Hey guys, welcome to another episode of Eating While Broke. Your host Coleen Witt, and today we have very special guest TV and radio personality, CC Valencia is in the building from ninety three point five KD shout out, but super excited.
They have you so excited?
Yes, I was like calling text in bothering people.
Was on it.
I have to say that she was on it like a true woman was. I was an email text calls, annoying. I will not stop until I'm like she better.
Please please God no.
And then when I've heard the concept of this show, I just thought it was so amazing because I never seen anything like this before. So I was like, oh, this is really a one of a kind, Like I love this.
Yeah.
I used to think it was like all about inspiring then Underdog, But the more I hear like fans talk, They're like, Yo, this is like a real chance to get to know the people that we like, we watch and right admire, Like we get to really and get in here from you.
Yay. You know what I mean that you we have never heard before?
Exactly absolutely so speaking of stories we ain't never heard before, cee ce, Yes, what is the broke dish.
You are gonna have me eating today.
Okay. So the broke dish that I used to eat while growing up was my mom would cut tortillas and we would fry them, and then we would add a little bit of sea.
We didn't.
We had these, okay, and we ate these with everything, even white bread.
Is that chicken hot dogs?
Right?
Chicken hot dogs?
Slice them and then you fry them and then you put the egg and I promise you it. I know it's a broke meal, but it's like the most delicious broke meal you ever had. It's all the flavors.
Teach me, show me.
Okay, I stand up to do this.
Alright, let's go.
It's so funny. So Jared shout out to Jared. Everyone no one ever gets to see Jared. He's like the guy from Home Improvement behind the fence. Yes, but Jared is Mexican, so like he understands it to a certain degree, way better than meal.
Yes his life. Yes.
He was like, I was like, Jared, can you set it up?
He had cutting board, eggs, everything, Like I was like, okay, he knows what the and I was like, do we need butter?
He's like, I got the oil. Yeah, Jar understands the struggle to stay in my lane.
Ra absolutely, and then here pass me that cloth just in case we accidently turn on the wrong burner.
We're good.
So take me back to this time in your life when you were eating hot dogs and chickennout dogs and the eggs and corn tortillas. By the way, this taping today, all of my guests, all of their meals came to twenty dollars combined. Why and that's with inflation. So I know all the stories today I'm about to hear are amazing.
Yes, take me back, Take me back.
Okay, So growing up, we moved around a lot. My parents were divorcing, so basically my mother was trying to we're basically staying with people that could house us, right, So it went from Compton to Lynnwood to watts back to Compton to Southgate, and she didn't have a lot of money. And at the time, we grew up on what people called food stamps.
Right, I remember few sands stamps.
You had the colorful ones right, the money right, Yes, I wish they had the debit cards in our time, by the.
Way, yeah, they didn't. We had to literally pull out in front of everybody. Everybody in the county line would give you dirty looks.
Yeah.
Yeah, So that's how we grew up. And we were just really really poor at that moment. I remember I just told your story off camera where uh you know, my mom would buy us vans every beginning of the school year, and we were growing up fast, and at one point we're like, Mom, they don't fit us anymore. And she had no money until the next paycheck. So what she did was she put vasoline on our feet and shoved our feet in there and made it work for like a week and a half until she got paid. Wow,
and then she went ahead. But she did what she could do because it was just us. And the one thing that I love about my mother is that she raised us. Like even when me and my sister would argue, She's like, ah, stop, we all we got because when I'm gone, she's gonna be the only person that's gonna have you. So we just really grew up with love in our household. And we listen, I'm cutting this up into triangles.
Okay, by the way, yeah, I was not expecting that.
So I'm about to learn a good hack from my own personal I think that's more than enough.
Okay, So I was just gonna say, well, I'm gonna cook for Jared too.
He had this when growing up.
Just so you know, we always throw food back to Jared off camera.
The second is Jared, you want to eat something, but yeah, you need to turn it up.
Yeah, I'm gonna turn it up. We're good.
So are these gonna end up coming out like tortilla chiphina?
But then what you do is that they're like tortilla chips. Then we're gonna end a little bit of the hot dog, and then we're at the egg over it.
It's going to be so good.
