Hustle Her - Linda

As we wade through the complexities of self-discovery and social justice, it's rare to find a beacon like Linda Bogle-Mienzer , who not only navigates these waters but also charts a course for others. On the latest episode of Hustle Her Podcast, I'm joined by Linda, whose 25-year tenure with the Bermuda Police Service has been a testament to the power of advocacy and the pursuit of equity. Her stories aren't just experiences to be shared; they're lessons to be absorbed, particularly when it comes to advocating for Black individuals and the LGBTQIA+ community. As Linda recounts her journey from an introverted child to a formidable force within her profession, we're granted a glimpse into the essence of true growth and transformation.

The conversation transcends personal anecdotes, evolving into a nuanced dialogue on the role of work in our lives and the importance of maintaining boundaries between our professional and private worlds. Linda's insights extend into the significance of unions, underlining their role in fostering supportive environments where people do more than simply work—they thrive. The discussion is a contemplative exploration of labor struggles, the necessity of ensuring fair treatment in the workplace, and the personal equilibrium each of us strives to achieve in the elusive pursuit of work-life balance.

Finally, we tackle the layered concept of empowerment, especially within the context of intersectionality, and the responsibility Black women carry in shaping a better future for the next generation. This episode is not solely a narrative thread of Linda's life—it's an imperative call to readers to stand for equality, to uphold each other through adversity, and to embrace the legacies we create. Join us on Hustle Her Podcast to witness firsthand Linda's inspiring journey and to absorb the wisdom she imparts on empowerment, empathy, and advocacy.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm a hustler baby.
It's time for Hustle Herpodcast.
I'm your host, deshae Caines.
Hustle Her is all aboutinspiring women through real
life experiences that havehelped to mold and develop not
only me of motivation, a bit oftough love and some actionable

(00:26):
takeaways to be the best.
You, girl, you are in the rightplace.
Hey guys, and welcome back toHustle Her Podcast.
As always, thank you forspending some time with me today
on the podcast.
Make sure you head over tohustleherpodcastcom.
Sign up to be a VIP listener,as well as, if you're watching
this episode on YouTube rightnow, make sure you head over to

(00:46):
hustleheartpodcastcom.
Sign up to be a VIP listener,as well as, if you're watching
this episode on YouTube rightnow, make sure you subscribe to
the channel so you can stay upto date on all of our new
episodes that are coming.
So my next guest I'm reallyexcited about.
I went through one avenue toanother to get her number to
figure out if she wanted to beon the podcast today, but the
beauty of connections and we arefinally sitting here.
My next guest is the amazing,the disruptor, ms Linda

(01:07):
Bogomizer.

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hello, how are you?
I am fantastic, yes.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
I'm so excited we're here.
The, I guess ways that we weretalking about.
I was like I want Linda to beon my podcast, but I don't know,
no, no Linda.
But I know my dad knows Linda,so I reached out to my dad and
then my dad forgot.
So I'm glad we're finally here,hey, your.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Your dad is is one of my favorite people, and so
whenever he makes a call, I amgenerally always accommodating,
all right I love that.

Speaker 1 (01:37):
I love the generally not always, but we'll see what
we can make it work Because wehave some connections that don't
come with friendship.

Speaker 2 (01:46):
It happens, but he's in his employer capacity of not
always accommodating.

Speaker 1 (01:52):
Oh goodness, that's hilarious.
Yeah, but we'll get into that alittle bit more as well.
So we always start off.
I want to get everyone to getto know you a little bit, so
we'll just start off with a fewrapid fires Ready.
Yeah, all right, I'm.
We'll just start off with a fewrapid fires ready.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Yeah, all right, I'm happiest when, when I'm with my
family, yeah, absolutely allright.

Speaker 1 (02:08):
What do you like to do on the plane?

Speaker 2 (02:10):
like, when you get on the plane, you put your
suitcase up like what's yourgo-to um, get my last prayer,
because I always think I'm gonnadie on a plane, and so I am
terrified of flying as much as Ifly.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
I do not like flying are you a middle aisle window
seater?
I?

Speaker 2 (02:26):
have to be by the window, okay, and and if, if
somebody I know it's not is bythe window, then I have to go in
my negotiation and get thewindow okay, yeah okay, what's
the skincare routine?
Um, generally it's just beensoap and water.
But recently I I've been, I'vegotten into Anzuri and I found

(02:49):
that it works for my skin, soI've been loving it.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Okay, all right, what do?
Oh sorry, who's your closestfriend?

Speaker 2 (02:57):
Uh, judy Simmons, BFFs, my BFF, my ride or die
Love that I remember.
At my wedding, judy told mywife that please know, I will
help her bury the body, and thenI will have to kill her too,
because she tells everything.
So that's how it's going to go.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
That's hilarious, that's a serious, that's a
welcome and a threat all wrappedin one right.
That's the kind of friend sheneeds.
There you go.
Everybody needs one of those,all right right, that's the kind
of friends you need there yougo.

Speaker 2 (03:26):
Everybody needs one of those.
All right, what does love feellike?
Um?
My absolute favorite, one of myfavorite meals is um scallop
and potatoes by my mom, andthat's what love feels like when
I eat that.
It just everything in the worldfeels right and that's how my
love feels.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
Yes, yeah, it's like a bite of scalloped potatoes.
Or your mom's scallopedpotatoes.

Speaker 2 (03:46):
Any of my mom's, there you go.
I mean, my wife made it once.
You know she's getting there.
Ooh, ooh, ooh.
She's getting there, Ooh, oohooh, mm-mm Getting there.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
What we're not going to do is talk about wifey and
she's not here, all right, whatare you listening to right now?

Speaker 2 (04:04):
I tend not to listen to a lot of music.
I have this app called Blink it, so I listen to a lot of books.
Okay and yeah.
My favorite app Perfect.

Speaker 1 (04:16):
What's a hidden talent about you?
People don't know?

Speaker 2 (04:19):
That I am very electrical minded, like I fix
everything in my house yeah, Icould fix pretty much anything
all right, well done.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
They'll save a little money there too, right?
Yeah, of course and then,finally, as we've started the
new year, it's appropriate tostart having these conversations
.
Who's your cut match team?

Speaker 2 (04:39):
well, there is only one cut match team well, let's
hope you can stay.

Speaker 1 (04:43):
well, it's summer, so there we go, thereet, there we
go there, we go, there we go.

Speaker 2 (04:46):
I don't even know of another cop match team.

Speaker 1 (04:47):
Lara's outnumbered again.
There's three to one, but it'sall right, we love her anyway.
All right, so let's jump rightin.
So tell me about Linda as achild.
What did you like to get into?

