Paychecks to Power Moves

Michelle Barone and Ashleigh McPherson get real about the jobs that shaped them—long before cameras and headlines. It’s funny and unfiltered, but it’s also about power: learning to speak up, set boundaries, ask for the raise, and turn every “odd job” into on-purpose experience. This one’s a love letter to women finding their voice at work—and hyping each other while we do it.
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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey, it's Michelle Barone and it's red. How you doing, guys?

Speaker 2 (00:04):
More importantly, it's Ashley McPherson. How's it going everyone?

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Oh yeah, seriously, she dyed your hair brown and no
one can even recognize you.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I mean, it's so interesting because this is my an
optical color, Like you.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Haven't had it since I've known you, since I've known me,
that's been like since you were born.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
I can't believe it's this dark. Literally we matched it
just to my route, Like this is my natural hair.

Speaker 1 (00:26):
Do you think, like, do you like it or do
you not?

Speaker 2 (00:29):
I mean I like it, but when I when I
got my hair, when I went to her house and
she was like, oh, I don't really like it that much.
Not third time I saw her, She's like, you know what,
it's actually not that bad.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
No, I didn't say anything like that much. I like
you blonde, but I know it's damaging for the hair,
very damaging.

Speaker 2 (00:43):
I think, like these baby pieces around my face are
going to grow and they're gonna be so lostious by
this time.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
You're gorgeous no matter what you wear. Okay, you already
know that, but it's just it's like I'm just used
to seeing you like blonde. I don't know.

Speaker 2 (00:56):
No, I mean I feel like I've literally been blonde
like since like like fresh when year of high School's
when I started dying my hair. That's actually also the
time I got my first job. My mom made me
get my first job, start paying for like getting my
hair done and stuff.

Speaker 1 (01:09):
I know, well you had to, yeah I was a
host like this. Yeah, right, but I feel like you
need to. I don't know. Oh god, last time she
said something like this, I still get comments on the podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:20):
Clips, So I know, I feel like we can those
suggestions from you.

Speaker 1 (01:24):
Well, why can't we like get a blonde wig.

Speaker 2 (01:27):
We can't get a blond wig. I know every other
aspect of my life. I am hand Montana, So like
that would just be.

Speaker 1 (01:32):
Like the thing. I think you need a bunch of wigs. Okay, yeah,
I mean that sounds good, and then we'll make you
go red. I'm not going red girl. Hey guys, before
today's episode, I want to talk to you about something

(01:52):
that Ashley and I care a lot about mental health.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
That's right, taking care of your mental health is just
as important as taking care of your physical health and
mental health.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
America of Duchess County is the perfect place for that help.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
Absolutely, Mental Health America of Duchess County is super empowering
and helps so many people with so many problems.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
Honestly, it's pretty amazing seeing how mental health actually affects people.
I mean, the guests that we've had on the show,
We've talked about mental health in almost every episode, and
it's a serious topic.

Speaker 1 (02:19):
Now's the time to prioritize your mental well being. If
you're suffering from anxiety, depression, or anything mental health related,
visit Mental Health America Duchess County at MHA Duchess dot org.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
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Speaker 3 (03:12):
Is it wavawater dot com to hydrate and find your focus?

Speaker 1 (03:16):
You know what, though, that girl that's like a wrestler
that always had like that like red hair, like bright red.
I always love that look. Do you think I should
try it? I'm thinking, like Justina Valentine, Yeah, Justina Valentine
red you think so? I don't know, I'd get a wig.
I'm not doing my hair like that. That's like every
other week maintenance. I can't handle it, and I can't.
I honestly think I don't know if i'd like it.

(03:36):
But Justina looks good. I like the way she rocks
that she can do it. Yeah, she's like fully immersed
in this world. I'm like, Justina, come on the show,
come on, you want you on red, Come on Justina?
She I think she might be coming.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
It's so funny because every single time we're in Vegas,
somehow we end up at that club with Justina and
it's so random.

Speaker 1 (03:58):
I don't know how that happens.

Speaker 3 (03:59):
We do.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
He's so great. She loves you, She's the best. I
love her, guys.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
Literally, last time I saw her, actually made a half
court shot at like a basketball fundraiser thing that we
were at. Half court shot like so impressive. If you
guys want to see it, go to the red account.
I'm gonna post it on there so you guys can
I'll see it.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yes, check it out. But Justina, we love you, and
come on, Red, We're waiting for you, girl. We have
lats to talk about. You are Red. I mean, there's
no better person to come on the show.

Speaker 3 (04:23):
Maybe just replace me with her. Never come on stop
that we'll get a third coast. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
So anyway, so I want to talk about jobs. You've
had a lot of jobs in your life. You said,
you know, you got your first job at what age.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
I think it was, Well, my first job ever was babysitting,
and then from babysitting like then, I actually had to
get like a real job my sophomore year of high.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
School because I needed to start saving up for like
a car and stuff. Yeah, and that's when.

Speaker 2 (04:49):
Actually, I think every single job has somehow had something
to do with you. That job was your best friend
got me the job there. Yeah, and then from there
I stopped working there. And I wait, you do this
at the restaurant? Yeah, I was a hostess on Monday
and Thursdays. There was no one ever coming in, and
I felt so bad sitting on my phone, so I
just sit there for four hours, like not looking at

(05:10):
my phone, just staring off at a wall.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
It was terrible.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
You didn't like it.

Speaker 3 (05:14):
I mean I liked it. It was a good first job.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
Like there wasn't like too much that I had to
like actually do besides like seat people.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
But you were good at it. You were like a
beautiful face at the door. Everybody loved coming to see you.

Speaker 2 (05:26):
I think now I'd be able to do it a
little bit more, like I'd probably be more outcoming about it.
But like that, I was just like fifteen and anxious.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
So are good, Like, like, when you have a hostess,
shouldn't you be like doing other things like rolling silverware? No?

Speaker 2 (05:40):
Actually, And this is what I loved you about working
there is they had to roll that hostesses like were
not allowed to do like backserver jobs.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Oh wow, Like they had backserver just so like I
didn't clear a table, like I didn't lift a chair, and.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I was like hooking you up with jobs really good? Yeah,
so then what was your second job?

Speaker 2 (05:56):
So then from there, at that point, I didn't even
have a license, so I was like having my mom
or none of bring me work every single day and
I would never know when I was getting out, so
I'd have to text him and be like can you
come pick me up? And it was thirty minutes away
from home, so I'm literally sitting there like waiting to
get picked up. One time they were like all right,
like hopefully you can go, sou it. I sat there
for an extra hour because like I was waiting for
my manager to come downstairs and tell me that I

(06:18):
could leave. They were like, you're still here, so embarrassing.
To this day, I still feel a little embarrassed about.

Speaker 1 (06:23):
That, Like that's funny.

Speaker 2 (06:26):
So then after there, I they were like ash, like
you don't have a license, Like you only work two
days a week, you don't really want more shifts.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
And it was kind of just like a decided thing.
It was like I had my year and.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
A half there, yeah, and then I was done with
it after that, and then I went to a mini
golf place.

Speaker 1 (06:42):
It's DC Swartz. Shout out DC Swartz. Dan, we love you.
Yeah us for like ten years. Let's just give him.
He shut out Dan. He's always been there for everything
we've done. He's always like, I'm so proud of you,
and I'm like, I love you. He's always encouraging.