Yes, show me a good morning hack, because when I say I'm running out the door, I never know what to make.
But this looks like a good.
Super easy, super easy. I'm just waiting for the oil to get hot, so I'm just tensing it right now, but super easy. My mom made this for us all the time growing up. And it's crazy because now that you know, I consider myself a successful radio person. I view twenty years, twenty years, twenty years, I've been doing it and I still creep this.
Oh so you still eat it?
I still eat it? Yes, I could eat botsa nova and I could eat this like it doesn't bother me at all. Yes, yeah, it's getting hotter. We're working this out. But you know what, Colleen, I never growing up struggling. I never felt sorry for myself. I honestly thought everybody grew up like that.
You know.
We used to go shopping at the second hand and in Spanish we call it the segunda, so my family shortened it and called it the Gundi. It was like a cute little name. So they'd be like, oh, we're going to go to the Gundi. So when I would go to school, I would be like, oh, you got that at the Goondi. I thought everybody shop the way we shop. I only started noting the no seeing the difference when I was in the seventh grade. And then I started getting teased for the way that I was dressed.
And then I noticed other than that, I was happy. My mom was like, listen, as long as you guys are fed, you got a roof over your head, and you're happy, and you're healthy, and nobody's touching you or anything harming, you're good.
Yeah you know what I mean. So that's really how was your father.
I'm just genuinely curious was your father, Like, did he just disappear or.
No, my dad was in and out of prison. Okay, So my dad and my mom are both from Compton and they grew up in that lifestyle. It is what it is. And my dad was gang banging and you know, drug dealing all that, and got caught up in that life and it was did a lot of time like it was either in to had to be wayside, you know. But at the end of the day, it's weird because people are like, you grew up kind of well rounded.
And I said, well, yeah, you know what, I had a father that wasn't afraid to say he loved me either. He'd be like, I love you so much, baby, grad love. I just knew my dad loved me, and I don't know if it was just the God in me with my mom, but I also realized my dad didn't have a father figure, So my dad didn't know how to be a dad. He didn't have a dad, He didn't have a dad that raised him, so he didn't This
was all foreign to him. But my dad loved me and always showed me, you know, whether he'd be out on the streets for a couple of days, come home, visit us, whatever, it was always full of love. You know. I started, as I started growing up and developing into a young women, I started noticing, like, Okay, you're out, You're not with the You're not with us all the time, you know. But I never held a grudge or anything like that.
You didn't feel like you were and you didn't. And this is again genuine curiosity. So when your father was not when you started to realize that he wasn't always present, did you ever compare like the way your mom loved and the way he loved did you ever go through it like.
You know what? No? I loved. I was always Daddy's little girl, so I I growing up, I think I was more towards my dad. And then once I started developing into a young women, I started seeing my mom was the one that was really making all the struggles for her household. My mom was the one that was always sacrificing. So I always still loved Dad because I'm Daddy's I was Daddy's little girl. However, I became more protective of my mother. I never nobody could ever speak
bad about her, although they didn't. She was an angel but I never let anybody speA because I'm like, listen, my mom has paid the bills. She's taking two care taking care of two kids on her own, she's working two jobs. My mom was a welder because it was the only job she could have gotten at that time. And I remember just saying, listen, Mom, you.
Know what I mean.
Whatever you need, we got you. We would clean the house. It was a partnership on me and my mom would be like, listen, miha, you're the oldest. I depend on you the most. You have to help with the house. You have to help me with your sister. We are all we got. I love that and that was how she raised us.
And she never talked bad about your dad either.
You know what's so crazy about that is that I recently did an interview and it kind of went viral, and it was surprising to me. My mom never talked bad about my father, and people were shocked about it. But my dad, in turn, never talked bad about my mother because he'd be like, that's the mother of my children. Regardless of what we got going on. She makes sure that my girls are okay all the time, and they
got clothes and she was on their back. So my dad, although they were divorced, was still protective of my mother, which I thought was super cool. And my mom was like, no matter what, that's your father. And sometimes when he couldn't come to see us, she would drop us off so we could visit him. And people would be like, Oh, you need a hive for chand support. You need to get in for this, and She's like, my kids, all they know is they need their dad in their life.