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Where did tell me about little Linda?
I was very introverted and Ihad a couple of years where I
didn't speak at all.
I just spoke in general and soI was very, very quiet.
So a lot of the people thatknew me from my childhood or
from my past they're surprisedat the current Linda because
they're like where did she comefrom, right?
Um, so I didn't really get intoit much.
I was always with my grandmother, my parents, of course, were um

(05:28):
, working two, three jobs, so Ididn't see them a lot generally,
just one day out of the theweekend when we went to football
games.
We were huge fans of somersetchildren's okay.
So that that was our life, butI spent a lot of time with my
grandmother I'm going to workwith her at Elbow Beach Laundry

(05:48):
and just being in her presence.
So, yeah, I'm a grandma's girlfor sure.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Big time?
Yeah, absolutely.
What were some of the thingsthat your grandma taught you, or
you learned from being aroundher all the time?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
The one thing that I've carried in my life and I
stick by is my grandmotheralways told me they could take
anything from you, but yourintegrity.
That is something you giftothers, and so I have stuck by
that, and so I am a person ofhuge integrity that's that's
what I live by yeah, I got thatfrom my granny that's amazing.

Speaker 1 (06:21):
I love that.
My nana, I just recorded mynana.
She was right before you so itwas like kind of fitting.
I love that a little bit.
Okay, so I was told, so I readyour bio, right, and you said
that you liked cricket andtennis.
But I was told you playedcricket yeah, for Bermuda at one
point.
So fill me in on how you gotinto cricket yeah, I think
liking cricket is anunderstatement.

Speaker 2 (06:42):
I love cricket.
I think it is a nationaltreasure that Bermuda I don't
think we exploit enough, but theway that we play it here and
the way it's really a connectionwith families and community.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
Culture yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:58):
It's part of our culture right.
So, of course, I played cricketas a child, I played tip-to-go
in the backyard, and then, ofcourse, I played cricket as a
child, I played tip-to-go in thebackyard, and then, of course,
when I got older.

Speaker 1 (07:07):
I have no idea what tip-to-go is, by the way.
No, not a clue.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
Okay, I definitely will put that on my list.

Speaker 1 (07:12):
Yes, please, we have to do that.
Yeah, you have to playtip-to-go.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
You get hero status in the neighborhood if you can
play tipifty good.
Well, but that's how I startedmy my love of cricket.
Okay, and as I got older and Iwanted to really play it more,
of course it was at a time where, um, girls cricket wasn't being
developed, it wasn't heard of.
And so when the nationalcricket program came along and a
friend of mine, peter philpott,said, hey, linda, you should
come in and try out for thenational team, because at that
time I was with police.
Anytime police had cricketgames I would go and play, try

(07:50):
to play, with the guys.
And so that's how I got intothe national program.
And then when the opportunitycame for Bermuda to try to get
into the World Cup and we had togo to Canada to qualify, then
that's how we really emerged ona national level.
And then when we beat Canadawhich was not expected we got to

(08:11):
go to the qualifiers.
That was like amazing.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
Wow, yeah, Because when we think of Bermuda, most
people don't always come to usfor our sports right, Like when
they think Bermuda, like on this.
You know world stage when itcomes to that.
So to find people that arereally passionate about it and
actually played because younever really hear about women
playing cricket, so I love thatfor you.
And then being in Canada too,that's a big one.

Speaker 2 (08:34):
Yeah, that was huge.
But I mean, cricket was alwaysaround.
Bermuda usually actually had anational cricket league way back
there.
You're talking in the 60s,right, that was huge, but it was
never really developed.
And so, of course, everythingwith money, when you have money

(08:54):
coming into programs, itgenerally goes south to the
men's and the boys.
And so from Bermuda to beCanada, when we left to go to
play over in Canada, we justlike sharing bets and stuff,
right.
And then when we won and wecame back and of course we got
sponsorship, yeah, and so whenwe went to the, the world
qualifiers, we were way out ofour league.

(09:15):
I mean, our training programwas nothing.
They were coming off the fieldand having ice baths, you know,
and we were like what ice bath?
you know we don't do that sortof thing yeah I say that to say
where our levels were, and sothe fact that we were there and
competing was an incredible feat, and I don't I don't think
people give us enough creditthat to make the qualifiers we

(09:39):
had to be in the top 16 in theworld.

Speaker 1 (09:41):
Wow, and so that is something yeah that no one talks
about that, nobody talks aboutthat.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Nobody talks about that.
Wow, and how?
Yeah, how bermuda put, we putourselves on the map.
Yeah, they always talk aboutthe defeats were terrible.
Yeah, because we were way outof our league, but still we were
there right, and I think thatothers, um teams that we played
with out there, they were ableto see how a an organized

(10:10):
structure could be, becausethat's what put me ahead.
We just didn't have that levelof talent, but if we had
continued, we could have, wecould have went pretty far,
absolutely well.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
It's a shame, though, to think about that you didn't
could, that it didn't continue.
The program didn't continuebecause you just never know.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
Well, I just don't think that we're equally vested
in women's sports in the country.

Speaker 1 (10:32):
if we're being honest , it's a conversation to be had,
yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:36):
It doesn't happen.
When you get the money thatcomes in and you start to divvy
it out.
It always goes to the boys andthe men's teams, whether they
accomplish anything or not yeah,and now we're starting to see
consequences of that in ournational team absolutely.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
I mean, if you look at our girls football program,
they are excelling at the moment.
You know what I mean.
They're going into theirtournaments, they're winning,
they're coming back, and you'redefinitely correct where they're
not getting the samerecognition, um that our male
teams uh get, especially on theglobal stage, and even with
local funding they don't um, sohopefully I think they started
that program younger, sohopefully it gets a little

(11:14):
better for them.
But um, what I do love, though,on a world stage, is flora.
Flora brings home that, thatfemale side of it for us.
When her race is the last raceof the triathlon, it's always,
like you know, it's always themen's race.
That's the last race, right?
So that's always cool to watch.
So tell me about tennis.
What was the?
It says?