Speaker 2 (06:57):
So funny because like, Dan should have fired me so
many times and he just did it.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Dan, I should have fired her a hundred times.

Speaker 3 (07:03):
Literally, one thing you guys do is just honestly.

Speaker 2 (07:06):
One time I literally went to work actually and there
was a sign on the door that said Ashley is
late from Dan because like he knew I was gonna
be late, and he left before I got there.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
That was funny. I loved that job. Though.

Speaker 2 (07:16):
They had indoor golf simulators, they had sand volleyball, they
had mini golf, they.

Speaker 1 (07:20):
Had bumper boats.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
But there's also a kitchen and then I was like
the lead party planner. I had a lot of different
roles there.

Speaker 1 (07:26):
Yeah, and you like thrived there because your friend came
to visit you. Yeah, Like one hour one guy would
drop off a coffee. The next hour another guy came
and I was like I'd come in and I'd say
that for a couple hours with my kids, and I'm like,
wait a minute, there's three different guys that came here
and dropped off coffees. How do they all know your order?
It's so funny, Like it's actually like as bad as
it sounds.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
There was like a three week period where like I
had like a guy dropping off like different candies every single.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Shift because like, I want candy, but I'm not paying
those door dash fees.

Speaker 1 (07:55):
Yeah that's crazy. So he did it for me. We
don't talk anymore. But after DC Sports, what'd you do? So?

Speaker 3 (08:01):
After DC Sports? I was there.

Speaker 2 (08:03):
I worked there from my junior of high school all
the way until my sophomore year of college, and then
I had ended up like dropping out of college, and
then I started working at the marketing company with you.
So I worked at the marketing company from like whatever
in the morning till like four in the afternoon. Then
I'd leave there and I'd go right to DC Sports.
That was a lot, and I would do their golf

(08:25):
leagues every single night, and I was there like honestly,
at one point, I was there like six days a week,
and then like that December, I was like my right
before my twenty first birthday, I like put in my
two week and like I literally was like so sad
to leave this job because I was like they've been so.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Good to me.

Speaker 2 (08:39):
Like this job, like I feel like there's not many
jobs like you get like comfortable in and like there's
like lenience where it's like they know you're a good worker,
but it's also like you can like let a few
things slide.

Speaker 1 (08:48):
A few things slide. Meeting twenty minutes late every single.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Day basically yeah, on my phone the whole shift. Actually,
there was like one point we can actually give a
shout out to mix that I worked with there because
whenever I were to them, I didn't have to cook,
I didn't have to clean. All I had to do
is sit at that register and check people out and
he did the rest.

Speaker 1 (09:05):
Well, maybe you should date a local guy out oh.

Speaker 2 (09:08):
My, because you know what, that Cliff out there, that's
one thing I should start doing.

Speaker 3 (09:14):
Date guys from phokeepsie.

Speaker 1 (09:16):
Now, I think you should date guys from wherever. I
don't think it really matters where you're from. I think
it matters that they're good to you. But you're expanding
your horizons and what I mean by it is like
it's going to be hard for the guy because you're
not going to be here a lot.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
So, yeah, we're going to get out of this town.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
We got some things coming up. We're going to be busy. Yes,
we got a lot of stuff. But we love po Gepsie.
We love PSI and p Gepsie's been good to us,
and the Hudson Valley's been good to us. And the
people in the Hudson Valley are the people that made us.
They were the ones who believed in us first.

Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well it's so true because I feel like from your
first job, like that's kind of where everything started for us,
Like with every connection we have really started from like
your what was your first job?

Speaker 1 (09:51):
Actually? Oh, god mine? Yeah, you really want to know. Yeah,
I was like fourteen. I got my working papers and
the second I got them, I remember, it was like
a little for my wallet.

Speaker 2 (10:01):
I forget, no they do, I forgot the guidance counselor
to get it.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Yeah, and I went right after I got it in
my hand. I don't remember how I got it, but
I remember walking into this little bakery it's called it
was called Sugar and Spice, and I walked in.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
I love Sugar Seas. They're still here to this day.

Speaker 1 (10:17):
They are and I handed them my paper. Now it's
an amazing eatery and they're our client. Yeah, I love them. Yeah.
And Greg and Andrew are have been the best to
us over the past twenty years. There's the greatest people
on earth. And that's why I love Kipsie for people
like that. Yeah. But I will say they were my
first job and they didn't know it at the time.
Greg's sister did, who I also love so much. Stephanie,

(10:40):
whole family amazing.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Shout out Jake and Jordan.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
Jake, we love you, Jordan, we love you. And I
will say that Sugar Spicce when it first was open,
was like a bakery. It only had like little like
lad Delicio. So it only had like.

Speaker 2 (10:54):
Little what is it called, like I remember the whole
bakeryal like section they had it.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
They had what are they called pasts? What kind of
Italian animal? Is it?

Speaker 3 (11:04):
Their sister company literally Pastriegarden.

Speaker 1 (11:06):
Yeah, Pastia Garden. And Stephanie's the best. She's always every
time I order a cake, she's like I love you
and I'm like, I love you more.

Speaker 2 (11:16):
Actually we had to pick up the cake for a
Lily's sprinkle or whatever.

Speaker 3 (11:19):
Yeah, I had to pick up the cake there.

Speaker 1 (11:21):
Oh she's the greatest. Their whole family's amazing. Anyway, Stephanie.
I first worked for her, and she did like wedding cakes,
and she was really young and had the most cool
style and beautiful hair. And her and her husband Tony,
who has since passed, showed me everything. They showed me
how to cash a register, which I still never really
got the hang of. They showed me. And I'll tell

(11:41):
you what, I never had a register that was on point.
It was twenty five cents up down a dollar more.
I was like, whatever, what is it off? I'll just
give you my tip, but never knew what the number was.
But I was like, whatever it's off, I said, I'd
rather not take the time to count it right, just
put the money. No, I so get that.

Speaker 2 (11:58):
Like before I got my first job, I was so
shre was about giving change to people.

Speaker 1 (12:01):
I was like, I'm gonna mess it up, like and
then I went to work for a bank, so no.

Speaker 3 (12:06):
Switch up, switch up overnight.

Speaker 1 (12:08):
But I was never a teller. No, I'm just joking.
So I'll tell you what I did. So then I
went to Patrigard and then I got my second job
at Mandy. My list is longer than yours. Off home.
Nandy was a clothing store. I've never heard any wait,
I actually I actually did not know you did this? Okay,
oh no, no. It was so trendy. And all my friends
from school would come in. And there was this guy
Bob that worked there, and he was like a little

(12:29):
like Gnome in the store, like he would like fester
through everything in the store and rat a little off,
and all of a sudden it he clean. I'm like,
what the hell just happened over there? He was doing
his job, but he was like the manager, but like
he would come in and just like put everything. It
was just like he waved a magic wand or I
just had no clue what the hell I was doing?
It so funny. He was just running circles, ye, running

(12:50):
circles around it. But he was double my age when
he managed the store. And he always was really good
to his staff, and I loved him. And people would
come in to make such a mess in the dressing
room and now I never do that. I may carry
the fifty items with me, I always have them hanging
on hangers, and I always do the right thing because
I feel bad for these retail workers. When I had

(13:10):
to do that, it was not fun. See.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
I feel like that's like the same thing as like
working in the food industry, Like you kind of like
learned her ain etiquette from like being on the other
side of it.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
Yeah, and like you don't like I don't know. Some
people are coming in and they see like a lipstick
mark on the glass and although like I don't want
to drink from that, and I'll say, hey, do you
have another glass? And no miguil. Some people like this
is disgusting. This is that Like listen, we ran it
in a dishwasher. Someone put it out. Yeah, you're trying
our best. There's no human error. Yes, there's human error.
And although we wanted to be perfect, like we are

(13:41):
like running I don't know right a thousand.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
Glasses right now, Like you want to know something crazy
about retail. One of my old babysitters, I don't remember
where she works, works somewhere in the mall, and she
was telling me she was like I was going to
clean the dressing rooms and someone literally peede in the
dressing room, like on the floor. Of the dressing room
because they had to go to the bathroom so bad.
That's so I was like, that is I'd literally quit
right there, no two weeks.