That's all they know. That's all they care about. They don't know bills, they don't know this, they don't they know their dad. So I need my daughters to have a father figure in their life. They need to understand, you know what I mean, how a man is supposed to treat them. And so it worked out and they weren't. They weren't bitter or anything. It just I think I was blessed in that sense. But I feel good because that's me and my sister grew up with. You know, listen,
daddy was out there in the streets. Daddy's doing what he does. But you know what, he loves us, not gonna change. I'm just gonna love him.
Yeah, and that's unconditional love. Yes, Now, when did we're gonna start inching towards who you became the first twenty the first half of your twenty years. How did you start getting into radio?
How did you?
What inspired that that point of I'm interested in this field, you know what.
I was working in television, and I was working in television and I had said something about being in the IE at the time, and there was a radio station that was developing and they hired me through a message on the phone. It was crazy. So I went and I was like, well, if I can do TV, I can do radio. No wrong. You have to understand that when you do television, even when you change your facial expression this, it says a lot. In radio, we have to amplify. We have to get excited and talk like
this and get you to understand what we're doing. So the first couple of weeks I couldn't do that, and I was like, Oh, this ain't for me at all.
And what were you doing in TV before you were hosting at LA TV? So LA you said hosting is different from radio because hosting you don't have to do as much amplification.
No, because it's a lot facial expression. So I'm talking like this and you're watching me, but when you're listening on the radio, you can't see me. You have to feel my expression. So it was hard. And I gave my three weeks or my two week notice, my third week in radio twenty years ago, and God bless my program director at the time. He said, see, see, if I didn't think you could do this, I wouldn't have
hired you. Give it six months. If you feel the same in six months, I will accept your resignation letter. And I said, okay, fair enough. It's been twenty years.
Wow, yes, and I love it.
And and the more that I learned and I grew and and I understood you know what I mean that I had.
To Did you end up getting mentors in the game.
Or yes, I did. I had a mentors. I had a mentor named Chris Lops that actually came from a station back in the day called The Beat. Ok yeah, ninety two point three The Beat, no color lines. He was there, I'm gonna put this right here because that is what people do when they broke.
And uh, he would, uh this looks legit, by the way, guys, it's like little tortilla or anything. Yeah, I'm gonna stay out of your kitchen.
Yeah, don't you worry, girl, You're gonna love this.
So so you you're you end up saying in radio you did get mentors that helped you.
Kind of in the game.
In the game, okay, And I.
Had mentors in the game, and I learned from them and they taught me. And I even had the DJs, like, because I was a radio personality, it was kind of cool to learn from DJs because when you're on the radio and you're talking, you have a screen and it's the countdown of the music and what's coming up next. I was so focused on that and being perfect and hitting every break. I remember a DJ came in the studio put tape over the screen and said and I
was like, what are you doing. That's my countdown when I'm talking on air right now. And he was like, you don't need that. You go to the club. You know hip hop, you know music. Listen to the beat, listen to the beat. See, you need to start thinking like a DJ.
And I was like, oh, I'm not a DJ.
I killed it and I started learning like that, and then once I started blending my boards and really excelling, people were like, Wow, you're really good at blending your boards. And I said, because I learned from a DJ, and shut up to that DJ, mister Swift, because he really helped me focus and and showed me how to be a better radio personality. So I did have a couple of mentors. Adrian Scott, who does all the concerts in Los Angeles. You see how the Wess won Crush Group.
He was a radio personality program direct for a long time. He taught me a lot about my worst and also too.
He talked you a lot about your worth, yes, like on a professional level or on.
A professional level, or like a professional level, he was like, ask for this, always be about your money, get your money, know your wor sy like you know you know how to do this. Like he never cut me any slack, And a lot of times I thought he was hard on me, but he was hard on me because he
saw the potential in me. So once I started accepting the constructive criticism and writing with it, I just became this beast and I and then I worked for Jennifer Lopez and that was something in itself, and I did Collective on newbou TV at the time, and my first check that Jlo gave me for interviewing. I thought it was a mistake and I remember I was like, oh shit. So I remember asked somebody else. I was like, hey, is this about right? They got paid. They're like, yeah,
that's what you get paid. And I was like, oh my god. And I remember her sister, Lindelopez was like to say, this is what you're worst. I was in a dressing room. It was huge. I had makeup person, hair person, stylists, pa, a runner, and I'm like, all this for me. You got to remember I grew up in a trailer. I lived in a trailer in watts We grew up in Compton. Look at what I'm making.