Speaker 2 (11:33):
aficionado in tennis as well, yeah, I mean, I played
tennis as a fluke.
You know, I lived in Padgettand some of the kids out there
played tennis.
I didn't really know what itwas about, so I went with them
one Saturday and I turned out.
I was good at it but my familydidn't have the finances that

(11:54):
came with it, so I was neverpushed even though I had the
talent, Sometimes I would goSaturdays and couldn't play
because my you know, my parentshadn't paid the dues that were
due at that time.
And so it just sort of I wasnever, never pushed, but I
always had the talent and Icontinued to play like right up

(12:14):
to adulthood.
I don't play as much as I usedto because I just don't have the
time.
But yeah, I could play tennis.
Yes, I love that.
Of course, I'm a huge Serenafan.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
Yeah, big time, yeah time, yeah, I mean that's kind
of an understatement I mean,yeah, I feel like you got kind
of gotta be, but now I'm gettinginto coco.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
I love coco the way, the way she advocates for
herself on the court, the mosther most recent one love it yeah
, so I'm a big coco fan, yeahyeah, and I think what I love
about the era that we're in isthat coco could do that and not
have as much backlash as Serena100% Serena.
Serena was doing it and peoplewere like oh, get her off the

(12:51):
pitch Angry.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Yeah, People are rallying around her and they're
like she's absolutely right andshe should be doing that.
And every time she does it as atennis fan, knowing the the
rule, she's absolutely she was100 right especially the last
one, when the when the umpirecalled that out or called it
before or after, I can'tremember um and she advocated
for herself she's a millionaire,you know, so she could do it

(13:16):
and do whatever she wants atthis same consequence as serena
here serena wasn't making amillion dollars, not at all, I
mean I'm not hating.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Serena's gonna be fine, she don't need any.
My advocacy for money serena'sall right.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
Serena's gonna be all right, she's gonna be all right
.
So tell me about, uh, your 25year career in the bermuda
police service.
Like, how would that how?
First of all, how did you evenget into the police service?

Speaker 2 (13:44):
I was working for customs at the time.
Um, they had these training umcustoms posts and I just wasn't
feeling it.
And so it's like what, what amI gonna do right?
And so I looked at my plan andmy sister, who has been a police
officer all her life, you nowshe came up to the cadet program

(14:05):
and uh, she was like, oh, theyhave these jobs at police.
Um, they're looking for stationduty officers who be the
initial face of reports.
And I was like, yeah, they needthat because the police service
front end was crappy.
It's like you're not sure ifyou're the victim or the suspect
when you was called in thepolice department and so I saw

(14:27):
that as one a way to um be in anadvocacy position for people,
but also like hey, I can make acareer out of this, so that's
where it started yeah, and sohow would you say that shaped
your approach into laborrelations and advocacy?
Well, it definitely shaped myapproach because I noticed the

(14:49):
difference of the treatment ofpeople when they came through
the door, and I vowed thatwhenever and I've never made an
apology for it, I never will butwhen a Black person walks
through the police departmentdoors, I want them to know that
they're going to get what theydeserve in justice and equity

(15:10):
when they see me behind thereand I always did that from the
day that I left.
I think that makes a hugedifference in the relationship,
one with the police departmentand the public, but also with
the relationship of people whenthey're coming in and they're
victims.
Right, you're a victim.
You should never be turned intoa suspect.

(15:33):
Absolutely, and I saw it and Iadvocated for and I still
advocate for absolutely, but you, you have to.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
You need people and organizations who see the
treatment of how things aregoing, and it's you make it your
responsibility to change thatnarrative around that, because
you know people, the police,don't have the best rep when it
comes to in the community, theman.
All these types of thingspeople look at in a very
negative way, so it's not alwaysa welcoming place for people to
come when they are victims.
So knowing that there's someoneon the other side being an

(16:03):
advocate and giving them theproper treatment, I I think
that's commendable.

Speaker 2 (16:06):
Yeah, and I didn't have the best treatment in the
police department.
It was in the police departmentthat I actually came out, and my
experience in the policedepartment, first as a closeted
gay person but then as an allgay person, was terrible, and so
I vowed that I would leave, asa part of my legacy with police,

(16:29):
an environment where everybodycan be themselves and bring
their whole self to workAbsolutely, and that has.
I've always advocated for thatat the police Senate.
It changed over the years, butit was a difficult time.
It was a very difficult time.

Speaker 1 (16:43):
What made you decide to come out during your time at
the police?

Speaker 2 (16:47):
Um, because I got tired of bringing somebody else
to work.
Hmm, that's deep.
Yeah, just got tired of it.
You know, you, you think ofbasic conversations at work.
Hey, what did you do thisweekend, right you?

Speaker 1 (17:01):
generally tell people what you did.

Speaker 2 (17:03):
I hung out with my boo or me, or so whatever it is
but when you can't bringyourself to work, you're you're
making up these things or you'renot telling the truth.
You're saying, oh, I didnothing but I had amazing
weekends.
They just weren't things thatyou felt comfortable saying,
right, I could not say I couldnot say yeah, because the police

(17:24):
department is a homophobicculture wow, interesting.

Speaker 1 (17:30):
It's so interesting when we think about where we are
in society when it comes toLGBTQIA rights and when it comes
to people being able to betheir whole selves and to work.
And we live in an environmentwhere there's still people who
are uncomfortable coming to workas their whole selves.
Like what would you say tosomeone knowing what you know
now if they were trying to beauthentically them at work?

Speaker 2 (17:53):
I would say what my grandma used to say six one, one
way, half a dozen, the otherright.
If you come to work and you'reout, they're going to treat you
some way.
If you come to work and you'renot out, you're going to treat
yourself some way.
Either way, you're losing, allright.
So you pick what's the worst,and anytime you're not being
yourself, that's got to be theworst, because you're already

(18:15):
telling people by how you treatyourself that listen, I don't
even think myself's good enough,so it's okay for you to treat
me like that.
Wow, you can't.
That can't.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
You can't win like that you can't do that, not at
all.
So I guess that self-advocacy,right.
How did that morph intoadvocacy at work?
And then now we're finishedwith the police and you're
transitioning into your unioncareer, how does all the
self-advocacy morph into theroles that you've had, into your
current role now?

Speaker 2 (18:45):
Well, I came into my labor role as a result of a
tragedy.
It was Fabian, our shop storeat the time.
Gladys Saunders lost her lifeat Fabian and my best friend,
Chicken Simon.
So at that time, um, we didn'thave any advocacy Right and
because of the noise that I wasmaking around Fabian, my

(19:09):
colleagues were like, hey,you're going to be our shop
store.
It wasn't.

Speaker 1 (19:13):
Yeah, and for those who don't know, sorry because
not everyone that listens is inbermuda.
What is a shop store?

Speaker 2 (19:18):
so a shop store is a uh union elected official that
is actually in the workplacethat represents the workers of
that work, okay all right.

