October 15, 2024 • 27 mins
If you need a laugh, you've got to check this episode out!
Heather Zeitzwolfe and Elaine share some of their crazier NYC stories fromwhen they both moved to the city, even though it was at different times, the themes were familiar.
And Yes, I really worked a P Diddy Party at a restaurant where I worked....you'll have to listen to get all the details...
Heather has had many careers and businesses and podcasts.
Currently she's on a mission to help 1 million people in adopting and maintaining a healthy, affordable, plant-based diet.
"Compassion starts on our plates because we are what we eat!" - Heather Zeitzwolfe
As the Savvy Frugal Vegan, I aim to disrupt the status quo and encourage others to think differently about their diet, ethics, and environmental impact. I want to raise people's awareness of where their food comes from. My dream is to enlighten others to avoid eating anything that has a mother.
Check out Heather's Website and her YouTube Channel.
Connect with your Host, Elaine Williams:
Check out Captivate the Mic Podcast on Elaine's YouTube Channel
Check out the Captivate the Crowd Website
Follow Elaine on Social- LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok
Want to schedule a free chat with Elaine? Click here to book a zoom date!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:07):
Oh girl.
I'm just so happy to have you.
So hi everybody.
My name is Elaine.
I am here.
Captivate the mic.
I am here with the magnificentFabulous.
Heather Zaitzwolf, who I'm sograteful.
She's so busy running threedifferent companies that she
took time out of her busyschedule to be with us.
Because Heather, you are justsuch a delight.
(00:29):
So now we're going to segue intoNew York stories.
Because when I was on a.
A trip with Heather.
We were talking about, being newin New York and some of the
crazy things you do because it'ssuch a crazy thing.
I'm going to tell you mine firstand then we'll tell you yours if
that's okay.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah.
So I'm new in New York City.
I I've been sober.
(00:50):
I moved to New York city and gotsober at the same time, which
is, was very challenging.
It was God's plan, but Oh my,they kept saying, don't change
anything.
And I had to keep moving.
I had to keep temping.
And so I ended up at thisrestaurant.
And I it was a really hot newrestaurant in Midtown.
And it was, I won't say thename, but it was an old movie
(01:13):
theater that they had convertedand there was this huge Buddha.
So it was like Buddha bar inParis and it was really cool and
hip and they had.
DJs on the weekend, which Ididn't know till after I'd been
trained because I was trainingfor the marathon.
I was getting up at six in themorning.
So I was like, what do you meanDJs until two?
What?
I thought this was a restaurant.
Anyway, so they're like oh,we're going to do you want to
(01:34):
work the P Diddy party?
P Diddy is going to have a partybefore MTV awards.
P Diddy.
And I was like, yes, it's goingto be so exciting.
All of these movie stars andmusic moguls and I get to work
it and some people were like,no, I don't want to work that.
And I was like, Oh, why I wantto have this whole experience.
It's going to be so cool.
(01:56):
We get there early, everything'sgetting set up.
There's fancy extra flowerseverywhere.
There's all this extra stuff.
He would send his own people toa place.
It was already judged, but.
Anyway, so as the night goes on,there's, it's getting more and
more crowded and it's it's It'sgot like a thuggy vibe a little
bit.
And there's most people, I wouldsay by 10 o'clock at night,
(02:18):
we're just drinking straight outof the champagne bottles, boob
clicquot, which is, it's not DomPerignon, but it's not like
Andrews, and there, so there'sall these people just walking
around and then all thesesecurity guys.
I remember thinking, why do theylook so nervous?
Like, why are they so nervous?
Because I was just so naive.
And it slowly dawned on me, asthe night wore on Oh, people
(02:43):
have guns.
People are carrying guns.
There are guns.
They have guns.
They have guns.
Like I was just like, why isthis?
Oh, like it was like this veryslow because I'm like working.
And then you realize and it'sdark, it's already like a dark
place.
And I swear the lights just seemto get me getting darker and
darker.
And so there's like more andmore like stuff getting.
(03:05):
thrown and then they're like,don't go in that corner.
Don't avoid that corner.
And one of my friends was like,yeah they're assaulting.
Like stuff is happening.
Just don't even walk over there.
Just stay in this quarter.
And by this time it's likemidnight and I'm thinking.
Oh, this was like the worst ideaI've ever had and then I'm
seeing more and more, thuggythings happening and more and
(03:27):
more.
And then P Diddy got up on thestage and was like, turn down
for what?
And we're going to stay tilleverybody else has to go to
work.
And I remember just thinking, ohno.
Anyway, it was, and finally,like at four in the morning.
They finally put the lights upand they politely asked
everybody to leave and Iremember watching the security
(03:50):
guys sweat, like they were sonervous that something was going
to happen and I had not, Iremember just thinking, Oh, this
is the worst idea I've ever had.
And then we finally goteverybody to leave there.
Nobody, I know that.
Stuff went down in that corner,but there were no gunshots fired
(04:11):
in this restaurant.
And then we're like literallycarrying tables through rivers
of champagne on the floor at sixin the morning.
And I remember I was I have tofind a different job.
So I just remember, it was justa, to me, it was a great lesson
of being super excited, but notthinking it all the way through
and getting swept away in theexcitement of it.
(04:31):
And I'm telling this Obviously,P Diddy's in the news a lot, but
I'm telling this because asentrepreneurs, you have to get
excited about what you're doing,or you're not going to make it.
And you get to be careful aboutwhat you get excited about.
So I've learned, and I thinkHeather's done this too, of take
some time before you say yes toeverything.
(04:52):
Think it through.
Yes.
It's exciting to be invited todo cool things.
It's good.
It because, that could have goneway differently and thank God,
it, it was okay.
And then I ended up getting abetter restaurant with not, I
wasn't there until four anyway,so that's one of my crazier New
York stories.
I just think it's so funny.
(05:13):
Cause I was like, it's going tobe so much.
And then a few hours later, I'mlike, I'm actually scared for my
life, so that's one of my, Iknow you have a great New York
story, Heather, you have somany, yeah, so many I'll just
talk about, places that I livedand.