So I'm like, I don't need all this. Like I could do my own hair, I could do my own make up, I do my own shop because it's what we have to do. And they're like, no, no, no, no, you're the talent. This is how you're supposed to be treated. And once I accepted that, I think it was the imposter syndrome. I don't belong here. You know, I grew up like this. I don't belong here.
And also I'm just backtracking.
When you got the JLO gig, where you also kind of like in that position of.
H like I'm so thankful to be in the room kind of.
Yes, okay, I went okay, so like, oh, this is Jalo soul, like so yeah, this is.
Jayloh the most beautiful woman on the planet.
So and just a sidebar, is she as beautiful as she is?
Yes?
Yeah, okay.
So I start really quick about Jennifer is that you see all these little memes on Instagram and it's like this like wrinkled looking face that is all like people that do that editing because I went to her house. She invited us for barbecue. I was working for at the time, and I remember sitting down and I was just like, oh my god, and I was taking my moment of man, this is where I grew up super poor, my mom putting vasilaine on my shoes feet so I
can fit into shoes. And I'm sitting with like the number one international artist in the world, right like Jennifer Lopez. She comes to me, she sits down and she's like, are you good, CC, do you need anything? Did you get yourself a plate to eat? Like, you know, because it's a barbecue. And I remember looking at her like I'm looking at you, and I was like, oh my gosh, she's so perfect.
Oh my god, money but money can buy.
Like it's just like I was like, I bet you she's using the best lotions, the best serum. But she was just so flawless.
Really, but she was.
She was hospitable, it sounds like very hospitable, but also too, she very healthy really.
Yeah, she doesn't hear alcohol, right, nope. And I was.
There somebody was trying to smoke a cigarette on her property and she made them walk across the street because she said no smoking at her house. So yeah, so she didn't play. But when I got hired there, I mean listening, you see what I'm eating, right, So, so
what we grew up on. When I got hired there, I was the chubbiest girl and all the girls were like this skinny and freaking gorgeous, right, And I remember going like on this day, trying to lose weight, trying to lose weight, and I remember they pulled me aside and lindelp was.
Like, what are you doing?
And I was like, oh girl, I'm losing weight. Thank thank you for hiring me. I'm gonna be the best for you. I'm making sure I'm good, and they're like, no, no, no, we hired you because the way you look like you're talented. But the way you look, there's more people that look like you than like them. Yeah, you have to understand that. And I didn't understand it at the time. And then I just learned to embrace the curves.
Yeah you know what I mean. And you got a nice body, by the way, thank you.
So I just embraced the curves with a little bit of meat on them because we do love to eat. It looks so good.
Girl.
Is the trick now? So now, this is the first time I've ever seen someone do this in front of me. So the trick isn't to put a lot of oil. It's a little bit. Yeah, okay, it's a.
Little bit because you're gonna put the eggs in something and you don't want it to be too oily, so the tortillas will like basically soak it up and fry it. Okay, So that's what I'm doing right now. So what I'm doing is letting it fry a little bit more so it can soak up more of that oil and then when I put the eggs, we're fine. But I did put a little bit of oil.
I love. I know it's a good lesson because I'm gonna go home and do this.
It's so good. It's so inexpensive.
Yes, and I literally like when I'm surprised you didn't add cheese or something, no, because we.
Didn't have it, Like this is what we had, and of course we had some topatio, but we can, you know. And then people like think, um, crazy because I'll even put ketchup on this.
Oh really I.
Like it.
No, you know what, when Jara switches the cameras, he'll probably bless us with some ketchup.
I needed, and then we'll just add the egg over it.
H wow, here that this is crazy. I'm learning so many hacks.
If you're a single mom or a mom at home, these are like the best moments because you could like learn a quick hack.
Yeah, it's is home today.