Speaker 1 (19:29):
So you were saying the colleagues were like you're
going to be the shop, yeah, soas, as the uh current person
responsible for shop store theelections.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
That's not how it's supposed to go.
It's supposed to be a properelection process and then you
get voted but it wasn't likethat right, they're just like
you're it?
you know you, you speak the most, you advocate the most, yeah
you're it, but I and this isanother result of being a
grandma's girl my grandma waslike when you get into something

(19:58):
, whether you put your hand upwillingly or not, right, you
have to earn it.
And so once I took it over, itwasn't just like, oh well, you
know, they asked me to do this,I guess I'll show up.
It wasn't like that.
It was like, okay, I'm going tobe that person.
And so I did the research.
I did the research, I did theeducation.

(20:21):
I got really into what theunion stood for currently
because my association with theunion came from my uncle, david
Bell, who was president of theBPSU, which I represent, but I
wasn't connected to it.
I knew about the big unionevents, the island-wide strike,
but I wasn't connected to it.
And so once I became a unionofficial, I thought, hey, I

(20:43):
better figure out what is thereal advocacy for workers.
And once I got into that, I amhere.

Speaker 1 (20:52):
And what is the real advocacy?

Speaker 2 (21:03):
here and what is the real advocacy?
Employment is about the taskyou perform and remuneration for
those tasks.
Right jobs are not your family,right employers are not your
parents right, so they don't getto tell us we have moved where
it's almost like employment islike your, your, your family and
your parents, and they'retelling you what to do, what to
wear at work, what to stay atwork, how to do everything.
That's not what they'resupposed to do.

(21:24):
Yet you have tasks that theyask you to complete and you
complete those tasks and you getpaid right.
So the real advocacy for me isworkplaces are supposed to be an
extension of your householdcircles, where you can be the

(21:45):
best person and perform thesetasks.
Well, we've become more intogetting those tasks performed.
Whether you're the best person,a good person, a bad person, it
doesn't matter the person andin that we're just losing a
whole culture of people, becauseeverybody's obsessed with the

(22:07):
remuneration for these tasks andso you can't live and work.
We can't survive and workplaces like that, and that's why
we're seeing the results ofthis.
We're seeing increased peopleand drugs and alcohol and
domestic violence and all ofthese things Depression, burnout
, burnout, everything Becauseit's just all about the

(22:30):
remuneration for these tasks andthese jobs are taking over our
lives.
There is no work-life balance.
Yeah, when you start to talkabout work-life balance, people
start to look at you sideways Iactually have a love-hate
relationship with work-lifebalance because I think it's not
attainable, right.

Speaker 1 (22:47):
Like I don't think true balance in either of those
ways.
Like I think we're givingpeople a goal that is not
something that they're going tobe able to reach, right.
I think it's work-life balancefor you.
It's different for you, thenit's different for me, maxie
Lara, whatever works for us isdifferent for each person.
So I think when people areaspiring to work-life balance, I

(23:10):
think that what that looks like, and not being able to look at
your phone and all these thingsis different for everybody, and
so I think once we kind of comearound to what that is, I think
people would be easier to kindof, I guess, take on what that
might mean for them.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
I don't think that it can be defined because it's
individual.
Yeah Right, so I never want tosay this is what work-life
balance looks like.
Yeah, I want to know whenyou're balanced, and I know when
you're balanced, when you'reyour best you.
When you're not your best you.
There's a imbalance somewhere soyou have to figure out what it
is yeah, right, and so theadvocacy of the union comes in

(23:49):
is creating these platforms inthese places, in these safe
places where you can have thatconversation with your employer.
But also, we have an employmentact that governs the workplace.
We have our collectivebargaining agreements that
govern the workplace.
These are things to make surethat the workplace remains
equitable and the same foreverybody.
That's all they're there for.

(24:10):
But what your workplace balancelooks like is for you to have
that conversation with youremployer, but what we've done is
we've made it so rigid thateverybody has to follow.
Workplace balance looks like isfor you to have that
conversation with your employer,but what we've done is we've
made it so rigid that everybodyhas to follow the same thing,
and that is where then peoplefall away or we're getting
people coming into work.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
That's not their best yeah, I know, I totally agree.
But what do you say to peoplewho don't have the most positive
experiences with the union?
Right, and it's usuallyemployers, but like some people
who are not in, you know,unionized environments and I
don't think people fullyunderstand the purpose of unions
.
Or they say things like union,the time for union was back then

(24:48):
and not now.
Like how do you kind of getpeople on side with the belief
and the advocacy and the actualpurpose of what unions are for,
based on what you do?

Speaker 2 (24:59):
I ask people to tell me something employers give
willingly.
That's outside of therequirements of the collective
bargaining agreement or theemployment act.
It's fair and so.
Without that, there will alwaysbe a need for unions, because
everybody has benefited from theadvocacy of unions.

(25:21):
You didn't wake up and theemployer says hey, I like you so
much, let me give you maternityleave.
I like you so much, let me giveyou paternity leave.
I like you so much, let me giveyou a lunch break.
My grandmother tells the storyof how she had my mother on a
Tuesday and by Friday she had tobe back to work or she wasn't
going to get paid.

(25:42):
That's crazy, right?
Could you imagine?

Speaker 1 (25:45):
that happening now.

Speaker 2 (25:46):
Right.
There are still employers inthis country today who do not
give people annual leave.
That's why we had to put in theemployment act.
There are employers that stillin this country don't pay people
who are off sick.
So people drag themselves andwe saw it during COVID, when

(26:07):
people were coming to work nomatter how well they were sick,
but they couldn't lose theincome.
So when people say to me me, oh, the time for unions are gone,
I say show me a time whereemployers are morally fulfilling
their obligation and legally,and I'll say, okay, it's time

(26:29):
for unions to go that's a fairpoint.

Speaker 1 (26:33):
I've never been in a unionized environment.
I'm actually not as familiarwith what benefits you get from
a union and in a unionizedenvironment, so I'm always very
interested to hear like what,like you as a shop steward or
being involved in the, in theroles and things that you do now
, but I've never been in anenvironment where I benefited

(26:54):
directly from it.
Like all the other things youjust mentioned maternity leave,
all of those types of things100%.
I get that, pensions, all ofthat but I've never, and I think
there's a large segment ofpeople who are in the same boat
and they don't see the valuebehind that either.
So that's good to know.

Speaker 2 (27:09):
Well, let me tell you a prime example.
Came over the period of COVID.
Right, there were employers whoyou would leave.
When you leave your place ofemployment on a Friday you have
the weekends off Everything inyour mindset tells you you're
going to work on Monday.
Right, you're planning out yourlife for the income that you're

(27:31):
getting for the rest of theyear based on the fact you're
going to work on Monday.
On Monday, your employer callsyou into a room and says hey,
because of finance or because ofwhatever, we're just not going
to need you anymore.
We're going to pay you for therest of the month.