Speaker 1 (14:02):
Notice I'm walking out of that store. How many diapers
I found in dressing rooms disgusting, Like just pick up
the diaper and put it in the trash or like
put it in your diaper bag. And I never did
that either with you know, my kids ever, Like I
always just figured out another way. I will say that,
you know, after Mandy, I worked at Linens and Things.

(14:24):
And Linens and Things is where I met my husband's mom.
Are you serious? I actually met her when I was young,
and but she remembered me all the time, and in
high school she would come in and buy things. And
the store always smelt like cinnamon. It was like a
like a bed bath, and beyond it was like a
bed store. But I had irons and college stuff, a
lot of college kids people, all the stuff they needed
for their dorms. And then they had like a houseware

(14:46):
section and I was a cashier there. I got much
better at ringing out. By the way, I was no
longer thirteen. I was like experience in seventeen, and I
was like, good at it. Okay, now your season a
seasoned registered ringer, but in your instacree and I could
just like ding ding ding, and man, I knew every
scan code of every item in that store and I
loved it. They put me up front and I had

(15:06):
no line girl that was my vibe, but I will
say Linen's and things taught me a lot about customer service.
You know, people would come in so upset that something
broke in two minutes and I'm like, guys, it's an
iron Like, we'll replace it. You don't have to get upset. Yeah,
We're just gonna handle it for you, right. And I
realized that the customer's always right and you just always
need to do right by the person and just figure

(15:29):
out their problem. And that's when I became a problem solver.

Speaker 2 (15:31):
Okay, do you ever think like people like kind of
take advantage if the whole customers are right?

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Thing?

Speaker 1 (15:35):
Though?

Speaker 3 (15:35):
Like, do you ever have a situation where that happened? I?

Speaker 1 (15:38):
Oh, definitely. I think so many people like expect so
much more or write a letter to like prove their point,
and the company will go out of their way because
they don't want an upset customer. Which I understand. Yeah,
but I also feel like it's not right on the
customer side. Sometimes yes it's wrong, but if the company's
working with you, leave it there. If they're not, then
you know what, write a bad review, do what you want,

(16:00):
but at least try to like go at it in
a respectful way.

Speaker 2 (16:03):
Right out of the at the end of the day,
like we're all people, we're figuring it out.

Speaker 1 (16:06):
And they're still like common exactly. Whenever I have a problem,
I'm not saying I'm dismissive. I will address it. You
have to.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
I can never imagine you going to a store and
being like this, this and this I wrong, Like you
just feel like whatever, I probably did it.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Did the box come in because I can't find it?
Because that's what happens in my house, all right, So
Linen's and stuff. What's after? Yeah, And my friend's mom
used to come in, Marie, I love you, Ma. She's
now my mother in law. She used to come in
and she used to just always be like, oh my god,
you're so nice. And then I was like a size
too and like perfect, you know, I'm young and whatever.

(16:42):
And my husband would come in at the time, my
boyfriend and I just see him in bedding and then
he would like drop a sheet and I'm like, are
you here to buy that? Or are you like trying
to check me out? What's going on here?

Speaker 3 (16:52):
Definitely check you out, considering where you are now, I'm
gonna go and check you out.

Speaker 1 (16:57):
So after Lennon's and things, I and in between I
did cheerleading and play practice, so I had like only
three hours a day to work the well. I was
like an everything kid. But I sang. I sang the
national anthem for every football basketball game in high school
and college. I did a lot of that.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
It's so funny because I was actually looking up on
YouTube yesterday and I found a national anthem you were
singing like fifteen years ago on someone's YouTube.

Speaker 1 (17:20):
Oh god, I don't remember what it was, but I
don't know if you can get that down. But Gabby,
do something. Were you ever like the elite in a
play or anything? I was? So I was in Harvey Okay,
which was it's only a speaking play, and I was
the aunt and she was old and I held them
Maltese in the play and it peede on me. Yeah,
but I had to keep going with my lines. And

(17:40):
that is when I realized the show must go on.
The show must go on.

Speaker 3 (17:43):
So the life of a showgirl.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
The life of a showgirl, Taylor, we love you, and
I'll tell you. I realized the show must go on
no matter what. And that gave me my poker face
to this whole industry.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Okay, so bac theater.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
Yeah, shouts back theater and now my son goes to
which is really cool. We all did, we all? After that,
I did a lot of odds and nance things. I
grew you know. I babysat a lot. Every Saturday, babysat
for the same family that oh my god, I don't
know if you want to go into that one. But
they were fun. They were a fun fami. They didn't
get home till three in the morning. Danny used to
come over with me because I was scared.

Speaker 3 (18:17):
Oh I remember, he was always says, because she was Okay.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
When I started babysitting for you, you were like the
only person to be like half whoever over. I don't
care as long as kids are alive when I get home,
like it's whatever.

Speaker 1 (18:27):
Yeah, but you know, you gotta make stats.

Speaker 2 (18:29):
Of course, I'm not throwing a rage at your house,
but I remember you'd always say, like Danny would go
over with you to like babysit.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Because I was scared to be alone. I'm like, you
have the wrong babysitter. I don't like to be alone
and the kids don't make me feel comfortable, so I
needed somebody, so like, just bring Danny because they knew
he was harmless. We weren't dating it. He's just my friend, okay.
And they would come home at like three in the morning,
half in the bag, half you know, out of the bag,
and whatever else they're doing. Then they would get in a fight.
This couple like to fight, and they ended up divorced.

(18:56):
But I know, and they were the best though. They
were really good and they always still always comment and
all my stuff. I love you guys. They did a
shout out everywhere then then and I had another job,
which oh my, actually my first first job was working
for my aunt at ten, I did all her filing
county carburetor for Uncle Pete. Yeah, he still goes to

(19:20):
work every day. He's like ninety years old and keeps
him ticking. He said. It keeps his like hands good.
That like working on the cars. And Aunt Leah was
my favorite aunt. I love all my aunts, but she
gave me my first job. She believed in me. Your
aunt lea tone, that's right. She was my girl. And
so anyway, after that, trying to think, then I worked

(19:40):
at Cappuccinos, I worked at chef Andres, I became a bartender.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Cappuccinos is like, that's I've that's engraved in my brain.
You're working there, and I remember, didn't a president go
there or something at one point?

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Can I tell you something and how this happened? Yeah, okay, No,
the president never went to Capuccino.

Speaker 3 (19:55):
No, there was something in the ground that said he
stood there at one point.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Not like a current president we're talking about, like, oh,
it's just history. The historical president. I don't even know
who it.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
Was wherever they took down the building, so it couldn't.