When you want to live in NewYork, you have to give up a lot,
(05:35):
like the convenience of livingin a, like a regular house or
apartment that is just like nota thing.
And so you pretty much have todecide, will I suffer to get
what I want and, is it worth it?
And sometimes it wears you outand, choose you up and spit you
out.
But I had the first time I livedin New York, I was 19 years old
(06:00):
and I lived in Queens and then Iturned 20 after that I left and
then I came back.
So the second time I was in NewYork, I was probably at that
point.
22 I'm, I think, and I was like,I'm going to live in Manhattan
this time.
I don't, none of this Queensbusiness, the suburbs in the
(06:20):
city.
Yeah.
And I wanted to put in thevillage.
It's had to be in East village.
I was like, I wanted to be avillage person.
And But but the East village isso cool.
It is so fun and funky.
It is that's where like famousCBGBs, it's just like such a
cool scene, right?
It was still, that was still athing.
Yeah.
And so this was early nineties.
(06:42):
So we're talking about probablylike 91, 92, somewhere in there.
And.
So it was still edgy andGiuliani had not come through
and cleaned it up.
But to get to New York City, Ihad to first have someplace to
stay.
My brother had a friend that wasliving in Astoria, which is in
Queens.
So I was back in Queens.
I stayed in his house and I hada couple of suitcases and I
(07:06):
needed to find a job.
And I don't even know if he hada bed in the room that I was
sleeping in, but he, He hadants.
That's what he did have.
And there was ants crawling allthrough my luggage.
I just tons of ants.
Oh, no! He did not have any afull length mirror.
Now, I just, like, all I wantedto do was, like, go to
(07:27):
nightclubs and, discover thenightlife and all that.
No mirrors! I what?! So I had togo to a local hardware store and
I'm like dragging this mirrorthrough the streets in New York,
up to this apartment so that Ican see myself in this like
cheap mirror.
But still I got out of here.
So with the ants and everything,and I was trying to find jobs
(07:48):
and.
I would get like cheap Chinesefood and eat that box of Chinese
food would last me three daysand I didn't have much money.
So I would just watch what was asoap operas?
Some of the world as the worldturns.
Yeah, it was right.
So that would be like myhighlight of the day.
So finally then I got a job andI'm like, I'm moving to
(08:08):
Manhattan.
So my first apartment and I.
Really wanted to be in thevillage, but I think I was on
15th Street, which the villageon 14th Street.
So I was like, so I got thisapartment where it was a studio
apartment, except for there wassomebody else living in it.
And you walk in, there's like akitchenette, there is like a
(08:32):
stereo system a fold out couch.
Now when I say a fold out couch,I don't mean like a fold out,
like an actual sofa bed, one ofthose foam things that, it
wasn't even a couch, it was achair.
That it was just like fourpieces of foam that would fold
up to be a chair.
And then I unfold that and thatwas my bed.
And then a screen, which waslike one of those, like maybe
(08:53):
like a Japanese screens and thenhis bed was on the other side,
that was the whole place.
So I was, and I had my mirrorand I had my suitcases that had
some resident, had some antsleft in it.
Maybe I try to kill all the antsbefore I brought it into that
place.
So I lived there for severalmonths and luckily the guy had a
(09:15):
sick mom.
He was taken care of.
Sorry for him, at least it gaveme the apartment.
So he was away a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it was a little weird, he'slike on the side of this thing
and I'm just on this like pieceof foam came like a through line
through my state in New Yorkbecause getting a bed and moving
a bed around is not a goodthing.
(09:36):
I was like, I gotta move.
It turned out there was furtherdown 15th Street near Gramercy
Park.
This woman was looking for aroommate.
And I'm like, okay, I can dragmy stuff down 15th Street.
And that's a good move.
Gramercy Park is gorgeous.
Yeah.
And just grab it and move itdown.
I thought maybe I could find ashopping cart.
(09:56):
I didn't, I never found ashopping cart.
So I'd have to just drag itanyways.
So she was this woman that shehad this whole apartment.
So she had this extra bedroomand in the bedroom, you walk in
and it's basically just like aroom where the door opens.
There's a window that looks intoanother apartment and straight
(10:17):
into another apartment.
Nothing can, can't, covering thewindow and not even really much
room between I don't know, maybea cat could crawl between the
two spaces.
And there was a desk.
And then there was a bed in aloft.
This is the whole room.
So you walk in and you're likeunder a desk and then there's a
ladder and climb up.
And.
(10:37):
This bed was so high up to theceiling, like you could barely
sit up and there was a pipe thatwas like a lot of radiator stuff
that happened in New York, thisradiator pipe that went up right
next to this bed.
So I'm up high and a radiatorpipe is there.
And heat rises and it was thosepipes get hot.
(11:01):
Yes.
It was so freaking hot up inthis bed.
And then the only area I hadbelow was this little desk area.
And I got this it was a velvetElvis like a.
Postery thing to cover thewindow.
So I just had my Elvis and itwas like hot pink and velvet
said, look at Elvis, when I wasgetting ready and, but it was so
(11:24):
unbelievably hot.
So besides that, the woman had aginormous.
Dog that was giant white andfurry and the stipulation of
living there was you had to walkthe dog and of course you have
to clean up their poop and thenthere was other things that
happened like not just walkingthe dog.
(11:45):
Now, mind you, I was very goth.
I only wore black dog.
So it's always covered in doghair.
There was always, you always hadblack.
But with little white hairs allover you and I had no money to
get the sticky stuff to get itoff, that would just seem like a
(12:06):
waste of money when I could be,buying drinks at the club or
something, or food.
Yeah, or food.
And the pipes were old to forgetabout flushing down your tampon.
So they'd have to go in thegarbage can.
This dog had an affinity foreating tampons.
One time I brought a date homeand there was bloody tampons
(12:28):
everywhere on the floor.
Oh my God.
Yes.
At that point I was like, Ithink I gotta move out.
But there was also anotherstipulation.
This woman was very much intohazelnut coffee that was from a
particular place in the village,and so it was by keels, which
was the face.