Yes, it's like a little crunch and then you get your little meat in there protein and we did the chicken so it's not pork, and then that's it. And then when we did have cheese, we would do a little bit of cheese and then most of the time we would have like you know, green salasa or we call it salata or we'll have like the thapathio and we would just pour it on there and that was it. Sometimes though I was the only one of my family that would put ketchup and people make fun of me,
but I loved it. But yeah, this was my broke meal that got me through like every place I've been to, Like I moved to Face to do radio. I did radio out there for five years.
Wow.
And this was my go to mel because single at the time, I had a studio apartment. I just moved to this new city and I was struggling and this was everything. And it's crazy because you know what the trick is too or onion powder.
I'm telling you, Jared knew what he was doing because I promised you he laid out all those seasonings and I was like, it wasn't even on your call shee no, yes, And right.
Now, like even when I was looking, I was like, oh my god, I forgot to tell him that onion powder. Nah.
He he blessed you. So what happened with the Jalo situation.
The network went out of business and then I just continue to do radio because I was doing both at the time, and I went.
From how did you take that blown?
It was hard, but it wasn't. I wasn't the only one affected. So we had We were at Neuveau TV and that was Jalo's but at the time there was a bid for Fuse TV, so she bought that.
But she bought that.
Yes, so there was JAILO did ye okay?
Boss?
Yes? And I don't know how much percentage.
I just know there was.
I just know we got talked to and we were like, so they're trying to figure it out because Neuvau was in the West coast, Fuse was in the east coast, so they were saying that she was going to somehow try to take a She's gonna have to let go half here half theresolidated, and so we didn't know what was going on, but at the time they were just they said they placed the show on hold but never came back, So which was fine because radio was my love and I loved it, and honestly, like I took
that as a lesson working with Jlo. She taught me a lot and I was able to walk away with what I figured with my work, and it showed me how to negotiate and how to move through the industry. So it was a big blessing and then I got a lot of gigs after that, you know what I mean. So I loved it and I loved working for her. She was awesome. She was never rude to me or anything.
Now people will say, well, she wasn't rude. She wasn't like in Spanish we was saying like gon Gardino, like you know, oh, I'm showing you everything, would love like hey girl, and I hugguess not like that. It was more like she was very like a polite she wanted to make sure you were good. But it wasn't like I'm very loving and it wasn't that. But I could only imagine she's probably been in the industry for so long and been around so many people, she has to
be protective of herself. So I wasn't anything like that personal. Okay, yeah, I don't take anything really personal. Yeah, but yeah, So it was like but it was cool because I'm like, oh my god, Like I literally I remember living in a trailer in watts and we had to go to the bathroom. It was just a shell and we had to go to the bathroom because we're parked in front
of somebody's house. So my mom was like, you have to go to the bathroom before they go to bed because you're not going to be able to use the restroom till they wake up.
Oh, you mean you'd have to leave the house to go to their house, leave.
The trailer and going there because our trailer was in front in the front yard. Wa.
Wow.
And so it was Office of Moor and Watts. Our trailer was in front yard. And so my mom understood they were doing us a favor by letting us live there. So she was very always conscious about not disturbing them. So you go to the bathroom before they go to bed, and you don't get to use the restroom till they wake up because our camper was just a shell. It was not anything working in there. Wow. And so that's what we had to do.
And then to go like, look at your life fast forward. That's got to be an incredible journey. How did your mom feel seeing all that growth?
Comfortable?
Well, she wasn't. She didn't understand it. She like my mom was had us when Chad me when she was sixteen, my sister when she was seventeen. You know, they're from Compton. She was just trying to survive. So I remember being at the house and she was on the phone with my aunt and she was like, oh, my poor baby, because I'm in radio at this time. She's like, she's trying to find herself. She don't, she don't trying to
and I'm like, and I'm listening. I tell my siter, I'm like, I know who I am, but I'm doing a different career path that my mom has ever imagined.
She's all, welldre she's a hard work Yeah, she goes from a different time.