Speaker 1 (20:05):
Have been none. For anyway, I went to I was
in college at Iona for my first year, and then
I came home, went to Mars. But I went to
Iona and my father had just passed away. I was
eighteen years old. My father passed away three days before
I left for college. My mom was left alone. She
didn't like to be alone either. That's where I got

(20:25):
all this stuff. From I get there and like, I
don't know exactly what to do, you know, my mom.
I was crying all week. And I meet these girls
in a dorm. Two were best friends from home. Two
were like like really like bougie, and then there was
me and I was like, I want to be a
cheerleader and I sing the national anthem and everything, and
I'm very outgoing, but I'm crying all weeks my dad just.

Speaker 3 (20:48):
To be meeting you.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
Yeah, they don't even know. They're like, this girl's like home. Shit,
tell them. I didn't tell them for three days. So
three days in college is like a fricking year. Yeah,
I'm sure, especially when you're going through that. So the
first year, like yeah, you're out drinking every night. I
was in my dorm room crying. Well, They're like, why
is crying? Yes, they thought I was the weirdest person.
So then I said to them, guys, I'm sorry. I
don't know how to say this, but my father died

(21:10):
on Friday and it was like Thursday.

Speaker 3 (21:12):
I don't know what I would do if I was
like and.

Speaker 1 (21:14):
They were like, oh my god. And then everybody was
like I just didn't want anyone to feel bad for me,
but that's like, I know. But when they found out
my whole life changed, they didn't think I was weird anymore.
They felt terrible. Everyone was like, what can I get
you to eat? How can I help you? I was
like the eg girl and the whole dorm and I
was like, guys, I don't want this attention. That's why
I didn't say anything. I don't want you to feel guilty.

(21:36):
I want to be normal and let's just hang out.
And then it got really fun and I was homecoming
queen in college. I was homecoming queen in high school
junior senior year, then Homecoming Queen freshman year in college.
They had one every year in college, every grade level.
Your life is really a movie queen twice. And now
the prom king is the principal of my son's school,

(21:57):
which is so funny. Clinton, We love you, but so many,
so many crazy things have happened. But while I was
in college and after my father died, it led to
my first like adult job, which was bartending. My roommate
went to, you know, go get her bartending license. And
I was like, why would you ever want to be

(22:17):
a bartender? And she's like, well, my friend made six
hundred dollars last night, I'm like, where can I get
the license? Like, so I go, I want to make
six hundred dollars. So I went to bartending school. I
learned every drink at the time. It was like I
don't know, like cream, dement and cocoa. It was like, wait,
first of all, I don't know what that is. Yeah,
it's just that's a drink. I don't know. I don't remember.

Speaker 3 (22:38):
I just realized you could make any drink for me.
I mean you don't drink, but like you know how
to make.

Speaker 1 (22:42):
I know how to make every drink, but I don't
know the new age drinks. I mean bartend twenty years.
I mean like I like an operall spreads. Yeah, Martine,
I can make you anything like that. Yes, Bertie Martini,
Yeah yeah, Dierty Martinis are my favor after this. So
after I started working at this place, Chef Andreas and
I knew nothing about bartending, but he would take all
the people out of bartending school that they recommended. So

(23:04):
they recommended me and another friend, not the girl that
brought me, and she never ever bartended, never got a job.
She wasn't good at it at all, like she did
not know how to make drinks, but I like, you
had to like in school, like speed through bartending. So
you had to like get like seven drinks and under
two minutes. And so I did it and and cash
your register out right. Thank god I had that cash

(23:26):
experience because I was like bing bing ing bing bang,
and I was like back and forth quick. So I
passed the test and he hired me, and I got there,
and the night I got there, he's like, okay, your
pay is ten dollars an hour, and then he took
all my tips. No way, I had no idea. Wait
was there minimum? Like what was the minimum? It was
a lot less than time. It was like five bucks
an hour for servers at that time, but you're.

Speaker 2 (23:47):
Getting ten, but you're not getting He didn't give me
any tips, any tips.

Speaker 1 (23:50):
You're working hour shift, you're making fifty dollars. And then
he was like, oh well, then the next shift he
gave me half my tips. I had to earn my
tips from him based on how I performed, and I'm like,
how are you? So I called the bartending school and
I'm like, hey, I'm just letting you know, like I
don't think about bartending, but I thought like you keep
your own tips, and they're like, oh, no, you do,
you need to quit. I didn't quit because he was like,

(24:12):
you can keep your tips on the third shift. From
then on, I made like three hundred dollars a night.
Then there were nights I made eight hundred dollars, twelve
hundred dollars. It's crazy the money that's there. I built
a rapport and I was like, oh my god, I
paid off college in two and a half years, a
four year school. I bartended seventy eight days straight one summer,
all the way into the school year, and I paid
off my college tuition. That's actually crazy. Seventy eight day straight.

Speaker 3 (24:35):
I think I'd go into That's why she thinks it's
normal for us to do it work.

Speaker 1 (24:39):
I'm gonna workaholic. It's not normal. But listen. Because I
was able to pay off one hundred thousand dollars in
student loans. That set me up for life, and then
I saved another hundred thousand. I put that down on
a house at twenty four years old.

Speaker 2 (24:52):
Like a beautiful house too on the river, like freaking
like like I think of it.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
It was like a castle.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
It was. He was all like white and clear and
like glass. I love that. And I really think like
a lot of people are like, well, how are you successful?
And I do think it's because I learned to save
money at the young age and my husband did too,
and because him and I stacked so much money got
together so young. By the time we were thirty, we
were at where most people were at when they were

(25:18):
you know, forty or fifty. Yeah, so well, it's true.

Speaker 3 (25:21):
But by the time you were buying your first house,
like people are just starting to pay off.

Speaker 1 (25:25):
Their student loans for their four years, they were just
getting out of four year school, getting their first job,
and I was already, like, you know, saved one hundred
grand I just love Pixie Beauties. A second, I'm not
ready yet. Oh geez ash, seriously, very kidding. Have you
seen how my skin has been glowing lately. I'm stopping.
I mean seriously. Pixie Beauty products are for every day

(25:46):
and they are the best. I love the Glowtonic. It's
become a staple in my skincare.

Speaker 3 (25:51):
I love that product.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
I use it every day before I do my skincare,
and honestly, it's like Braden's my face.

Speaker 1 (25:56):
I want to say, yeah, I mean. A guest commented
today on how beautiful you looked and that you were
dewey and glowy, and it's all because of Pixie.

Speaker 2 (26:04):
Honestly, Pixie products just know how to make you feel
beautiful in your own skin.

Speaker 1 (26:07):
My favorite is the Pixie on the Glow blush. It
is so much fun. You can just stick it right on,
take it out. It's just one of my favorites. It's
so much fun and it looks so good on. Honestly,
it gives you like a nice sunkiss glow. I absolutely
love it and it's going to be great for summer.

Speaker 2 (26:21):
If you guys want to glow this summer just like us,
visit www dot pixieauty dot com. All right, listen up,
party people, Friday's at Mahoney's Irish pub or where the
vibes are high, the drinks are flowing, and the weekend
officially begins. If you're looking for the ultimate night out,
Mahoney's has got you covered with killer drink specials, live DJs,
and crowds that know how to bring the energy, whether

(26:42):
you sipping on a nice cold beer, toasting with a
perfectly mixed cocktail, or taking a shot to kickstart the night.

