklyn. I didn't care because my community
was conservative and.
Speaker 2 (08:25):
I didn't care what other people believed. And now seeing some.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
Members of the next generation move leftward, it's like, what
are you thinking? Like do you know where we came from?
Do you know what the end result of leftism is?
But what I wanted to ask you that. So, my
community in New York is very it's it has this
reputation for being quite name brands and fancy stuff and whatever,
(08:51):
and not shooting guns and not being outdoorsy and not
being hikers, and you sort of are all those things.
And I'm curious how it is for you. Do you
feel like you fit in in your world?
Speaker 4 (09:03):
What is it like?
Speaker 3 (09:05):
I've never had people question my Lithuanian ancestry or jewishness
because I like guns and fishing and hunting.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
It's not usual.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
It's usual.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, yeah, because I think for more, let's say, like
observant Jewice because I'm more culturally Jewish than i am
religiously Jewish. I think there is a discrepancy about, you know,
for Kosher laws like can you go fishing, can you
go hunting? And I've had my friends who are more
so in the Orthodox community explain to me that they
can't do it because of just how the cuts of
meat are prepared any hooved animals, And so for me,
(09:35):
I take a little different approach there.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
But I never even realized that.
Speaker 1 (09:40):
I didn't realize that there's an issue with that.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
Yeah, yeah, not so much in my immediate family. But
my father was the instigator behind all of this. He
taught me how to fish. He helped me develop a
love of the grade outdoors, and early on I remember
in California being this beautiful backdrop of the grade outdoors.
You have all four seasons national parks. Fishing was right
in my at the Pacific Ocean or inland at the
different rivers. My dad got to do some fishing in Lithuania.
(10:06):
I forget if it was a relative or family friend.
So you would go to Belarus when he was a
child during the summers, living behind the Iron Curtain, and
that's where he learned how to do fishing, and there
were no suns, so he deputized me as his fishing
power right, And I first picked up a fishing rod
or started to go fishing with him when I was eight,
and I got seriously hooked. By the time I was twelve,
I caught this really consequential catfish, and I remember the
(10:29):
measurements and the increments behind it. It was Memorial Day
twenty and three, gosh, twenty two years ago, and that
fish just really solidified it for me. And ever since,
I've caught like salmon, I've caught these like big fish
that look half my size, and it's a lot of.
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Fun to do that.
Speaker 3 (10:44):
And then I naturally moved towards shooting sports and then
hunting when I moved to the East Coast, just to
as way to socialize, and also I just felt like
very empowered.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
In doing these activities.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
I didn't even think, you know, as a thing like
I have experienced some anti Semitism as a kid, because
it ignorant kids who always just stop, you know, they
push stupid stuff. They claim they have Nazi relatives, and
that's very uncomfortable. But for me, it wasn't really because
of anti Semitism or a threat to me personally. But
I just felt like at the time, you live in
a state where they're friendly laws for gun ownership, you
(11:16):
might as well date you take the training, get your
concealed carry. And for me that's now almost ten years ago,
but I picked up a gun actually first time in California,
went to these public lands in San Bernardino County. Was
a little skeptical at first, and then you know, spent
some time away from it, moved to the East Coast,
Finish College, et cetera, and then I picked it up again.
Befriending people and when you work in politics, shooting sports
(11:38):
is a great way to break the ice.
Speaker 4 (11:39):
Into make the shows and sales community.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
And so I was able to even through those early experiences,
I would say, get interested in the journalism side of
things on firearms. So I would go to and I
haven't gone in a few years, but I've gone to
my fair share of shot shows, which is like the SAPAD.
Speaker 2 (11:55):
That's the one right I've hearn about it.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
Yeah, it's a show, but you get to see celebrities,
You get to see like the who's who of the
outdoor industry, and it's a lot of fun. Vegas is
not really my scene, but I'll only go to Vegas
for that show show, Yeah, for shot show, and I've
got to I've gone to a lot of like hunting
and fishing trade shows as well.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
And it's such a unique community.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
And as you were saying, you know, finding kinship with
people like minded is like I've found some people who
are Slavic or from Baltics or you know, have some
sort of ties to that through fishing and hunting. There's
actually a lot of people who like those activities. Mushroom
hunting is also another big thing I learned, Yeah, yeah,
in that corner.
Speaker 2 (12:33):
Of the world.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
And I've even been able to best my father when
we went to Lithuania last year for our first time
in like twenty five years, he and I. My mother
has gone like every ten years or so. But I
was able to best my father fund bigger mushrooms than him.
So that was cute, right, And it's a lot of
fun to do that. And yeah, it's just, you know,
super unique and you can find community doing that, people
(12:54):
who share similar political persuasions like you, people who don't
like I feel like it's the one industry whether it's hunting, fishing,
shooting sports that can't be riddled with wokeness because there's
so much individualism. You have to defend yourself, you have
to potentially, you know, anticipate going into the wilderness fending
for yourself. A political disposition or a fear of something,
(13:18):
or this inclination to this very kind of isolated extreme view.