Facial place.
(12:48):
I love Kiehl's, right?
Yes, and so I'd have to go downthere and get the special
coffee, which I wasn't even thatkeen about, but that was part of
the stipulation.
That dog, so I was cleaning upthe dog's poop.
I had his hair all over me.
I had the tampon thing, it waslike so much.
And you had to get caught.
This is a lot of rules.
And she ate.
Kentucky Fried Chicken with herbest friend every single day.
(13:11):
I have never seen so much KFC inmy life.
Anyways, I was like, I gotta getout of here.
So then wait, were you a veganyet?
No.
Cause that smell just permeateseverywhere.
You know what I mean?
It's Every single day it waslike the same order was like
mashed potatoes and gravy with Iwas like, who eats this much
KFC?
And you're in New York where youhave all the culinary choices in
(13:35):
the world.
Yes.
So then I was like, I got to getout of here.
So then I found, I was like, Igot to get in the village.
I want to be on like, I want tobe like in Outback City or
something, so then I found.
an apartment that was right onHouston Street.
It was like in it was between Band C, or was it C and D?
(14:00):
It was in there somewhere, butit was, it the back side of the
building was on Houston Street.
So right next to the Lower EastSide.
And I loved it.
That place was, the location wasgreat.
My living situation, however,was a little bit on the weird
side.
Unlike the other ones.
Let me, can I interrupt?
So Soho, so Houston, Soho, southof Houston.
(14:23):
So Soho is where all the artsythose big lofts were.
Because, as people are, asmanufacturers were leaving New
York city, that's where theartists and the poor people and
the gay people would come in andtrick it out.
And there are some amazing loftsthere.
So that's where you were.
That was down the street fromme.
Okay.
(14:44):
You were very close.
I was close, but close isn't thesame when in New York, like you
can go.
It may have been a short walk,but so I was looking the Lower
East Side, which Clinton Streetwas the Clinton was one of the
streets near me.
But.
A lot of it was a lot of rundownapartments and this is the 90s.
(15:07):
They're like very different thannow.
We're like the first time Ilived there, I had a boyfriend
that lived in one of thebuildings that was down there
and off of Clinton and he had abathtub in his kitchen.
So that kind of tells you Whatthe quality of those apartments
were in that area.
Okay.
So this apartment that I movedinto the my the guy that had the
(15:27):
apartment.
He was this guy that lovedElvis.
So here's this weird Elvis thingagain.
He had a pompadour.
He would wear.
Cut off hot pant jeans, likejeans, he'd roller skate
everywhere.
He was the doorman at theknitting factory, which was like
down in that area.
Oh, Elvis.
There was like Elvis shampoo,like a shrine of it in the
(15:49):
bathroom.
And it was really funny.
And he had this look like.
I'm quote, I'm air quoting loftarea, which was open.
So it was really just an areawhere you'd go up there.
There was stairs.
And then you look down into theliving room area.
This ups upstairs area became myroom, except for he had a baby
(16:12):
grand piano in this area.
That was like this little loftyarea.
He got that grant, that babygrand piano into that room is
probably because there's set asliding glass doors in that.
That area that went out to theroof of the building, which was
a shared roof, which anybody inthe building could come out and
(16:34):
be on that roof looking straightinto my locked area.
So you have curtains.
No, I couldn't afford that.
So I had some like things that Idraped over the wrought iron
thing that separated me from thedownstairs area, which was like,
but it was still open.
Like I'll totally open.
So then I was like, where am Igonna put my stuff?
(16:55):
So I put stuff on top of thegrand piano.
And then the area where I slept,I'd have to shimmy underneath
the baby grand to an alcove thatwas Literally like, like this
little area that would jet outfrom the wall and then right
underneath would probably wherenormal people would put their
(17:17):
shoes.
Like it was like that an area.
And I had a piece of foam thatwent underneath there.
And I literally had to like,side, be horizontal to get into
this area.
And again, couldn't lift up myhead.
So even worse than the lastplace.
(17:38):
I had just enough room.
I had, I went to the whiz.
I don't know.
I don't know that's still in NewYork, but the whiz and I got a
mini television that had a VCRbuilt into it.
So it was one of those littletiny things.
So the alcove, just, it was justhigh enough just to get that
mini television in there.
So that's about as high as itwas.
And so I would, let me enterthere and then sleep in my
(18:01):
little alcove, like a.
Like a vampire or something andthen I'd come out and then there
was like some other littlealcovey shelf or something that
I put my DVD player on but itwas a very weird situation and
he the guy that had theapartment like He had married
this German woman to help herget a green card, and she rode
(18:23):
the motorcycles in the spherethat was Ringling Brothers.
They would travel around and shewas in one of those, like cage
round cages and she'd ride themotorcycles around and he was
clearly gay and not reallymarried to her.
And then he took off and he waslike renting all the spaces in
the place and then we found outfrom the landlord that he had
(18:45):
been keeping the rent money thatwe'd been paying him.
He never paid the rent so we gotkicked out and I had to find
another place.
And who else lived there?
They're at that time there wasabout three or four other people
living in that small space.
Yeah.
And I'm just curious, in yourlittle alcove, what would people
get up on the roof and be likepeering in?
(19:06):
Did you like, sometimes I'd belike in my little alcove and I
could hear a party out there.
I'm like, Oh, what's going onout there?
And sometimes I knew people, I'dbe like, Hey, oh my God.
And this is my bedroom where Isleep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
People would be like, you're inthere, and it's New York though.
You never know.
Man, when I was shopping aroundfor a place, okay, so these are
the good places I found.
And.
(19:28):
You see a lot of weird livingsituations when you, man I saw
one, one apartment and Iremember thinking this would
make me want to start drinkingimmediately.
And I'm a pretty, I can bepretty frugal, but this was it
felt horrific.
Yeah.
I'm so glad.
And so you saw some bad onestoo.
Oh, yeah.
(19:48):
And then just, funny thingswhere it's like you go over to
someone's house and they'relike, you're now you're in their
situation.