Speaker 3 (26:47):
This is the spot to be every Friday, starting at
ten pm. So grab your crew, hit the dance floor
and make some memories.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
The Mahoney's Way doors open late, the drinks are cold,
music's hot.

Speaker 3 (26:57):
What more do you need? I'll see you guys this
Friday and every Friday.

Speaker 2 (27:00):
At Mahoney's Pub, where the weekend starts the right wayson to.

Speaker 1 (27:04):
I have to say, ever since I've been going to
Dermal Laser Center, my skin has never looked better. What's
your secret?

Speaker 4 (27:10):
Thank you, Michelle, I'm so glad you're happy. So basically,
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all about personal care and we're just here to help
you achieve long term skin health.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
I love that. I love that it's unique to everyone.
You know, that's really important. I have to say. I
get compliments on my skin all the time. That's the
best feedback we can get.

Speaker 4 (27:30):
Honestly, whether you're coming in for a laser, hair mobile treatment,
a facial or skin care consultation, we're here to help
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Speaker 1 (27:38):
I have to say, for me, it's been a game changer.
You know, I always feel like I look fresh and refreshed,
and it's because of the treatment. You know, whether it's
laser hair removal or it's facials. All of the things
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Speaker 3 (27:54):
I love you. Thank you.

Speaker 4 (27:56):
We're here to help everyone glow. For anyone interested in
finding out more information about our services at Dermal Laser Center,
you can visit our website at dermal Lasercenter andy dot com.
We'd love to help you achieve your best skin and
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Speaker 1 (28:10):
Get glowing.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
So you worked at this restaurant that was your first
year of school, and then you came home.

Speaker 1 (28:15):
Then that's when you started working it. Yeah news, Yeah,
started working I worked it. I came home my first
year at Aona. I worked at Chef Andrea's one summer.
I have a really crazy story. I have to just say, Okay,
let me hear it. So I get home from Chef
Andreas one night and I'm driving home and I get
pulled over by the police and I had all my purse,
money stuff in my kit. Did I tell you the story?

Speaker 2 (28:37):
Yes, but you guys have to hear the story. It's
literally insane, and every time I hear it, I can well.

Speaker 1 (28:40):
I had this little, little, tiny Louis Vuitton purse. It
was like when when you know, I don't know. It
was way back when, a long time ago, and I
put a ton of money in there. It was singles
and twenties and hundreds and a bunch of money. It
was probably like five or six hundred dollars. I get
pulled over on the side of the road and the
cops like you have to get out because you don't
have a license. And I'm like, what do you mean.
They were like, well, you your license was suspended, and

(29:03):
I'm like, how I never had any tickets or whatever.
I'm nineteen, so you're just following. I'm just like, well
they're cops, and they're like get out. I'm like okay, yeah,
I get out. They search my car and they're like,
have a good night. I get back in my car.
All my money's gone. Okay.

Speaker 3 (29:19):
Were they real cops or like?

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Were they They were definitely real cops. There was two
of them. I reported them. I never got their names.
I'm a nineteen year old girl. I didn't see their badges.
I was so sad about it. That is just so frustrating,
and I couldn't believe it. Like I had like a
little motorotal phone that was like yeah, it was it
was like a straight phone, no screen at that time.
So I'm like calling my mom and I'm like, Mom,

(29:41):
I really think that, like the police just stole my money.
She's like there's no way. I'm like, ma, I looked
around the car they took off before I left. They're
supposed to wait for you to get back. I like
could not. I could not believe it, and I still
to this day, like I really can't believe it. But
it was like the money wasn't organized. It was like
stuffed hanging out of my purse, so there was no way,

(30:04):
like maybe some of it could have fell, but there's
no way all that money last disappeared. And it was
exactly I know. And I'm still not blaming them because
I have good heart and good faith and I don't
want I love the police. They protect us, they're good,
you know, I believe in the police, but I just
can't believe that happened.

Speaker 2 (30:22):
And like that's like even more frustrating. So it's like
late at night, you already worked that whole long.

Speaker 1 (30:25):
Yeah, it was four am. Yeah, that's I would be
literally pissed. It was just turning it right out. I
don't know. I cried the whole way home. It was
another twenty minutes, and then I said, I can't do
the chef Andrea's drive. It's forty five minutes away. So
I applied for this corner little watering hole a hole
corner little watering hole by my house called Cappuccinos. And

(30:46):
I thought I was bartending in a restaurant. And at
bartending school they told me that if you get a
restaurant job, the waiters cut you in on their tip
and that's normal. So I was like, oh that's nice.
Like then I don't like have to deal with like,
you know, drunk people, and yeah, I wanted a more
respectable job. Well, I get there and all of a
sudden they bring me down to the dungeon and.

Speaker 3 (31:06):
Nope, guys, like literally, it's.

Speaker 1 (31:08):
Like this tall. It's right above my head. I can
barely walk. If they step too high, I'm hitting my
head on a business. No jumping, there's no jumping, there's
no nothing. And it's filled with like mold and asbestos
and bugs. And I walk down there and I'm like nineteen,
I don't know how they ran a bar out of
their action. And this lady's like ding ding ding and
they're ringing the cowbell and they have all that, and
I'm like, what is this And they're like, this is

(31:29):
our bar and I'm like, oh no, I want to
work at the service bar upstairs. They're like, oh no,
this is the bar you got a job in. And
I'm like, because what was upstairs? Was it like a
high class like it was a kind Italian restaurant, but
I had like a service bar that one person could
stand out and just make drinks for the tables. I
thought that was my job.

Speaker 2 (31:46):
So interesting though, like the difference of like the restaurant
upstairs was so nice and like downstairs, like she's literally
not exaggerating when you say, like the walls crumbling off
of the wall, like the bathroom doesn't even if.

Speaker 1 (31:55):
You touch the wall. The rock fell right literally literally
and they painted over it to try to like get
it intact. Paint's not gonna work.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
But like, how did think that passed? Like health code violence?

Speaker 1 (32:07):
I don't know if it helped passed health code I
don't know. All I knew was this woman was behind
the bar and she's like, well, let me show you
what to do tuts oh, and I'm like, oh, cam
in the wrong place. I got out of her. And
then she made like five hundred bucks that night and
she's flit it with me, and I was like, that
was really cool. You didn't have to do that, Like
I'm a newbie. You could have just gave me bucks

(32:30):
and said thank you. And she gave split her tips
and I was like, she's two fifty and you know,
I get home by like ten. That's a dream because
over there and I get home until three am. Yeah,
that's so. I said, all right, let me try this out.
So I did one shift there and the people were great.
You know, I fell in love with the characters. It

(32:51):
was like Cheers, although the place was not and it
wasn't my vibe. And I came in like a glamour
queen into like the roughest place literally, like it was
like the perfect fit. I learned how everything there, you know,
ringing the register which was still off half the time,
making some of the best friendships of my life, watching

(33:13):
people go through divorce, watching people lie cheat. You know,
there was not good people there too, I saw it
all I knew. I figured out what I wanted in
life and what I didn't want in life in that place,
and that taught me how to treat people, how every
life lesson you could learn, And it was the best
thing I ever did. I was there for seven years.