(27:52):
Check you later.
What can you do?
Nothing.
That doesn't happen under aunion umbrella.
Okay, that does not happen.
And a lot of people found outthe safety of that union
umbrella during covid becausethat was happening all over
bermuda.
Yeah, right, people were beinglaid off, allegedly fired.

(28:13):
We don't need you anymore.
Without any sort of agreementsand nothing.
You're just out there.
You don't know where your nextincome's coming from, and these
were from companies who had theresources right, but just had no
obligation.
When you're on a collectivebargaining agreement, that

(28:33):
doesn't happen.
Yeah, we have those parametersin there and any anybody in our
bargaining union wakes up oneday and says, oh, I'm just gonna
fire linda today.
Okay, try that again.
Okay, because I always sayunions are like that commercial.
You remember that verizoncommercial where the um gangster
told the person to come andmeet them and they were gonna to

(28:57):
beat them up.
And then they came and allthese people were behind us.
And the gangster said hey, Itell you, come by yourself.
Who are those people behind you?
He said oh, that's my network.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, that'swhat we are.
We're your network.
Wherever you go, the wholeunion and all of its membership
goes with you.

Speaker 1 (29:14):
Okay, but what do you say to people who think that
people abuse the union in thatway when it comes to the strikes
and you know things like that,like you know, because they know
the union is going to back themor call out or things like that
and I'm playing a bit ofdevil's advocate here.
But, like, what do you say topeople who are like, oh, they're
just exploiting the fact thatthey know the union are going to

(29:36):
lay you know down tools becauseof this person they may not
have, they may shouldn't, maynot have the right to do that?

Speaker 2 (29:44):
every family has one of them.
It's so true, though, everyfamily has one of them Union to
family.
We're not perfect.
Yeah, we have employees thatshould be held accountable more.
They're not.
And we have employees that takeadvantage of some of the

(30:08):
benefits under the union and usethem in ways they were never
intended for.
Right, I am that person in theunion who will tell you no, no,
no, you're wrong.
Right, and there areconsequences.
Yeah, and all organizationsmust hold themselves and their
membership accountable.
Absolutely right, and so Idon't put the union outside of

(30:30):
that.
But what I do say is that, whenit comes to bigger things that
may come to the public's umknowledge, they don't know
everything, right, so they seesomething, they only see the
black and white of it.
But the union has thiscollective bargaining agreement
and rules, right, even the worstperson that you don't like on a

(30:50):
job that, when they get fired,oh my gosh, you can't wait to
see them go I have some of them,right.
It's like, oh, there is a God,right.
But then you find out that theprocess used to fire them was
incorrect, and so we're fightingfor the process and not always
the person, because if we allowthat process to be used, then

(31:12):
what happens when it's used for?

Speaker 1 (31:13):
the innocent person, right.

Speaker 2 (31:15):
So you see us marching in the street for that
person and you're like what?
You're fighting for that person, that person, this and that,
right, but we and this is someplaces where the union has
failed is we don't always saythis is the reason, right, and
so people are left with thisimpression that we just fight
for any person.

(31:36):
Yeah, but it's not true.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
No, I agree with you there.
I was going to be my next thingabout the communication of it,
because I think that's a.
I think that's a lapse periodin Bermuda with a lot of things
that can be very controversial.
It's not always explainedproperly.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
And I think if that the process of it as opposed to
the person was explained, Ithink people would be a bit more
understanding around that forsure.
I, I agree, I agree and, and Isaid I take ownership I don't
think that we do a good enoughjob of it, but sometimes in the
mix, like we don't always getthat chance.

Speaker 1 (32:09):
Yeah, and to be fair.

Speaker 2 (32:10):
The media doesn't always give us an opportunity to
yeah, to get our side of thestory out before they create a
narrative around something thatisn't true.

Speaker 1 (32:22):
That's yeah, that's.
That's a conversation for adifferent time.
So I'm so disappointed youdon't have on a bow tie today,
because I literally wrote thisquestion.
I was, like you're often seensporting your signature bow ties
right, but it's okay.
But you are often with your bowties with your mantra I'm just
a worker who fights for allworkers.
Do I guess these personalelements of you?

(32:44):
How do they reflect in yourapproach to advocacy and this is
just throughout your life?
Like, how does that?
How do you bring you into youradvocacy?

Speaker 2 (32:52):
Well, the bow ties are from my grandfather my
grandfather.
If ever you are a child and youmeet somebody that their
presence in the room justchanges how you feel about life.
I used to see my grandfatherand whenever he came he used to

(33:13):
have on the crispiest whiteshirts, suspenders and his pants
and a bow tie, and I alwaysjust was like, oh my gosh, he
looks amazing.
And I would tell, of course, myfamily members that I want to
wear a bow tie and suspenders,like grandpa or whatever, and
they're like no, girls can't dothat, right, right.

(33:42):
And so when I got theopportunity to define my own
style.
I went back to that little girland said I got you, I love that,
and so I start wearing bow tieseverywhere and of course that
came with its own, you know,backlash.
But at that point, like Ididn't care, and I think I think
that's part of my advocacy,because wherever I go, I tell
people you get to do anythingyou want in the definition of

(34:04):
yourself, and I don't think wesay that enough.
It's not about sexuality, it'snot about any of this, it's just
that how do you want to defineyourself?
Because people automaticallymake the assumption about my
sexuality, which is fine becauseI back it up, because I've said
it Right.
But what about those people whohaven't said it?

(34:24):
You're making assumptions thatmay not be true.

Speaker 1 (34:29):
And that's difficult, right.
I mean what I think when I hearyou, and I hear you speak on
things like this and you knowyou're so confident and so you
know you're so aware of who youare, how did you get to that
level of self-awareness wherebecause I hear you saying, you
know, I don't mind, I welcomethe challenges, things that are
coming my way?
How did you get to that point?

Speaker 2 (34:52):
It was life or death.
Ok, uh, it was life or death,okay.
One day I I was so over how Iwas being treated that I
actually thought that death wasway better than how I was living
.
And I drove down to my favoriteplace, which is watchers hill,
and I drove my car right to theend and I said, okay, I'm done.