And okay, back then, there's nointernet.
So this was all stuff that youwould find in the village voice.
So you'd have to pay money tocall them.
And so it's okay, you're alreadyinvesting.
50 cents to make a phone callinto this, hoping they're going
(20:08):
to answer the phone.
And then you get this person,it's you're just walking into a
situation that you have no idea.
There was no social media.
You couldn't look this personup, you're in there.
So I remember this one placethat was like, just junk
everywhere and stuff like movingand I was like, Oh, what is all
this?
He's I'm a kinetic artist.
(20:29):
It's it looks like you need likea, like an actual like art
studio.
Like he had kinetic arteverywhere.
It's just like stuff movingaround and.
Oh my God.
And that's one thing I.
Auditioning, you're runningaround New York City and you
would go up into thesebuildings.
And I used to think, this issuch an adventure.
(20:50):
And every once in a while, acasting director would be having
a casting from their ownapartment.
And so they would have blockedoff parts of it or, and, and you
just saw so many fascinatingapartments.
And I got to go into a couple ofreally fancy places, but yeah,
you just saw it all, but I loveyour, I had I was doing, I did
(21:11):
stage managing for like a moderndance show and we were
rehearsing.
in this space in Chinatown.
It was so cool.
It was like, just straight outof a movie, like a loft
apartment and this woman, it wasa dance studio where this woman
like lived above and she livedin this like loft space, but it
had light and everything.
But every time someone wanted tocome in, we'd have to throw the
(21:33):
keys down out of the window.
It's Ride one of the creepyelevator with the thing that
went across, it's like straightout of single white female or
something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, and I knew this other womanwho had this beautiful loft and
she'd had it since theseventies.
So the rent was, it was justit's amazing.
If you get there at the righttime.
Okay.
(21:53):
I love all this.
And heather, what do you think?
How do we relate this back to abusiness lesson for our
entrepreneurs?
What is your, because I havethings I want to say, but what
would you say?
Sometimes you're just going tohave to roll up your sleeves and
just deal with the situation athand and be scrappy about it
because, some, if you'restarting a business, you may not
(22:16):
have all the funds to do all thethings that you want to do.
So you have to find solutionsthat are low cost that, that
work, and kind of test thingsout is this what I want?
This is not what I want.
That sort of thing.
And, as I'm leaning in towardstrying to figure out like a new
business venture for myself I'mout there rolling up my sleeves
(22:38):
again trying different things,not spending too much money on
it.
And testing it out.
And then, Oh, maybe that wasn'tfor me.
Maybe that's not right.
Try something else and move on.
I love that.
I love that.
And I think, what I'm hearing inall of our stories is a
willingness, curiosity, willingto be uncomfortable again and
(22:59):
again.
And I know for me, a lot of mysuffering, you 20, right?
So somewhat to my suffering wasbecause I was attached to the
result.
I wanted the result.
And.
And so I really, again andagain, I get the lesson of when
I do my spiritual practices, Iam more open to having
(23:21):
experiences and miracles canhappen in that space,
possibilities can happen in thatspace instead of but this is
what I want, so it's likelearning to be intentional and
then letting go and then takingthe action but then letting go
because that's one thing that Ilearned a lot in New York and I,
in hindsight, I wish I'd had thespace that you have and Will
(23:43):
Ferrell has, it's not too late.
I still will always be pursuingcomedy and acting cause I love
it, even if I'm not totallyfocused on it now.
But thank you so much for your,your fabulous stories, Heather.
And you've had such aninteresting career and I.
I have another short story.
Okay.
Okay.
(24:05):
I was working in fashion designand then I got laid off and I'm
like, okay, what am I going todo?
And I've always had a curiosityabout nightclub culture.
And I found out about anightclub that was opening,
turned out it was a gentleman'sclub and a quote unquote
gentleman's club.
Okay.
And here I am, only a, like atotal goth chick, and it turns
(24:26):
out our uniform, I was gonna bea waitress there, I should, I
never had waited tables therebefore.
Oh no.
We used to wear white lace, itwas called solid gold.
And they put us throughtraining.
Turns out it was owned by somehigh up mob families.
Didn't know that they neverreally got there.
(24:46):
They bought the business fromanother like strip club or
whatever, and they never reallygot their liquor license.
So one day we show up andthere's locks on the doors and
all of that, but.
I did have some very funexperiences while it was around.
Anthony Michael Hall wouldalways come in on Sundays and
Sundays were slow.
(25:06):
So I was, I like to work onSundays cause sometimes I was
the only waitress there onSundays.
And then David Lee Roth wasalways like closing the place.
Like he would like, And at fouro'clock in the morning, we all
had to like line up in ourstupid lace outfits and with our
tray out and the drunk peoplewould come out and tip us or
whatever but it was very funnybecause all, what I found out
(25:30):
was like the dancers, like theyhad to work it, like they had to
sell themselves and, becauseGuys want to buy them drinks and
that's, you're pushing drinkspushing drinks.
And they didn't want to getdrunk or something, so they'd
have to dispose of the drinks.
So you'd have to bring themdrinks.
So we had the champagne area andwe'd be like putting champagne
(25:54):
into the.
into the planters and like allkinds of craziness like that.
And then they had to buy goldendollars or something.
And so like oftentimes at theend of night, you'd find golden
dollars.
And I found so much money likeleft in different places and,
but until the place was closeddown.
But so you never know when youpivot to try something else, you
(26:15):
just never know what the worldmay send you.
It may, maybe a gentleman'sclub.
And.
Which was very fun, but nothingI would ever want to do again,
but I got some good stories fromit.
You did.
You definitely did.
And if people want to know moreabout how to find you and come
to your events and stuff, whereshould they go?
(26:35):
Okay.
They can find me on YouTube atSavvy Frugal Vegan, or you can
go to my website, Savvy FrugalVegan.
com.
Awesome.
And thank you so much.
You're a great storyteller.
You have great pitch.
You have great vocal variety.
You're captivating.
I'm always on the edge of myseat.
(26:56):
You tell it.