Speaker 2 (33:33):
That's crazier there for seven years. I mean your r
beating a lot of different people and like different walks
of life. I feel like that bar specifically, we really
collective a lot of characters.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Yeah, because you had the ibm rs who were corporated,
and then by like six o'clock, it turned into like
the guys who like just needed to drink their whole
bottle of doers, and then it was you know, they
got home by eight, and then it was like the
college kids that wanted to come out and have a
couple of drinks before they went to the bar because
it was a lot cheaper to work there before they
went to like the college bar that was expensive.

Speaker 2 (34:01):
Honestly, Like, I feel like, if like me and my
friends were to go out to a bar, like we
would want like a bartender like you who like is personal,
I felt like you're not.

Speaker 1 (34:07):
Like there's definitely been times so you can go out
and it's just like, oh my god, Like no, I
was like the fun bar. Yeah, I was, Oh, I
have a new CD. Do you want to buy it?
It's ten bucks. And by the way, it was they
were running an underground business. They learn there. They let
me sell tickets to my show CDs. They let me build.
That was where I built my real fan base. And
all those people there treating me like a like a star,

(34:30):
a person, a sister, a friend, a mom, whatever they needed.
I was that woman figure and they always treated me
with respect. And no one ever let me leave or
be alone.

Speaker 3 (34:38):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (34:39):
They always let me go home. And I found my
bodyguard there, who Ronnie.

Speaker 3 (34:44):
I was just talking about him the other day. Actually,
it's so funny.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
It was the best. It was just an amazing experience,
even though it was a misfit, total misfit. And I
don't know if I'd ever let my daughter do that.

Speaker 3 (34:55):
Probably not.

Speaker 1 (34:56):
It's a different time.

Speaker 3 (34:57):
It is completely different time.

Speaker 1 (34:58):
But everyone had my back and I'll tell you they
all treated me right. And I love that place. And
that's another reason why I love Poughkeepsie in the Hudson Valley.

Speaker 2 (35:06):
I feel like those regulars kind of like become like
your family, Like I feel like I remember, like I
would like go to school on Wednesdays, we'd stay with
Nana and like every time Ceazy likes getting dropped off
what was like eight water bottles.

Speaker 1 (35:17):
Though I used to carry a cooler because I was
like meal prepping, so I have my food, I'd have
like three, four, five, and then i'd have my water bottles.
I had eight in there, and I had to drink
throughout the night.

Speaker 3 (35:27):
Yeah, which is first of all crazy, Like these were big,
big water bottles.

Speaker 1 (35:30):
I don't know how she was drinking them.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
And every time I'd get out of school, we'd get
off the bus and none would have like safety stuff
packed and ready to go, and we'd go to Cappuccinos
and we'd drop.

Speaker 3 (35:40):
It off her and they had the Bambino pizzas there.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
They were so so good.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
And that was like a truth like when Nana would
let us get those, I like love Wednesdays when we'd go.

Speaker 1 (35:48):
There and you guys only came in with the when
you know, the people from after work to get there. Yeah,
it was like yeah, it was like when yeah, I
got your pizza and then once they rolled in, you guys.

Speaker 3 (36:00):
I don't never let us like sit there and eat pizza,
but we were able to order and pick it up.

Speaker 1 (36:03):
There's a little tables that weren't at the bar. Yeah, yeah,
but I will tell you I love that place. And
I loved Louis and Vinnie and Nick and everybody that
treated me really well there. I became part of their family. Yeah,
literally part of their family. And you know, they had
a terrible tragedy happened in that family. Luigi's son passed
away in a car accident, Claudia. And I'm gonna cry

(36:25):
when I think about it, because he was the best
kid in the world. They have a foundation for him,
Claudio cares and I love him and you should check
it out. And I don't even to think about it
because it's going to make me cry. But he's, you know,
local to the Hudson Valley. They all treated me like
their own sister. I was like one of the Capolas.
They were good to me. That's so good. Oh, I
didn't realize that was a family. Yeah. So they still
have their other restaurant. They make sauce. Yeah, okay, they

(36:46):
make sure said Adams our favorite. Yeah. We love Adams
so well.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
That place isn't there anymore. No, So what happened after
you left Cappuccinos?

Speaker 1 (36:54):
So then I started my own business doing social media
and marketing because I used to do nightlife events. And
after that I saw the money in nightlife because a
good friend of mine was ran a restaurant and he said,
come promote it for me. You have a lot of friends,
you have a lot of followers. Everybody knows you. I said,
all right, I'll come. So I met everybody in town

(37:15):
and I just started texting people. Texting was new back then,
that's how old this was. And they were like, hey, guys,
you know, come to this event, and I'd send them
the flyer and all of a sudden, five hundred people
would show up. And I realized this through a Facebook event.
My friend told me Facebook is wonderful, and I was like,
I don't want to do social media to waste time.
I want to make money. And they're like, oh no,
you can like invite all your friends on a Facebook invite.

(37:36):
I was like, wait, you can instead of me texting everybody.
So I I had a code that allowed you to
invite as many people as you wanted. Do you still
have that code? The code doesn't work anymore.

Speaker 3 (37:46):
Oh okay, I would save us so much time.

Speaker 1 (37:49):
I know my friend. My friend gave it to me,
and he always had the updated code, so I'd pop
it in and boom, fifty thousand people were invited to
your event and two thousand would show up, and I
was like, oh my god, this is a cash cow. Yeah.
So I promoted a lot of different places from there
and made a ton of money.

Speaker 3 (38:06):
You know.

Speaker 1 (38:07):
I went from making five dollars a night to two
thousand dollars a night, yeah, and sometimes five thousand if
it was if it was New Year's Eve. There were
nights I bought an eight, nine, ten thousand dollars.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
And I feel like it was such an untapped like
market at that point, like social media marketing, yeah, like
getting people in a room like you were, like.

Speaker 1 (38:23):
I was a pioneer that in this market. Yeah. And
in New York City I probably would have made twenty
or fifty oh my god. But here I knew this market,
I knew the people, and people knew if I was
doing the party. It was awesome, right. I never drank,
I never did drugs. I was never in the scene.
I was a businesswoman behind it and the figurehead and
I was really proud of.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
Which is the craziest part because like majority of people
that are like in that like world, I feel like
are there for a little huh And that's okay, okay,
But it's like so interesting that like you were able
to like be like this person that was like getting
everyone in the rown and is like you didn't you
weren't drinking or anything, like they were there strictly for
your your like vibes.

Speaker 1 (38:59):
But you know what, I realized, like that's not my vice.
So a lot of people say that to me, They're like, oh,
you never drink. I'm so proud of you. But I
don't like to drink. I like sweets. If you tell
me not to eat a sweet, that's different.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
You bring her to Dylan's candy bar. That place is
clear it out in an hour.

Speaker 1 (39:13):
That I would be proud of. But me, I've never
been a drinker. I'm too scared to do drugs. I'm
somebody that's like, you know, I don't know. I like
to be clear minded. That's okay, that's that's okay, it's great,
And I like that because mental health really does matter
to me. And I knew that if I ever went
down that hole, you never know what's going to happen,

(39:34):
right one most saying so so I was, you know,
there's a lot of people that did fall into that,
but I was always there for them, and I always
told people, drink responsibly, come out and hang out, have
a good time, but don't do anything that's going to
detriment your brand, your person. You know, you don't want
to become you don't want to become somebody that needs
to depend on drugs around.