Right, And all she wants is for me to have health insurance, dental insurance, vision coverage, four one K plan. To her, that's successful. Yeah, And to me, I wanted to really be who I was. So I just you know, I had to accept it, and I had to. And I remember my sister was there for me, and my sister was like, she doesn't understand it, but it's okay, sister, keep going. My sister is like, has went back all
the time time, and I was like, okay. And then once I started climbing and making real money and big money and she started seeing the fruits of my labor actually coming together, then it changed from oh, my poor baby's trying to find herself too, Like, give me some shirts I could pass out to everybody on the radio. They're gonna listen to you, baby, I've been telling everybody she goes. She well, she used to because she's had strokes now, but she used to go to the ninety
ninety cent store. She would shop all the time. There would be like ma, and she would be like, oh. I went to the ninety nine cent store and I told the manager that my daughter's on the radio and he likes your radio stations, So give me a shirt I could give to him, because this is how you get your listeners.
I said, okay, Mom, go ahead, like go from one to the other extreme.
Yes, wait, hold on, I gotta save some for Jared.
Yeah, let's save him a little spec And I'm Jared's gonna love this.
There we go, save you some, Jared.
Can you bring us some kedget ye, Jared to do that to you.
Let's try this. Oh my god, I like it.
I'm definitely gonna like it.
She loved it.
I'll give you my word. I will be doing this from my daughter at home.
I love it.
I'll give me my word.
Isn't it easy?
It's easy and it's so creative.
Yeah, and I didn't. I put pepper and I put onion. Some people can put seasoning and salt, but I don't put it a lot because I don't know what people like. But this is how I made mine, and literally, this right here would get me through so many mornings and people that even my friends, I'd be like, hey, do you mind if I make this real quick? They loved it.
Let me join you.
If I was your homegirl and I slide through, everyone always has that one home girl like a cooke, real good, you know what I'm talking about. If I was your homegirl, I'd be like, girl, I'm coming through, can you make that a tortilla egg?
And you'd be like, why don't have the green? I got it, don't worry. I'll pick it up so good. And then.
If you want to get a little fancy, sometimes I'll do slice avocado on the side and then you eat it like that. That's a little fancy.
You know what I like about this is it's different from your average but back crunch, right, it's the crunch.
It's the crunch. It's a crunch. I don't care what you put on this it's that crunch with.
The cruntry really does it.
So if your back because on the show, I'm really supposed to be tasting, but everyone once we got a dish is so good.
I love it.
I'm trying to take a step. Che can continue hearing your story?
No, you're good. But yeah, so my mom I would cook because my mom would have us cook, and these are the dishes that she would have us make. And from time to time, like like I said, we would take my mom out and we'll be like, Mom, where do you want to go? We'll take you to any restaurant. Me and my sister loves spoiling her because she struggled so much and we're very successful now, and but she doesn't. She's so simple, and I think that's beauty in her
that she still craves these dishes. She has me making her every morning and a lot of yours will know this. She has me making her avenna and I was going to have you make get that. So basically avena.
Is literally.
Water, boil it, oat meal, put a little bit of milk in there, brown sugar no I'm sorry, cinnamon and sugar, and we mix it and then we would get like bean burritos, beans tortillas, roll it, and then you have your avenna with your bean burrito. That's how me and my family loved it. And then my niece is growing up now they like it with toasts, so they will make them the toast with the avenna.
But it's like omeal, it's old milky.
Yeah, but it's so good and.
It's almost like, yeah, I'm glad I got this. Yeah, this is so good. This is good.
But yeah, I love that.
I love it.
So let's get closer up to where you are today.
Okay, what were some of the would you say, pivotal moments between the j Lo gig and where you're at today that kind of changed or re transitioned your trajectory because I see j Loo bern j and having that mentor really helped establish your worth in the industry and
kind of break you through the imposter syndrome. But now that you established at worth, were there any points in your career where you had to like almost backpedal or renegotiate back to who you who, who you first envisioned yourself for versus no one you're worth now.
No, I think my ride has been pretty smooth. I've had some bumps, but I think one pivotal moment was when I was actually looking to apply at a certain radio station, and I really believed that I was the perfect person. I grew up on that music. I loved it. I knew all the artists they were playing. They were looking for a Latina. I was like, oh, perfect, I know everything. Yeah, I'm from here, born and raised. We're good.