It's not going to help you survive a baar encounter
in the wilderness or having to you know, find fresh
water or navigate your way back to camp or something
of that nature. So this industry has been so immune
to That doesn't mean it's not a welcoming community.
Speaker 4 (13:34):
It absolutely is.
Speaker 3 (13:35):
We have more women, more minorities, more people coming into
hunting and fishing because they want to shooting sports because
they want to defend themselves. But it's very individualistic. So
that's why I like it. And also it's a great escapism.
It's not like this escapism to rebel. It's an escapism
to become stronger in your skill set and really fend
for yourself and you know, appreciate the natural world. And
(13:58):
I would say, like a true conservationist format, and we
can talk more about what conservation is if you're interested.
But that's kind of my thinking into it. And I
love these activities and I wouldn't be who I am
without them.
Speaker 4 (14:08):
They really have cemented my thinking.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
It's so cool, Like I really I feel like it
is a world that I want to know more about.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
What do you worry about?
Speaker 3 (14:18):
There's a lot of things to worry about. Gosh, where
could I start? I would say probably two things. Of course,
increasing loneliness. In this very technical age, I'm in my
mid thirties. I talk to a lot of people, and
even though we're really hyper connected these days, there's a
lot of isolation. People are less inclined to socialize, even
(14:39):
talk or connect or people just fully retreat, whether it's dating, friendships,
et cetera. And that worries me a little bit because
I love solitude. I think solitude is great. But to
see more and more people and especially young men, kind
of retreat from socializing and interactions, that makes me increasingly nervous.
And another thing that makes me, I would say, increasingly alarmed.
(15:01):
And this is more kind of relating to, you know,
relationships between men and women and something we've seen like
Megan Kelly and others discuss and as a professional woman
who hopes to one day get married and have kids.
Speaker 4 (15:13):
I see this insistence.
Speaker 3 (15:14):
That for a woman to achieve that, whether she has
a career stuff, she has to like tone down herself
or like forego her accomplishments. And for any woman watching
or listening, I hope you don't feel that way, because
you should be very proud of your accomplishments if you're
a published writer, a commentator, a banker, something of that nature.
So I know that like feminism has really skewed and
(15:35):
distorted things.
Speaker 4 (15:36):
Yeah, and worried also the other extreme in.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Addition to this loneliness epidemic and kind of fueling this
lonely epidemic. You know, everyone you know complaining about the other, men,
complaining about women, women complaining about men. It's not healthy
for our discourse and to you know, help, let's say,
fix this population crisis. We're seeing this lack of marriage. Well,
although marriage is starting to kind of make a turn around,
I would say in terms of trends, I hope. So
(15:59):
I'm encouraged by the younger people, maybe not so much
more millennials, but I think things can be course corrected
on their own if people have the aptitude to do it.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
But if we see these.
Speaker 3 (16:09):
Continual wars about like women have brought about problems on
theirselves or men have brought about problems on themselves, it's
not healthy and it's going to feel this loneliness epidemic too.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Yeah, I see that absolutely. I think that those things
go hand in hand. And the loneliness like retreating into ourselves,
it's so easy to do right now. It's the main
topic that people write to me on the show, saying,
my kids don't have friends, my teen doesn't have friends,
my twenty somethings don't have friends.
Speaker 2 (16:37):
It's a really.
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Big problem and I think people the more people treat
online as real life, the less likely they'll be able
to have relationships in person.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And absolutely one of my top concerns.
Speaker 1 (16:48):
We're going to take a quick break and be right
back on the Carol Marcowitch Show.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
What would you.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
Advise yourself at sixteen?
Speaker 2 (16:59):
What is a sixteen old Gabrielle need.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
To know that life is not going to be on
someone else's timeline, or that you don't have to worry
about meeting something exactly at a particular date. You don't
have to say, like I have to be married by
twenty five or I have to achieve this goal by thirty.
And I think I used to fall into that trap.
And I've met a lot of my goals well before
thirty and all that, some other goals I have not fulfilled.
(17:22):
And I think being jealous or nervous that you haven't
reached a certain milestone in your life can create a
lot of stress, can make lead you to make horrible choices.
For settling lead you to settling in life. And you
shouldn't have to settle in life for or less. I
think you should settle for more and get what you deserve.
But of course you have to keep in mind if
(17:43):
you're of a certain age, you know you can't delay
certain things. But it's hard sometimes to meet people. But
I think I would tell my sixteen year old self
that you don't have to necessarily be worried about timelines.
Speaker 4 (17:52):
You have to go at your own pace.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Laid gratification is great and it makes you more humble
and more prepared for challenges ahead, but don't be so
nerve apect like when you hit something.