You're in the moment and you'resharing it with us.
You're not just talking it.
And so even though some of thesestories I've heard before, I was
still on the edge of my seat,and that's a beautiful thing
that we want to do asstorytellers, is make it special
every time.
And it's okay if it comes out alittle different.
(27:17):
And you are just a magicalperson.
Beautiful woman.
And I'm so honored to havegotten to work with you and
thank you so much for sharingyour genius and your art with
us.
And I hope that everybody got alot out of this.
I know I have had a blast today,so thanks so much, everybody.
See you on the screen or thestage.
Oh girl.
I'm just so happy to have you.
So hi everybody.
My name is Elaine.
I am here.
Captivate the mic.
I am here with the magnificentFabulous.
Heather Zaitzwolf, who I'm sograteful.
She's so busy running threedifferent companies that she
took time out of her busyschedule to be with us.
Because Heather, you are justsuch a delight.
(00:29):
So now we're going to segue intoNew York stories.
Because when I was on a.
A trip with Heather.
We were talking about, being newin New York and some of the
crazy things you do because it'ssuch a crazy thing.
I'm going to tell you mine firstand then we'll tell you yours if
that's okay.
Yeah, totally.
Yeah.
So I'm new in New York City.
I I've been sober.
(00:50):
I moved to New York city and gotsober at the same time, which
is, was very challenging.
It was God's plan, but Oh my,they kept saying, don't change
anything.
And I had to keep moving.
I had to keep temping.
And so I ended up at thisrestaurant.
And I it was a really hot newrestaurant in Midtown.
And it was, I won't say thename, but it was an old movie
(01:13):
theater that they had convertedand there was this huge Buddha.
So it was like Buddha bar inParis and it was really cool and
hip and they had.
DJs on the weekend, which Ididn't know till after I'd been
trained because I was trainingfor the marathon.
I was getting up at six in themorning.
So I was like, what do you meanDJs until two?
What?
I thought this was a restaurant.
Anyway, so they're like oh,we're going to do you want to
(01:34):
work the P Diddy party?
P Diddy is going to have a partybefore MTV awards.
P Diddy.
And I was like, yes, it's goingto be so exciting.
All of these movie stars andmusic moguls and I get to work
it and some people were like,no, I don't want to work that.
And I was like, Oh, why I wantto have this whole experience.
It's going to be so cool.
(01:56):
We get there early, everything'sgetting set up.
There's fancy extra flowerseverywhere.
There's all this extra stuff.
He would send his own people toa place.
It was already judged, but.
Anyway, so as the night goes on,there's, it's getting more and
more crowded and it's it's It'sgot like a thuggy vibe a little
bit.
And there's most people, I wouldsay by 10 o'clock at night,
(02:18):
we're just drinking straight outof the champagne bottles, boob
clicquot, which is, it's not DomPerignon, but it's not like
Andrews, and there, so there'sall these people just walking
around and then all thesesecurity guys.
I remember thinking, why do theylook so nervous?
Like, why are they so nervous?
Because I was just so naive.
And it slowly dawned on me, asthe night wore on Oh, people
(02:43):
have guns.
People are carrying guns.
There are guns.
They have guns.
They have guns.
Like I was just like, why isthis?
Oh, like it was like this veryslow because I'm like working.
And then you realize and it'sdark, it's already like a dark
place.
And I swear the lights just seemto get me getting darker and
darker.
And so there's like more andmore like stuff getting.
(03:05):
thrown and then they're like,don't go in that corner.
Don't avoid that corner.
And one of my friends was like,yeah they're assaulting.
Like stuff is happening.
Just don't even walk over there.
Just stay in this quarter.
And by this time it's likemidnight and I'm thinking.
Oh, this was like the worst ideaI've ever had and then I'm
seeing more and more, thuggythings happening and more and
(03:27):
more.
And then P Diddy got up on thestage and was like, turn down
for what?
And we're going to stay tilleverybody else has to go to
work.
And I remember just thinking, ohno.
Anyway, it was, and finally,like at four in the morning.
They finally put the lights upand they politely asked
everybody to leave and Iremember watching the security
(03:50):
guys sweat, like they were sonervous that something was going
to happen and I had not, Iremember just thinking, Oh, this
is the worst idea I've ever had.
And then we finally goteverybody to leave there.
Nobody, I know that.
Stuff went down in that corner,but there were no gunshots fired
(04:11):
in this restaurant.
And then we're like literallycarrying tables through rivers
of champagne on the floor at sixin the morning.
And I remember I was I have tofind a different job.
So I just remember, it was justa, to me, it was a great lesson
of being super excited, but notthinking it all the way through
and getting swept away in theexcitement of it.
(04:31):
And I'm telling this Obviously,P Diddy's in the news a lot, but
I'm telling this because asentrepreneurs, you have to get
excited about what you're doing,or you're not going to make it.
And you get to be careful aboutwhat you get excited about.
So I've learned, and I thinkHeather's done this too, of take
some time before you say yes toeverything.
(04:52):
Think it through.
Yes.
It's exciting to be invited todo cool things.
It's good.
It because, that could have goneway differently and thank God,
it, it was okay.
And then I ended up getting abetter restaurant with not, I
wasn't there until four anyway,so that's one of my crazier New
York stories.
I just think it's so funny.
(05:13):
Cause I was like, it's going tobe so much.
And then a few hours later, I'mlike, I'm actually scared for my
life, so that's one of my, Iknow you have a great New York
story, Heather, you have somany, yeah, so many I'll just
talk about, places that I livedand.
When you want to live in NewYork, you have to give up a lot,
(05:35):
like the convenience of livingin a, like a regular house or
apartment that is just like nota thing.
And so you pretty much have todecide, will I suffer to get
what I want and, is it worth it?
And sometimes it wears you outand, choose you up and spit you
out.
But I had the first time I livedin New York, I was 19 years old
(06:00):
and I lived in Queens and then Iturned 20 after that I left and
then I came back.
So the second time I was in NewYork, I was probably at that
point.
22 I'm, I think, and I was like,I'm going to live in Manhattan
this time.