Speaker 2 (39:54):
I feel like that's that's an even better person to
like have like in that world though, because it's like
you actually have like a clear mind with like the
advice getting actually cared.

Speaker 1 (40:02):
Com Park can hang out with me, but they need
to like buy a bottle and take it down.

Speaker 3 (40:06):
Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 1 (40:08):
But anyway, at that time, we were selling forty fifty
bottles a night and it was just super lucrative, and
I'd go from one club to the next, to the
next to the next. And that also was able to
you know, get me my house down payment and put
me in a good financial position and create friendships that
I will never ever forget. It was amazing, and it
was just it was awesome. From there, a friend of

(40:32):
mine said, you know, do social media because you're you
get everybody on social media to come to these events.
So I went from I'm never doing Facebook to getting
this code to oh my god, on the social media
pioneer right literally literally from inception and coming up with
trending videos. I remember the first video did for Sugar
and Spice, my client. They they it was it was

(40:55):
Taco Tuesday, and we did a dance. This is way
before TikTok and they were like, everyone's coming into this
store saying it's Taco Tuesday, and they were, and I
was like, and then then TikTok came out and all
these things came out and became trending, right, and it
just made so much sense. But there were so many
things like that prior to TikTok and prior to this Instagram.

Speaker 3 (41:18):
So you really started TikTok.

Speaker 1 (41:19):
No, I didn't start anything, but I did understand. I
always knew what was coming next that I feel like
I cant say step ahead. And then once I left
the club scene, I started my my my social media
business called Things Social First, and I did that because
there was a My husband was really big into the chamber.

(41:40):
He owned commercial cleaning, landscaping, facility maintenance company and Think
Local First was their campaign, and it was everywhere with
this guy Charlie North, who was such a great communicator.
He was actually born with two parents who were hearing impaired,
so when you are around hearing impaired folks, you have
to over communicate. And he was a great communicator and
came up think Local First. But because that was so big,

(42:02):
I said, let's do thinks social first. So it was great.
We had fifty clients in a matter of eighteen months.

Speaker 3 (42:09):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (42:09):
And I still have great relationships with all of them.
And one of the clients was a golf course. The
golf course was owned by Rhnbeck Bank and they were like,
we have to increase membership and they were like, listen,
this place has no shot in the dark. It's not
your fault. It's not my fault. We're never reaching this number.
It's just the environment. You know, it's not going to happen,

(42:30):
but we love you, so maybe you should consider taking
on this VP of marketing role. So I interviewed one
hundred interviews with so many people in leadership.

Speaker 3 (42:40):
That I was so nerve wracking it was nerve wracking,
but I was up for it. I guess you already
had the experience, but like was not like kind of
like stressful. I feel like that's such a different world
from like what you were.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Doing, oh from nightlife and then eighteen months later working
as a VP of market for a bank. It was
but I felt like I met so many people in nightlife.
I knew how to handle people. Yeah, And I had
so many experience because I worked for a company called
Giotis as well in college, which was logistics, So I
have corporate experience. I get older front end and marketing.

(43:10):
And because I had that experience and I knew people,
and I ran my company with fifty clients and I
met all types of business owners and I had so
many relationships. It was a shoe in for the bank.
So it's kind of like they wanted someone fresh with
big ideas at new social media, and I was able
to give them a fresh look at their brand and

(43:31):
create something new, and we took the bank from six
hundred and forty five million to one point two billion
in a matter of six years.

Speaker 2 (43:37):
Okay, So like at what stage, like during all these jobs,
do you think, like have you ever experienced imposter syndrome
where you're just like, how the hell did I get
where I am?

Speaker 1 (43:45):
No, I just knew. I always knew I was destined
for greatness and always knew I was destined for wealth
because I'm a hustler, I'm clear headed, I keep my
mental health in check, and I always want and know
what's best. I can't explain it, but I'm always going
to put myself in the best position to win and
the people around me, and I take care of everyone
around me, which in essence, takes care of myself. So

(44:08):
I think that you know, I always knew you were
step ahead of everything. It's about a hustle. Yeah, it's
about hard work. And then it's when luck meets opportunity
and no, no, no, you know what. You know what success
is and I do believe this, and I see these
memes all the time, But it's when preparation meets opportunity.
So you're prepping your whole life, you're working and meeting

(44:28):
your networking, and eventually it's like boom, this lands. Okay,
I like that because you have all these experiences and
you're waiting for that one thing and then boom it
lands and you're like it landed because I was meant
for it, and I've been waiting for it, and I
prepared for it.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
So as you're doing all these jobs, you also didn't
even mention the fact that, like you're literally recording, like
writing recording music and like putting.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
It out like all on top of doing so cappuccinos.
At seven years, I tried to really make it as
an artist. They gave me the flexibility. I would make
a couple grand a week at work, and I was
able to then take that money invested in my music
career and save money for my personal life too. And
I took some of that money and I recorded albums
with everybody I knew. I tried everything. I met so

(45:12):
many different people, and that's how I built up to
twelve thousand people on my cell phone and my social
media following was through music. I performed everywhere, from opening
for Neo to hanging out with everybody from Black Eyed
Peas to My manager represented Chris Willis and owned the
rights to David Gettis Publishing, so he introduced me to

(45:33):
half the world. I was everywhere for a short period
of time, from Europe to hear all the film festivals
music festivals and I got introduced to the Hollywood life
during that time. He since passed from COVID, which is terrible,
but I learned so much from him too, and he
introduced me to half the globe. And the reason I
started the podcast is because I had so many contacts

(45:54):
and entertainment music and I was like, I can get
my friends to become a guest and yeah, very popular
people and they love me and I love them, and
this was a good vehicle for them to promote whatever
they're doing and for us to get some good views
on what we want to share.

Speaker 3 (46:07):
So is that manager the one that we talked about
with Judy Torres?

Speaker 1 (46:09):
So Judy Torres introduced me to him again. When preparation
meets the Opportunity, I sang my whole life since I
was five. I opened for her because I met someone
that said, you need to open for Judy.

Speaker 3 (46:19):
She's so cool.

Speaker 1 (46:21):
So Judy's the best. And Judy said to me, Michelle,
you're great. I love your personality, I like the way
you work. I'm gonna introduce you to my manager. And
that changed my life. Yeah, that meeting, shit, it introduced
me to everybody. Then two weeks later, I'm at Miami
Music Festival literally sitting next to Randy Jackson when he
was at his height for American Idol. I'm sitting next

(46:42):
to him, and Randy Jackson says to me, you know,
He's like, what are your goals? And I was like,
I want to be an artist. He's like, well, what kind?
And I said, you know, a pop artist. He goes, well,
how are you going to do it? And I said,
my manager's helping me. We're getting out there. He's like,
where's your single? I said here. He's like, I like.

Speaker 3 (47:01):
You we had it already.

Speaker 1 (47:02):
We had it already. Preparation meets the opportunity. Now Randy
and I have ever worked together, but I'll never forget
that moment.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Maybe that preparation just hasn't met that opportunity.

Speaker 1 (47:11):
Yeah, but we'll see. Maybe Randy, Ohina, we'll see. But
so many other things happened, you know, political or not,
prior to Trump being president. I met him on set
of when he had his show what the heck is
it called? I think that was before my time. Anybody
remembered The Apprentice. So I was on the Apprentice as
a stand in model. I did a lot of that work.