Speaker 4 (18:02):
Some people are at different timelines.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
What kind of stuff do you.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Work on as Energy and Conservation director at IWF.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Trying to break down complex topics relating to different energy
sources energy policy into redibly understandable, digestible materials, whether it's
blog posts, op eds, videos, policy focuses. Because energy can
be complex, and it shouldn't have to be. We immerse
ourselves in energy all day.
Speaker 4 (18:30):
We thrive off of energy.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
As we're recording, Carol, you and I are using light sources.
We have electricity that powers our house, we have makeup,
we have different derivatives of oil and gas and different.
Speaker 4 (18:42):
Things like that.
Speaker 3 (18:42):
And I think a lot of people bite the hand
that feeds them. They don't understand the energy is so
integral to everyday life, even beyond the production and consumption
side of things. And it goes back to I think,
like I said to our upbringing, I remember hearing about
centrally planned policies where the government's too heavily involved, and
you see blackouts and brownouts, you see worsened environmental quality.
(19:04):
In Lithuania. My parents always remember water quality was terrible,
air quality was bad. I bet the same ones in
Russia too, And since Lithuania has broken away and become independent,
you've seen, you know, salmon come back to full recovery.
You've seen pristine rivers, you see in anywhere else in
the former Soviet block that is independent, very prosperous like that.
And I think we're seeing this conversation, maybe not so
(19:24):
much under the Trump administration because they have really good
posturing and I really like what they're doing. We still
see some on the left say, well, we have to
trade economic prosperity environmental conservation. I'm like, you don't have
to trade one versus the other.
Speaker 4 (19:38):
You can have both, yeah.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
And they never say what leads to the other.
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I don't see how countries that are not economically prosperous
tend not to have the better energy systems, tend not
to have the cleaner energy, tend not to have any
of that stuff. So I don't see how it's a
trade off at all. In fact, I think you can't
have one without the other exactly.
Speaker 4 (20:00):
And when people are settled in their.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
Ways, they have a job, they can care about their
environmental surroundings. Hey, when you don't have disposable income, you
don't have a roof over your head, why should you
care about it? Like it's not to be dismissive of
true environmental concerns. But polling has suggested and shown that
as you know, let's say, the cost of trying to
be climate friendly goes up, people don't want to pay
(20:23):
to fight the so called climate crisis, to fight climate change,
like nobody wants to spend more than a dollar to
reduce their environmental footprint. And that that is consistently shown
all across the board. And then when you make these
doom and gloom predictions that the world is ending and
those predictions never pan out, those people are not to
be trusted. That's why I think conservatives have an opportunity
and I hope, I hope that my center is offering
(20:44):
a solution there. But we are starting to see conservatives
steer the conversation on this about balanced use, not having
too much overdevelopment, but to have conservation which means the
natural resources, you know, usage and development that is measured, practical,
and still allows you to enjoy green spaces and waterways.
(21:04):
And I think conservatives are starting to be much better
at that. They still have some ways to go, and
they could talk to me if they need some help there.
But true conservation stewardship is a conservative value.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
I mean, you talk about.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
Theodore Roosevelt and a lot of Republicans, a lot of Republicans,
even those who were even more progressive than I'd.
Speaker 4 (21:22):
Like them to have been.
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, they were pioneering a lot of the environmental reforms
that we see today. Things that can be improved upon,
of course, but a lot of Republican policies and administrations
did actually start a lot of these measures. They implemented
a lot of laws to ensure we had clean air,
clean water, and hunting and fishing as a means of conservation, right, And.
Speaker 2 (21:40):
Those two things also go hand in hand.
Speaker 1 (21:42):
For me, I think republicanism and conservation, I mean I
see it in Florida is they're not opposed to each
other at all. I think Republican policies can and do
lead to better conservation policies in.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
A lot of places. Well, I've love this conversation.
Speaker 1 (21:56):
I think you're super interesting and the work that you
do is so fascinating to me and us here with
your best tip for my listeners on how they can
improve their lives.
Speaker 3 (22:06):
I'm not a guru, and I don't profess to be one,
but I really think time in the graade outdoors to
wrap this conversation full circle is a way to be
really healthy, whether it's doing a ten thousand step k
walk or ten thousand step walk. Excuse me, just to
like be outside in green spaces or to go hunting
and fishing or hiking. Just something to see greenery, to
(22:26):
be in the blue mind, which means to be at
peace when you're surround by a body of water. Whether
it's green spaces or being surrounded by a body of water,
take your pick and do a ten thousand step walk.
I think those are simple ways to really improve your life.
And if you want to learn how to fish or hunt,
I'm more than happy to give you tips and resources
that but time outdoors is great keep you healthy.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
I totally agree. She is Gabriella Hoffman. Check her out
at IWF and everywhere that she writes. Thank you so
much for coming on, Gabriella.
Speaker 4 (22:54):
Thank you, Carol an Honor
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show News
Hosts And Creators
Clay Travis
Buck Sexton
Show Links
WebsiteNewsletterPopular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.