I don't, none of this Queensbusiness, the suburbs in the
(06:20):
city.
Yeah.
And I wanted to put in thevillage.
It's had to be in East village.
I was like, I wanted to be avillage person.
And But but the East village isso cool.
It is so fun and funky.
It is that's where like famousCBGBs, it's just like such a
cool scene, right?
It was still, that was still athing.
Yeah.
And so this was early nineties.
(06:42):
So we're talking about probablylike 91, 92, somewhere in there.
And.
So it was still edgy andGiuliani had not come through
and cleaned it up.
But to get to New York City, Ihad to first have someplace to
stay.
My brother had a friend that wasliving in Astoria, which is in
Queens.
So I was back in Queens.
I stayed in his house and I hada couple of suitcases and I
(07:06):
needed to find a job.
And I don't even know if he hada bed in the room that I was
sleeping in, but he, He hadants.
That's what he did have.
And there was ants crawling allthrough my luggage.
I just tons of ants.
Oh, no! He did not have any afull length mirror.
Now, I just, like, all I wantedto do was, like, go to
(07:27):
nightclubs and, discover thenightlife and all that.
No mirrors! I what?! So I had togo to a local hardware store and
I'm like dragging this mirrorthrough the streets in New York,
up to this apartment so that Ican see myself in this like
cheap mirror.
But still I got out of here.
So with the ants and everything,and I was trying to find jobs
(07:48):
and.
I would get like cheap Chinesefood and eat that box of Chinese
food would last me three daysand I didn't have much money.
So I would just watch what was asoap operas?
Some of the world as the worldturns.
Yeah, it was right.
So that would be like myhighlight of the day.
So finally then I got a job andI'm like, I'm moving to
(08:08):
Manhattan.
So my first apartment and I.
Really wanted to be in thevillage, but I think I was on
15th Street, which the villageon 14th Street.
So I was like, so I got thisapartment where it was a studio
apartment, except for there wassomebody else living in it.
And you walk in, there's like akitchenette, there is like a
(08:32):
stereo system a fold out couch.
Now when I say a fold out couch,I don't mean like a fold out,
like an actual sofa bed, one ofthose foam things that, it
wasn't even a couch, it was achair.
That it was just like fourpieces of foam that would fold
up to be a chair.
And then I unfold that and thatwas my bed.
And then a screen, which waslike one of those, like maybe
(08:53):
like a Japanese screens and thenhis bed was on the other side,
that was the whole place.
So I was, and I had my mirrorand I had my suitcases that had
some resident, had some antsleft in it.
Maybe I try to kill all the antsbefore I brought it into that
place.
So I lived there for severalmonths and luckily the guy had a
(09:15):
sick mom.
He was taken care of.
Sorry for him, at least it gaveme the apartment.
So he was away a lot.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it was a little weird, he'slike on the side of this thing
and I'm just on this like pieceof foam came like a through line
through my state in New Yorkbecause getting a bed and moving
a bed around is not a goodthing.
(09:36):
I was like, I gotta move.
It turned out there was furtherdown 15th Street near Gramercy
Park.
This woman was looking for aroommate.
And I'm like, okay, I can dragmy stuff down 15th Street.
And that's a good move.
Gramercy Park is gorgeous.
Yeah.
And just grab it and move itdown.
I thought maybe I could find ashopping cart.
(09:56):
I didn't, I never found ashopping cart.
So I'd have to just drag itanyways.
So she was this woman that shehad this whole apartment.
So she had this extra bedroomand in the bedroom, you walk in
and it's basically just like aroom where the door opens.
There's a window that looks intoanother apartment and straight
(10:17):
into another apartment.
Nothing can, can't, covering thewindow and not even really much
room between I don't know, maybea cat could crawl between the
two spaces.
And there was a desk.
And then there was a bed in aloft.
This is the whole room.
So you walk in and you're likeunder a desk and then there's a
ladder and climb up.
And.
(10:37):
This bed was so high up to theceiling, like you could barely
sit up and there was a pipe thatwas like a lot of radiator stuff
that happened in New York, thisradiator pipe that went up right
next to this bed.
So I'm up high and a radiatorpipe is there.
And heat rises and it was thosepipes get hot.
(11:01):
Yes.
It was so freaking hot up inthis bed.
And then the only area I hadbelow was this little desk area.
And I got this it was a velvetElvis like a.
Postery thing to cover thewindow.
So I just had my Elvis and itwas like hot pink and velvet
said, look at Elvis, when I wasgetting ready and, but it was so
(11:24):
unbelievably hot.
So besides that, the woman had aginormous.
Dog that was giant white andfurry and the stipulation of
living there was you had to walkthe dog and of course you have
to clean up their poop and thenthere was other things that
happened like not just walkingthe dog.
(11:45):
Now, mind you, I was very goth.
I only wore black dog.
So it's always covered in doghair.
There was always, you always hadblack.
But with little white hairs allover you and I had no money to
get the sticky stuff to get itoff, that would just seem like a
(12:06):
waste of money when I could be,buying drinks at the club or
something, or food.
Yeah, or food.
And the pipes were old to forgetabout flushing down your tampon.
So they'd have to go in thegarbage can.
This dog had an affinity foreating tampons.
One time I brought a date homeand there was bloody tampons
(12:28):
everywhere on the floor.
Oh my God.
Yes.
At that point I was like, Ithink I gotta move out.
But there was also anotherstipulation.
This woman was very much intohazelnut coffee that was from a
particular place in the village,and so it was by keels, which
was the face.
Facial place.
(12:48):
I love Kiehl's, right?
Yes, and so I'd have to go downthere and get the special
coffee, which I wasn't even thatkeen about, but that was part of
the stipulation.
That dog, so I was cleaning upthe dog's poop.
I had his hair all over me.
I had the tampon thing, it waslike so much.
And you had to get caught.
This is a lot of rules.
And she ate.
Kentucky Fried Chicken with herbest friend every single day.
(13:11):
I have never seen so much KFC inmy life.
Anyways, I was like, I gotta getout of here.