I went to audition and I did my air, submitted my air chick, met with the UH manager and everything went good. Then I got a call from the guy who recommended me, and he said, you know, Ceci, I don't know how to say this. I'm not Hispanic, but you're like, you're awesome, but I you know, it's not me. But their vibe was that, and I just knew it. And I said, they're looking for a brown girl, but I'm too brown, and he said exactly. I said, you're looking for a brown girl that acts white maybe or
has more white friends. And he's like, not my words, but you know, basically that's what they were looking for. So I didn't get the part. I wasn't upset, though. I was fine with it because I love being the brown girl, you know, what I mean, that's from southern California that's moved around because I know there's a lot of little girls like me. So I may not be accepted in that that specific job, however, but as.
A radio personality, that's what they were looking for.
Yeah, it's so weird. Sometimes in radio they'd be looking for the weirdest shit. But that didn't bother me because, like I said, there's a lot and I told him, I said, I'm not offended. There's a lot of more little girls that look like me, and I gotta stand strong for them. I gotta stand strong for them. I cannot fold. I gotta keep ten toes down. So if that's if it wasn't for me, then that's okay, because God didn't want me there. What for me is for me.
So that kind of went away, and that, you know, and from what I hear, it's not doing too well. But anyhow, now you know, and I'm at Kaye. Yeah, I'm at KADA and KD is owned by Marillo Media, which owns Powerwin No. Six A, Los Calle ninety three to nine. So when Marillo bought Power and we moved into the same building, they already had ideas of putting me in onto Power one O six to help pull in the draw in the community. So that's what I did.
I did my job. It was cool. However, I did go back and I begged them to go and please let me come back to KD because I loved being at Power winto six and it was cool, like you know, trying to get them read. My goal was to get Power to be reattached to the community, and I think I did that. But at the end of the day, I still had to think about my brand and what I wanted, and what I wanted was to be at nine three five KD. My family's from La born and raised.
We grew up on fifteen eighty am, you know, so I wanted to be attached to that station. I wanted the Tupas and the Snoop Doggs and the Ice Cues and the Nwa and the Nases and the Queen Latifa's. That's what I wanted. I didn't really have too much passion for, you know, to meet the new stuff at the time.
Yeah, so I still like that.
It's hard. I mean, there's some new artists that I actually loved, but just there's nothing like that era, right, Yeah, so I, you know, begged and begged and bagged, and they finally were like, all right, we could bring it back, you know. She she did what she did, and I was like, just please, I love Cada, and they're like
all right. So I went back to kDa and I did the morning show with Romeo dominated mornings, and then pandemic hit and a lot of people were being furloughed, and I remember a lot of radio personalities were getting were able to work from home, but ours didn't allow us. So I was really nervous. I remember at that time when pandemic hit, we didn't know anything about COVID. You just knew, like you were so scared. You just knew if somebody got it, the probably died. Right.
That was like the beginnings.
So I remember sitting in my bed in the bedroom and they were like, you have to come in if you want to still get a paycheck. And I was crying and my fiance walked in and I was like, I don't know if I love radio enough to die for it. And I was like, and That's where I'm at in my life right now. And I never thought i'd be here, but the station promised us protocols and
everything would be clean. So I ended up doing it, and then they stretched me out from mornings to mid days, so then I was on from five point thirty to like two o'clock.
In the afternoon.
Wow. Yeah.
Also, what time do you have to go on when it's five thirty? Do you go in at like four three?
No?
I go in at five only because I show prep everything the night before or right in the mornings before I get them.
I have my main stories, so you're up early. I was always bedtime just random.
When I was doing mornings, my bedtime was between eight and nine, and then I'd wake up at three o'clock in the morning because we still had to get camera read.
Yeah.
So yeah, I did it for what almost almost twenty years, and then was doing mornings, and then when they stretched me out to middays, then they started realizing, oh okay, people are coming back out now pandemic is kind of over. Hey, workforst has changed now. Like before you'd have the nine to fivers and we were set schedules. Now because of pandemic, some people are working from home, some people working in the afternoons, some people are working at nights. Like the
whole time has changed. So then they separated me in Rome and put me in the afternoons, and they're like, we need your energy in the afternoons. It takes people longer to get home from work than it does to get to work. So I went in the afternoons dominated it. I'm killing it. I mean, we just had talks about my show ratings. I'm like out the freaking gate with it, which is awesome. But what I love is that I have a team around me, and I stress to them
the importance of being outside. And so people are like, what's your secret? You know, your ratings are so good, and your ratings have been good since the pandemic.