(47:32):
With a booking agent. She was great. She got me on.
I would make like two or three hundred bucks sitting
there because so they could do lighting and this and that. Yeah,
I got the paid people because they want like thousands
of dollars an hour. So I met him there. He
was really coolly, sat next to me multiple times, met
his daughter. I met so many people in entertainment through

(47:53):
my manager. He really did hook me up. And I
have relationships for twenty five years because of that. Yeah,
and she knows allowed me to bring in the income
I needed, but get the flexibility to go, you know,
work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and then fly out Thursday to
some crazy extravagant networking. It's so cool.

Speaker 3 (48:10):
You guys like don't even know. Like literally, when I
was younger, I was like, you guys don't understand. Like
my aunt is so cool.

Speaker 2 (48:15):
I'm like, she has a studio in her house. I'm
like she literally let us record the New York version
of California. Girls were like she is so cool all
this stuff, and like I literally remember it. There's the
purple and the black, uh, like foam things all over
that wall. Yeah, she had this big door in my
Grandma's old house that had like every single person that
ever walked in that room sign.

Speaker 1 (48:34):
That door there was thousand.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
I can't believe we didn't take that door.

Speaker 1 (48:37):
Actually we should have it.

Speaker 2 (48:39):
We should like that was like so cool. We'll put
that like when with the other video that we brought up.
But that door was so cool, Like everyone was signed
on there.

Speaker 1 (48:47):
That was so cool. There was a lot of a
lot of big people that came there. And you know,
I think that I think that what I've learned throughout
this is, you know, you never know what someone's going through,
and I think that you have to take a person
at face value and embrace them for who they are
and learn from them and vibe whatever that means. Right,

(49:08):
So we do with our guests it is and I
feel like that's what we do with life, and I
think that's why we love it so much. Oh yeah, yeah.
So now here we are after the bank, they didn't
want to grow much. They kind of were happy at
the billion dollar mark. And I'm a grower. I like
to plan seas and watch them fly baby yep, like
Jack and the Beanstalk yep. And I said, so what

(49:30):
is my next step? And one vehicle we had at
the bank was a show called Wake Up with Ryan
Big Bank, and that show was part of helping the
bank get to where it was now. We also went public.
I had a great sales team. The ops team was incredible.
It was a machine that sung. And if you're in
corporate business and you know anything about a machine's humming,
that's what we had there. It was a humming, straight

(49:53):
machine that was very pointed with specific goals, and we
really as a team killed it. Yeah, I I left.
You know, they've done a lot of different things, but
still kind of stuck around that number. And I said,
you know what, I love the show aspect. It helped
me grow. I think it'd be a great vehicle. And
I had a partnership with iHeart for many years because

(50:14):
I had a show on weekends as their jock.

Speaker 3 (50:17):
Show their jobs for all this time in the week I.

Speaker 1 (50:21):
Work day and night. I've worked so hard, but I
love it. Yeah, I love what I do. I love
everything I've done, and I'm proud of it all.

Speaker 3 (50:28):
That's like your version of hanging out.

Speaker 1 (50:29):
Yeah it is. It's like, Oh, come hang out with
me at work or you know, you know, I'm on
air and they're like, oh I got to hear you.
I'm like great, call in like I work and have
fun at see. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (50:39):
So but that's even cooler. Actually, yeah, I remember used
to be on the radio and it'd be like you'd
be like I gave you a shout out, like listen
at this time. I remember that for the birthdays.

Speaker 1 (50:50):
Because we'd like record the break and I'll be like,
all right, at seven fourteen, I'm coming on Ashley. Yeah, yeah, hey,
ash happy birthday. I love you. You know. Yeah. I would
always shout out anyone who wanted one. And at the time,
Clear Channel was called iHeart was called Clear Channel, and
they gave me my first shot. Chris Marino has been
a friend, a person that it's believed in me since

(51:12):
I hands it on my first CD. He gave me
the opportunity to host red carpets. Without that iHeart partnership,
we wouldn't be able to do anything. Chris Marino, I
love you more than anything. You are the most amazing
funny dad joke.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
It's so fun we all make content together. He's so funny.

Speaker 1 (51:30):
He's so good. Felicia, everybody at I Heart, Ava, Tina
rob everybody has treated me like nothing less than such
a great partner and I just love iHeart.

Speaker 3 (51:41):
So you did the radio jock stuff with them, did
that and then.

Speaker 1 (51:44):
It turned into the podcast and they it took us
a year to create this. I worked with Christina, who
helped develop Beyonce's perfume line, and she said, I really
want to help you with this because I think we
can nail it. And she and I rainstorm for months
on what we're going to call this, and we came
up with words that described me and it was relevant, entertaining, dynamic,

(52:06):
and that's where we came up with red because I
look good in red and breads a power color and
you fit right in with red, and it was just yeah,
I always had the red lip. And it started off
actually with someone else as co host because you were
still working on DC Sports. Yeah, and you were my
first guest.

Speaker 3 (52:23):
I was the first guest.

Speaker 1 (52:24):
Yeah. And then when everyone knew we had synergy, they
were like bringing Ashley on was the best decision Red
ever made.

Speaker 2 (52:31):
That was like, it's actually crazy, this is summer coming
up in like my two year officially of me being
like on the show Tier.

Speaker 1 (52:38):
Yeah, and now like we have like amazing guests, amazing views.
Finally three years, Yeah, thirty years, thirty year coming up.
We've doi so much now, we have done so much,
so many events, so many contacts, and bringing so much
spotlight on mental health. Yea, And that's what my favorite
part is.

Speaker 2 (52:57):
I think that's the best part is because like, especially
coming from like and like you decided to have me
on the show.

Speaker 3 (53:01):
Like we always talked about.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
How like we're very similar, but like also like we
do have very two, very different perspectives on things, like I.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
Mean, look at yeah, like lamb, god, you're chilling literally basically,
but I mean, you know doing it, I know, and
I think that it makes us fun. You know, you're
the trending one, Like you're what a podcast or should be.
I'm like, uh, you know a talk show host meets Uh,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (53:24):
What's that show that everyone sits at that table.

Speaker 1 (53:27):
The view the view. Yeah, I want my own talk
show with you and a few other characters. We're gonna
plan that be cool. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (53:33):
Well I feel like that's where like it's been like better,
like us both like being here because we both have
like different like experiences or like stances on like mental
health and like things that we've experienced, and I think
like that's been like a great part of doing the
show is like we're always able to like give two
different perspectives.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Agreed with Mha, They're the best. They are the best, Mha.
Duchess Andrew, we love you and I'll tell you because
the programs they provide, and because when I was young
and had anxiety and stuff so badly from it and
still suffer, we still do. We all have something right
that's like our quirky thing. I would never talk about
it because it was taboo, and I was like, one

(54:10):
day I'm going to bring light to this because people
shouldn't feel this way. And here we are, and this
is the my truth, my dream. Yeah. I don't know
how you.

Speaker 3 (54:19):
Feel, but hey, I feel great.

Speaker 1 (54:20):
I'm happy to be here. Me too. But actually, I
love you. I love you.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
I feel like we probably could have just done a
list of like what jobs we didn't have, we probably
would have gone through this episode quicker. But now you
guys all know this is how we got here, and
now now we're on your TV screen, so that's cool.

Speaker 1 (54:37):
Yeah, really cool. And we'll be back next week with
another episode of Red. See you soon. Do it. Bye,