So then wait, were you a veganyet?
No.
Cause that smell just permeateseverywhere.
You know what I mean?
It's Every single day it waslike the same order was like
mashed potatoes and gravy with Iwas like, who eats this much
KFC?
And you're in New York where youhave all the culinary choices in
(13:35):
the world.
Yes.
So then I was like, I got to getout of here.
So then I found, I was like, Igot to get in the village.
I want to be on like, I want tobe like in Outback City or
something, so then I found.
an apartment that was right onHouston Street.
It was like in it was between Band C, or was it C and D?
(14:00):
It was in there somewhere, butit was, it the back side of the
building was on Houston Street.
So right next to the Lower EastSide.
And I loved it.
That place was, the location wasgreat.
My living situation, however,was a little bit on the weird
side.
Unlike the other ones.
Let me, can I interrupt?
So Soho, so Houston, Soho, southof Houston.
(14:23):
So Soho is where all the artsythose big lofts were.
Because, as people are, asmanufacturers were leaving New
York city, that's where theartists and the poor people and
the gay people would come in andtrick it out.
And there are some amazing loftsthere.
So that's where you were.
That was down the street fromme.
Okay.
(14:44):
You were very close.
I was close, but close isn't thesame when in New York, like you
can go.
It may have been a short walk,but so I was looking the Lower
East Side, which Clinton Streetwas the Clinton was one of the
streets near me.
But.
A lot of it was a lot of rundownapartments and this is the 90s.
(15:07):
They're like very different thannow.
We're like the first time Ilived there, I had a boyfriend
that lived in one of thebuildings that was down there
and off of Clinton and he had abathtub in his kitchen.
So that kind of tells you Whatthe quality of those apartments
were in that area.
Okay.
So this apartment that I movedinto the my the guy that had the
(15:27):
apartment.
He was this guy that lovedElvis.
So here's this weird Elvis thingagain.
He had a pompadour.
He would wear.
Cut off hot pant jeans, likejeans, he'd roller skate
everywhere.
He was the doorman at theknitting factory, which was like
down in that area.
Oh, Elvis.
There was like Elvis shampoo,like a shrine of it in the
(15:49):
bathroom.
And it was really funny.
And he had this look like.
I'm quote, I'm air quoting loftarea, which was open.
So it was really just an areawhere you'd go up there.
There was stairs.
And then you look down into theliving room area.
This ups upstairs area became myroom, except for he had a baby
(16:12):
grand piano in this area.
That was like this little loftyarea.
He got that grant, that babygrand piano into that room is
probably because there's set asliding glass doors in that.
That area that went out to theroof of the building, which was
a shared roof, which anybody inthe building could come out and
(16:34):
be on that roof looking straightinto my locked area.
So you have curtains.
No, I couldn't afford that.
So I had some like things that Idraped over the wrought iron
thing that separated me from thedownstairs area, which was like,
but it was still open.
Like I'll totally open.
So then I was like, where am Igonna put my stuff?
(16:55):
So I put stuff on top of thegrand piano.
And then the area where I slept,I'd have to shimmy underneath
the baby grand to an alcove thatwas Literally like, like this
little area that would jet outfrom the wall and then right
underneath would probably wherenormal people would put their
(17:17):
shoes.
Like it was like that an area.
And I had a piece of foam thatwent underneath there.
And I literally had to like,side, be horizontal to get into
this area.
And again, couldn't lift up myhead.
So even worse than the lastplace.
(17:38):
I had just enough room.
I had, I went to the whiz.
I don't know.
I don't know that's still in NewYork, but the whiz and I got a
mini television that had a VCRbuilt into it.
So it was one of those littletiny things.
So the alcove, just, it was justhigh enough just to get that
mini television in there.
So that's about as high as itwas.
And so I would, let me enterthere and then sleep in my
(18:01):
little alcove, like a.
Like a vampire or something andthen I'd come out and then there
was like some other littlealcovey shelf or something that
I put my DVD player on but itwas a very weird situation and
he the guy that had theapartment like He had married
this German woman to help herget a green card, and she rode
(18:23):
the motorcycles in the spherethat was Ringling Brothers.
They would travel around and shewas in one of those, like cage
round cages and she'd ride themotorcycles around and he was
clearly gay and not reallymarried to her.
And then he took off and he waslike renting all the spaces in
the place and then we found outfrom the landlord that he had
(18:45):
been keeping the rent money thatwe'd been paying him.
He never paid the rent so we gotkicked out and I had to find
another place.
And who else lived there?
They're at that time there wasabout three or four other people
living in that small space.
Yeah.
And I'm just curious, in yourlittle alcove, what would people
get up on the roof and be likepeering in?
(19:06):
Did you like, sometimes I'd belike in my little alcove and I
could hear a party out there.
I'm like, Oh, what's going onout there?
And sometimes I knew people, I'dbe like, Hey, oh my God.
And this is my bedroom where Isleep.
Yeah.
Yeah.
People would be like, you're inthere, and it's New York though.
You never know.
Man, when I was shopping aroundfor a place, okay, so these are
the good places I found.
And.
(19:28):
You see a lot of weird livingsituations when you, man I saw
one, one apartment and Iremember thinking this would
make me want to start drinkingimmediately.
And I'm a pretty, I can bepretty frugal, but this was it
felt horrific.
Yeah.
I'm so glad.
And so you saw some bad onestoo.
Oh, yeah.
(19:48):
And then just, funny thingswhere it's like you go over to
someone's house and they'relike, you're now you're in their
situation.
And okay, back then, there's nointernet.
So this was all stuff that youwould find in the village voice.
So you'd have to pay money tocall them.
And so it's okay, you're alreadyinvesting.
50 cents to make a phone callinto this, hoping they're going
(20:08):
to answer the phone.
And then you get this person,it's you're just walking into a
situation that you have no idea.
There was no social media.
You couldn't look this personup, you're in there.
So I remember this one placethat was like, just junk
everywhere and stuff like movingand I was like, Oh, what is all
this?
He's I'm a kinetic artist.