(35:13):
And I said, god, you're gonnahave to save me, because I've
done everything to try to savemyself and there's nothing left
for me to do.
Right.
And my nephew, who was a childat the time, right, called me on
the cell phone his mama's cellphone.
He was playing, okay, and thatI took that as a sign from go up

(35:36):
.
But that triggered me, as howcould I want to not be in my
nephew's life, who I absolutelyadore, because of all these
other people that don't give aflying about Right?
And so that when I, when thatswitch was like that, I came out
to my family, came out to myfriends and everything since

(35:58):
then, it was just like, yeah,well, this is it.
And so everything that I'vedone from that day forward is
about being unapologetic aboutmy authentic self, because how I
think I arrived at my sexualitycould be entirely different
from what you think, but allthat matters is what I think,
because that's what I have tolive with, and so that's how I'm

(36:21):
able to carry on.
And so I do that with my, mystyle.
I do that.
If I I shave my hair off,people's like, oh, are you sick?
Or whatever.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
No, it's just my hair that's what you want to do.
So going back to you sayingafter that moment with and
honestly it, it breaks my heartto think that you at a point
where you felt like the onlyoption at that time was to take
your own life because you haddone everything that you can do
and I, and I don't know thismeans anything, but I'm sorry
that you felt that way.

(36:50):
I think being able to show upas your authentic self every
single day and people justloving you for who you are is
taken for granted by people whodo not have to face things that
you've had to face before inyour life and I apologize for
that.

Speaker 2 (37:03):
It is taken for granted.
It's something that most peoplethat fit into the box that
we've created will never, everhave to experience right, but
they will experience, have toexperience right, but they will
experience.
But they may not take ownershipof it.

(37:24):
Because, if we're real right,that box was not made for women,
first agreed, definitely wasn'tmade for black women.
No, definitely wasn't made forblack gay women and definitely
not for black gay women who areadvocates, right.
And so if you accept that thereis a box for you, then it's

(37:45):
fine, you're going to be fineBecause you say, listen, it's a
box, I got to be in it, no bigdeal, yeah.
But if you say I am notprepared to be in that box, you
have to know that the rest ofthe world is going to keep
trying to close that lid on you.
And so every day, every day,it's a struggle.

(38:07):
Every day I have to beintentional about making that
choice.
Every single day, it never getseasy.
I still get invitations just forme and who doesn't know?
I have a whole wife right.
I still have to justify mydress.
I still have to, in my family,say wherever I go, my wife goes.

(38:30):
I mean, it's a constant in theworkplace.
There are people that love meon this side and hate me on that
side.
So it's a constant.
Yeah, but inside of myintentional space I'm fine.
I'm fine.
I have love right and anybodythat's married or in a

(38:52):
relationship, and you've beenthere for quite a quite some
time.
You got there because it'sintentional.
You have to work on it everyday.
I work on my marriage like abrush my teeth.
I have an incredible,unconditional love for my
puppies.
I love that.
Dogs we don't deserve them.

(39:13):
We don't deserve them.
We do not deserve dogs, they'reamazing, and I tell people all
the time I don't know if I wouldhave survived COVID without my
puppy, because I was in policing.
My wife is a nurse at thehospital, a clinical manager.
We were literally crossing eachother in COVID.
There were times when we hadn'tseen each other for weeks
because of our schedule, but wealways had our puppy right To

(39:37):
cement some normality, and I'm aperson I don't like to be alone
, and so having my puppy thereeven helped me get over my fear
of thunder and lightning,because I became more concerned
with how he was going to reactto the thunder and lightning
than my own fear of it.
Right, and so I have that.
I have some amazing friends andI have a piece that is

(40:01):
connected with my humanity, andso it's easy for me to advocate
because I associate everythingwith humanity.
Yeah, absolutely yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
so you mentioned something a little while ago
about, especially in your unionwork.
People love you for one thing,but then they don't embrace you
on the other side.
And so I think thatintersectionality and like, I
guess, the synthesis of thatpersonal identity versus your
professional dedication, likehow do you balance that?
Because I'm sure in the unionright, people love you for your

(40:33):
advocacy in the bullying space,you know, when it comes to being
an advocate for something'sgoing wrong at work, all of your
knowledge there but then whenyou are out at the pride parade
or you know you've you'regetting married to your wife,
things like that, I'm I'massuming that that level of
support is not the same.
How do you deal with thatintersectionality in your life?
I?

Speaker 2 (40:53):
can't change people.
I can only hope they changetheir heart.
When you come to me and I'myour representative, I'm going
to be the very bestrepresentative I could be, but I
knew that I saw you marchagainst me right, that's got to
be hard.

Speaker 1 (41:10):
Man like I how, how do you, how does that make?

Speaker 2 (41:13):
I know you're, you've got this exterior now, but that
feeling of I'm fighting forsomeone who literally marched
against like who I am as aperson uh, because in one sense,
you're coming to me becauseyou're paying me to do a job
right and it's a job I believein, and, whether I like you or

(41:34):
not, I believe that you areentitled to rights.
I wish everybody felt that wayabout me, but they don't.
But that's for them and theirown consciousness to come to
grips with.
At some point you're going tohave to answer it right, but for
me, I'm okay with that.
Now, am I going to have you atmy house?

(41:54):
I don't think so.
I could tell you that I don'tthink so.
I could tell you that I don'tthink so.
But every time you come inthere as a union member, you're
going to get the very best.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Yeah, I love that and I think it's important because
a lot of times in Bermuda inparticular, right with, I guess,
the adversities that we seewhen it comes to LGBTQIA plus
community, it's not very warmand welcoming on the outer side
of Bermuda, but then we have acommunity of people who are very
well connected in that spacebut don't feel as open as you do

(42:28):
to be themselves, and I lovethe fact that you are this open,
but you're also advocating forpeople in this space as well,
because you're also thatrepresentative in the union
space too, correct?

Speaker 2 (42:39):
Yeah, yeah, I am internationally.
I am the representative for theCaribbean sub-region, which
includes Bermuda, for PublicService International, so I do a
lot of work there In Bermuda.
I am the rapid response officerfor bullying and harassment,
but I'm also the LGBT rep and so, listen, I wish everybody could

(43:04):
come up.
But I also know that when wewere getting married, I couldn't
find a place to stay, and itcould not be because I couldn't
afford it, and it couldn't bebecause I'm not a fantastic
person.
So it could only be because youdidn't want to rent to a gay
person.
Fine, that's your choice, it'syour property.
But here's the thing Ifeverybody genuinely looked at

(43:34):
how they have faced some sort ofdiscrimination and took
ownership of it, they would notbe the people they are to other
people, right.
But people look at theiradversities.
If something happens to them,oh, this just happened to me,
and once it's over, it's over,but it's happening to everybody,

(43:55):
right.
And so I'm not asking you torun down the street like the
poster child for being gay, butI want you, as a gay person, as
a white gay person, to realizethat there is racism in the gay
community, right, I want you totake ownership of that.
So in the gay community, I'mover here fighting racism.

(44:15):
In the black community, I'mover here fighting homophobia.
I see community, I'm over herefighting racism in the black
community I'm over here fightinghomophobia, marcy.
Well, I can do both, because Iunderstand that there's a lack
of equality and equity in thiscountry, right, but each of
those sections have to takeownership.
You can't be black and say, oh,you know, it's racist out here
and the world's set up againstus and your foot's on the neck

(44:36):
of gay people, right.
And you can't be gay as a whitegay person or a person of
non-color, and be over heresaying it's just wrong how they
treat us gays, right, and yourneck, your foot, is on the neck
of black people.
You cannot do both.
You can't do both.

Speaker 1 (44:56):
Right, you cannot do both.

Speaker 2 (44:57):
And so you got to put your hand up and accept what
you're doing too.
And you know I often, you knowsometimes my wife says hey, you
know what I've in in all theyears that we've been together,
you've never been invited to um,be on any panel for for um,
women's day, or you never get tospeak out here and whatever,

(45:17):
because you don't want me tocome and speak and be myself.
So when you ask me to come toyour space, I'm bringing my
whole self.
Yeah, that's what and peopledon't want to hear that.
Yeah, in the gay community, theyjust want to hear about gay
rights.
Okay, in the black community,they just want to hear about
black.
But it don't work like that.
No, because people are not justone thing, and that's why

(45:40):
intersectionality is importantto me yeah because I have to
take my whole self everywhere.

Speaker 1 (45:46):
I go everywhere yeah, I know I totally agree to you.
I think I was on um listeningto a panel, I want to say, two
years ago kathy duffy wastalking about literally the very
same thing and she said certainissues only become issues to
people when it is relevant tothem.
So, for instance, if LGBTQIArights were not relevant to you

(46:06):
but then your child came out asgay or bi or whatever, that then
becomes something that youadvocate for or becomes relevant
to you because it's now withinyour space, it's something
that's now important to youbecause it immediately affects
your immediate family orwhatever that looks like.
And she was like essentiallythe same thing that you said.
She was saying until we getinto a space where

(46:26):
discrimination from the, fromrace, from gender, from you know
, sexuality, ages and whateverthat is it's something that is
relevant to everybody, We'llcontinue to still be in the same
space as that world, but thatwe're in right now listen it.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
You have to take ownership of what you believe,
right?
I was having a conversationabout somebody and we were
talking about um haiti and gaza,and this was on the union front
, and um what's happening inhaiti what's happening in in
gaza and all of these placesright and and also in in gh, in
Ghana with the new rule thatthey've passed.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (47:03):
And people say, oh well, what's this got to do with
us?

Speaker 1 (47:06):
Mercy.

Speaker 2 (47:06):
We're in Bermuda.
We've got so many thingshappening.
If the rights of workersglobally cannot resonate to you
as a unionist, that'sproblematic.
There are workers who are beingkilled for going to work in
Gaza, trying to get to workright.

(47:27):
There are people that arewaking up in Ghana who have
advocated for gay rights, whonow will be criminalized right.
There are people in Haiti whohave no stability, workers who
are doing the work that we'redoing and are not safe right.
So when we don't understandglobal solidarity, then we're

(47:52):
not going to advance, and thatis why, when the for me, the
Progressive Labor Party settledfor domestic partnership, right,
as a black, predominantly black, grassroots party settled, that
tell me everything I needed toknow about what they really

(48:14):
believe about equity.

Speaker 1 (48:17):
Marcy, it's a conversation.
It's a conversation that has tobe had, because we cannot say
that we want equal rights forevery people, but it's only
equal when it comes to raceright.
It's not fair.
It's not a fair conversation.
You can't say it.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
It doesn't align with everything that you've said
about yourself, especially as alabor party.
As a labor party, and you can'tsay, here, take these little
tokens, and then be mad when thewhite community gives you
tokens, right, you can't be madbecause you set up the perimeter
of what's acceptable, right.

(48:52):
And then, when we don't want totalk about it, when you say to
somebody you should be grateful,then I ask you, as a black
person, are you grateful for thenuggets you've gotten?
Because if, if we want to talkabout it, we can talk about it.
Right, I would prefer you tosay, yeah, I get it, but this is
the choice I've made.
Then I can accept that.

(49:12):
Well, when you stand on it,yeah, stand on it, right but
when you don't stand on it.
I can't respect you, yeah, and Ithink this is where we're
moving and I'm telling you, thisgeneration that's coming behind
us, they are not going tooperate that way.

Speaker 1 (49:30):
Gen Zs are not standing for it.
Yeah, they're not going to.

Speaker 2 (49:35):
And so, even from a small political point of view,
you suddenly should be clickingup here to say, hey, we're going
to have to change our narrative, we're going to have to change
our mindsets and that is how I,that's how I frame my advocacy

(49:55):
right.
Whenever I go places, or evenfrom a union, from a union
perspective, I say to people youdon't need to take no notes,
I'm here to change your heart.
Okay, if I'm not changing yourheart, none of those notes are
going to make a difference.
It's true, and that's what I,that's my advocacy I'm here to
change heart Because I don'twant people to live in the same

(50:19):
environment that I grew up in,that I lived in.
But sometimes I feel I'm sayingthe same things my grandma said
, and my grandma would bedisappointed that I'm saying
those things under a party thatshe fought for.
Wow, and that's a painfulreality so what does I guess?

Speaker 1 (50:43):
um, not necessarily success, but what does, I guess
I don't even know.
I'm trying to say what does itlook like for you to be done
with this fight like?
What does that look like foryou to not still be having the
same conversations?
What does that look like youwake up and still be having the
same conversations?
What does that look like youwake up and it's like, oh, don't
have to do that today, likeeverybody kind of gets it.

Speaker 2 (51:04):
When people can say my name and not attach any
titles to it, when people couldjust say Linda or Christine
instead of you know, linda thegay girl, or Linda, you know
representing this orrepresenting that girl, or Linda
, you know representing this orrepresenting that, when we can
just address each other by ournames and just have respect for
that, whether it's about ourcolor, whether it's about our

(51:25):
gender, whether it's sexuality,then there is no more need for
fighting Because it's listen,it's Women's Month, right, yeah,
may 3rd.
But we as women also try todefine what we see and accept.
What a woman is, what businessis it of you?
None, yours, what?

Speaker 1 (51:47):
um, hello, this isn't the impeachment of uh women's
rights at the moment is.