(20:29):
It's it looks like you need likea, like an actual like art
studio.
Like he had kinetic arteverywhere.
It's just like stuff movingaround and.
Oh my God.
And that's one thing I.
Auditioning, you're runningaround New York City and you
would go up into thesebuildings.
And I used to think, this issuch an adventure.
(20:50):
And every once in a while, acasting director would be having
a casting from their ownapartment.
And so they would have blockedoff parts of it or, and, and you
just saw so many fascinatingapartments.
And I got to go into a couple ofreally fancy places, but yeah,
you just saw it all, but I loveyour, I had I was doing, I did
(21:11):
stage managing for like a moderndance show and we were
rehearsing.
in this space in Chinatown.
It was so cool.
It was like, just straight outof a movie, like a loft
apartment and this woman, it wasa dance studio where this woman
like lived above and she livedin this like loft space, but it
had light and everything.
But every time someone wanted tocome in, we'd have to throw the
(21:33):
keys down out of the window.
It's Ride one of the creepyelevator with the thing that
went across, it's like straightout of single white female or
something.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I, and I knew this other womanwho had this beautiful loft and
she'd had it since theseventies.
So the rent was, it was justit's amazing.
If you get there at the righttime.
Okay.
(21:53):
I love all this.
And heather, what do you think?
How do we relate this back to abusiness lesson for our
entrepreneurs?
What is your, because I havethings I want to say, but what
would you say?
Sometimes you're just going tohave to roll up your sleeves and
just deal with the situation athand and be scrappy about it
because, some, if you'restarting a business, you may not
(22:16):
have all the funds to do all thethings that you want to do.
So you have to find solutionsthat are low cost that, that
work, and kind of test thingsout is this what I want?
This is not what I want.
That sort of thing.
And, as I'm leaning in towardstrying to figure out like a new
business venture for myself I'mout there rolling up my sleeves
(22:38):
again trying different things,not spending too much money on
it.
And testing it out.
And then, Oh, maybe that wasn'tfor me.
Maybe that's not right.
Try something else and move on.
I love that.
I love that.
And I think, what I'm hearing inall of our stories is a
willingness, curiosity, willingto be uncomfortable again and
(22:59):
again.
And I know for me, a lot of mysuffering, you 20, right?
So somewhat to my suffering wasbecause I was attached to the
result.
I wanted the result.
And.
And so I really, again andagain, I get the lesson of when
I do my spiritual practices, Iam more open to having
(23:21):
experiences and miracles canhappen in that space,
possibilities can happen in thatspace instead of but this is
what I want, so it's likelearning to be intentional and
then letting go and then takingthe action but then letting go
because that's one thing that Ilearned a lot in New York and I,
in hindsight, I wish I'd had thespace that you have and Will
(23:43):
Ferrell has, it's not too late.
I still will always be pursuingcomedy and acting cause I love
it, even if I'm not totallyfocused on it now.
But thank you so much for your,your fabulous stories, Heather.
And you've had such aninteresting career and I.
I have another short story.
Okay.
Okay.
(24:05):
I was working in fashion designand then I got laid off and I'm
like, okay, what am I going todo?
And I've always had a curiosityabout nightclub culture.
And I found out about anightclub that was opening,
turned out it was a gentleman'sclub and a quote unquote
gentleman's club.
Okay.
And here I am, only a, like atotal goth chick, and it turns
(24:26):
out our uniform, I was gonna bea waitress there, I should, I
never had waited tables therebefore.
Oh no.
We used to wear white lace, itwas called solid gold.
And they put us throughtraining.
Turns out it was owned by somehigh up mob families.
Didn't know that they neverreally got there.
(24:46):
They bought the business fromanother like strip club or
whatever, and they never reallygot their liquor license.
So one day we show up andthere's locks on the doors and
all of that, but.
I did have some very funexperiences while it was around.
Anthony Michael Hall wouldalways come in on Sundays and
Sundays were slow.
(25:06):
So I was, I like to work onSundays cause sometimes I was
the only waitress there onSundays.
And then David Lee Roth wasalways like closing the place.
Like he would like, And at fouro'clock in the morning, we all
had to like line up in ourstupid lace outfits and with our
tray out and the drunk peoplewould come out and tip us or
whatever but it was very funnybecause all, what I found out
(25:30):
was like the dancers, like theyhad to work it, like they had to
sell themselves and, becauseGuys want to buy them drinks and
that's, you're pushing drinkspushing drinks.
And they didn't want to getdrunk or something, so they'd
have to dispose of the drinks.
So you'd have to bring themdrinks.
So we had the champagne area andwe'd be like putting champagne
(25:54):
into the.
into the planters and like allkinds of craziness like that.
And then they had to buy goldendollars or something.
And so like oftentimes at theend of night, you'd find golden
dollars.
And I found so much money likeleft in different places and,
but until the place was closeddown.
But so you never know when youpivot to try something else, you
(26:15):
just never know what the worldmay send you.
It may, maybe a gentleman'sclub.
And.
Which was very fun, but nothingI would ever want to do again,
but I got some good stories fromit.
You did.
You definitely did.
And if people want to know moreabout how to find you and come
to your events and stuff, whereshould they go?
(26:35):
Okay.
They can find me on YouTube atSavvy Frugal Vegan, or you can
go to my website, Savvy FrugalVegan.
com.
Awesome.
And thank you so much.
You're a great storyteller.
You have great pitch.
You have great vocal variety.
You're captivating.
I'm always on the edge of myseat.
(26:56):
You tell it.
You're in the moment and you'resharing it with us.
You're not just talking it.
And so even though some of thesestories I've heard before, I was
still on the edge of my seat,and that's a beautiful thing
that we want to do asstorytellers, is make it special
every time.
And it's okay if it comes out alittle different.
(27:17):
And you are just a magicalperson.
Beautiful woman.
And I'm so honored to havegotten to work with you and
thank you so much for sharingyour genius and your art with
us.
And I hope that everybody got alot out of this.
I know I have had a blast today,so thanks so much, everybody.
See you on the screen or thestage.
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