Speaker 2 (51:54):
That's a completely different conversation, but it's
abysmal yeah, yeah, right, andso and and and so in in those
communities when we drilled onif we collectively just used our
power as women you take overthe world yeah, are we ready

(52:14):
we're not ready.

Speaker 1 (52:16):
I think we want to be ready, though I think there's a
segment of us that want to beready, that want to do it.
I don't know.
I struggle a little bit becauseI think Black women in
particular have fought so longand so hard to be strong, to be
this, to be that, to beeverything for every person in
their family.
I think we're at a point nowwhere a lot of Black women are

(52:37):
tired.
They want to enter into thatsoft era of life and I think, if
we're going to be continue topush some of these things
forward, we've got to get backon that.
You know what I mean, and I I'mnot sure if that can be done.
If black women are tired offighting, well, surely?

Speaker 2 (52:56):
they should stop being tired.
But they should stop beingtired, but they should stop
being tired of each other yeahthey stop talking about each
other.
they should stop trying to holdeach other down.
Oh lord, pull each other off.
Oh, oh, I mean, let's startthat if we want to talk about
how black women treat each other, right, we don't create safe
spaces for ourselves and I walkinto a space and see another

(53:17):
black woman, I should feel safe.
Yeah, immediately Right.
But if that black woman isgoing to judge me because of how
they see me or why she dressedlike that, oh, I don't like gay
black, like, am I safe aroundyou as a black woman?
Or what?
Are you doing the same thingsto me that you accuse other
people of doing to you?

(53:39):
We cannot have it both ways.
Yeah, right, and I thinkcollectively.
Now, listen, we don't have tolike each other.
Where are we all gonna likeeach other?
Never, I may not like you, butI'm gonna hold space for you to
be whoever you are.
But am I gonna sit down and saycome over here, let's break
bread, let's break bread?
No, but in this space I'm goingto hold space for you, because

(54:01):
we can't get it done alone.
We cannot get it done alone,not at all, and we need when we
have.
You know when I talk about theissues inside of the workplaces.
The vast majority of HRspecialists are women.
One, yes.

Speaker 1 (54:17):
Yes, I would almost venture out to say 100%.
And usually black In Bermuda.
Black women, yeah, usually, notall the time, and if you start
adding one plus one.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
As Cat Williams said, the math ain't math, it's the
truth.
So the key, though if we're notgoing to hold space for each
other, if I go in an interviewand I'm not confident when I see
you across the table, when youtreat me the worst, I'm like
hello, that's a problem.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
It's a problem and it's something that we have to
talk about as well, and, youknow, it's something that we
have to figure out how toaddress it.
I do think that that generationof women are starting to age
out of the workforce.
That may not have treated otherblack women well.
However, I still think they'rementoring the ones that are

(55:16):
coming up today.
Sure.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
Of course they are.
Yeah, of course they are.
And in their defense, they'rementoring, because we were
raised to think, in order to getin those spaces, we have to
take on the persona of men inorder to be acceptable, in order
to be heard, right.
And then, when we take them off, they say we're angry, like, or

(55:43):
aggressive, or aggressive,right, but this is what you told
us we had to be, to get hereand stay here.
And now that we're doing it,then you know you're labeling
something else.
We, the the goalpost keepsgetting moved.
Yeah, you're labeling somethingelse.
We, the the goalpost keepsgetting moved.
Yeah.
And and I'm saying, if wereally want to see change, we're
gonna have those toughconversation, take ownership of

(56:06):
it and then say how do we thenmove forward?
Yeah, right, because when wesay things, oh, yeah, we want,
we don't want our little blackgirls growing up into this
environment, well, who'screating this environment and
who's going to change it?
Yeah, who's lifting down andpulling up instead of lifting
down and say I only want to pullyou so far because I don't want

(56:29):
you to take over my job oh,they think you're coming to take
the job.
Yep, absolutely but you can'thave your job forever.
You sure can't.
I'm not, so who's supposed totake it over?
If you don't pull me up, thensomebody who doesn't look like
me is just going to jump over meevery time and go into that job
, and you're okay with thatbecause you still have yours, oh

(56:51):
, linda.

Speaker 1 (56:52):
Well, we are definitely wrapping on time, but
we are.
I have so many more things Iwant to talk to you about, but
no, I think it's important forpeople to understand that you
one, you need to advocate foryourself.
I think that's the first thingthat you kind of said here today
was advocating for yourself,and get into a space to be able
to do that, but then using thatadvocacy to learn to advocate
for others too.
So when you keep like thosethings in mind and everything

(57:15):
else you've, you know, beenthrough, and your family, your
dogs, friends, all of that typeof stuff, what do you want to be
remembered for?
Like, what do you want peopleto say about Linda when she's no
longer and obviously a verylong time from now, no longer
here?
And you know, and they aretalking about you or mentioning
your name in a room.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
What do you want to be said about you?
remembered for, excuse me, Iwant people to remember that I
work my, my, my dash, your dashborn, died that dash in the
middle.
Okay, okay, got you right, Iworked that dash.
I didn't just, I wasn't justexisting like, I worked that
dash that time in the middle,from the time I was born to the
time I died.

(57:59):
Right, I worked at that.
I was seen, I was heard, evenif we didn't want to hear.
Right, yeah, she worked thatdash.
I'm glad she said she was here.

Speaker 1 (58:10):
I love that.
Thank you so much for spendingsome time with me today.
I appreciate you, yeah, Iappreciate you bringing your
authentic, authentic self tothis space.
You know, when I reached out, Iwanted you to do that, but I
wanted you to be comfortable todo that, and I appreciate you
talking about things that mightnot necessarily have been
something that everyone will becomfortable with, and I'm very

(58:30):
grateful for you for beingvulnerable here today well, I'm
grateful for the invitation.

Speaker 2 (58:35):
Yeah, you know I, I always enjoy spaces I could just
go in and be myself, becausesometimes people put it out
there, but then there's allthese caveats, yeah, and so I I
always take advantage of thosespaces to just bring my whole
self.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
I love that.
Perfect.
Well, I'm glad we were able tofoster that for you today.
All right, thanks again.
All right guys.
All right, thanks again, allright guys.
Uh, we just wrapped an amazingepisode with the amazing
disruptor, miss lindavogelmeiser, who dropped some
amazing gems on us today.
So make sure you guys head overto the website
hustleheartpodcastcom.
Sign up to be a vip listener soyou can catch the blog on this

(59:11):
episode, as well as some behindthe scenes that we had here
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Please subscribe to the YouTubechannel, um, so you can stay
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