Like I've always hit what does never mean to be outside?
You got to be in the community. You got to be doing these community events, you got to be at it, you got to be at certain mixers because this industry, if you're not outside, you can't get mad. They'll forget about you if you're not at the top of their mind, and you can't blame them. They're around the people that they're seeing the mother and that that's what's coming to
their minds. So you have to be outside. And I told people that I've said, you know, you can't run a radio show from behind the console like I could do this, but I also have to be outside too. I also have to be advocating for my show for KJA, especially nowadays because we got so much competition, you know what I mean. So that's been my secret.
Is just but that's also what your mom was. Also.
My mom was about that.
Yes she was oh yeah ninety nine said store less.
And my mom was always about blessing other people, you know, and that's what's her thing. We would be like, Mom, we already have it, you're giving in and she's like, they have it worse than us. They have it worse than us. You need to stop thinking like that. Open your heart. Like my mom has always been that way. So I think that's where I come from. And people are like, Cecie, you're always in the community, like you're just and to me it's so natural that I'm like,
that's not a big thing. That's how you live your life, you know. It's being outside, is being with them, is doing these fundraisers. I did fundraisers for the street vendors. Remember during the Pendic, they were getting beat up and getting assaulted. Ye I did a food drive in November for them, and I found out in doing this food drive. Did you know that street vendors we couldn't get them turkeys because they don't have refrigerators like you have a refrigerator.
There's street vendors they have sometimes they only have an ice chest. Wow. Yes, So we had to get them dry goods, and we had to give them gift cards because they don't have the refrigerator space. And I remember there was a street vendor she was eighty two or eighty three years old, by the name of Daisy. We dropped off the food to her house. She didn't have no couch. She had an office chair and a TV and that was how she sat and watched her television.
There was no couch. I mean, imagine being on your feet all day and you don't get to rest. She had one small refrigerator and like two three ice chests. We sat there, talked to her for a couple hours, you know, blessed her. And then when we were getting up to leave us already after nine point thirty, she gets up too, and I tell the girl that's working with me, where's she going? And she goes, where are you going? She said, why didn't make enough today? So
I have to go back outside and sell. Imagine your eighty three year old grandmother being out at nine thirty at night in la and having to sell because she didn't make any money. And when we tried to get the directions, she didn't know her address, so we had to write it down, put on refrigerator and be like, this is your address when people ask you. So there's so much more in the community that goes through that.
And I remember sitting outside and I was bawling, and I called my mom and I was like, it's not fair that people live this way, Mom, it's not fair. And she's like, I know, baby, but you know what, God has blessed you, and you're blessing her. And that's the only way that I have learned to keep my sanity and all this. I adopted an orphanage in Tijuana, and I did it because it was doable. It was forty kids. So what we did was they made Christmas cars.
I would give you one, give Jared one, and you would be be in charge of that kid and they would tell you, hi, calling my What I like is I like Baretts, But what I need is underwear, that's all I Hey, I love soccer. I would love to have a soccer ball, but what I need is t shirts. So it's so crazy what their need was. And we would go deliver it and I would just say, hey, you just have to buy those two items, but decorate it, wrap it up because we want to give them the feeling of.
A kid a wrap a gift.
Right.
So this is what I do, and.
This is how it's so important for me to still be tapped in. I'm gonna be I'm trying to put together a trunk or treat for kids for Halloween, but we're doing it a step further. We're gonna have the trunk or treat. Have you ever heard of that?
No?
Okay, So a lot of parents do because it's safe trick or treating for the kids. Churches do it, schools do it. So you get all these cars, they park in a parking lot, they open up the trunk, they decorate the trunk, and then the kids go around collect a nice candy and it's just a safe way of doing It's very controlled. But we're going to take it a step further and we have a DJ and everything.
We're gonna do a sensory hour that our before for kids that have special needs, kids that are autistic, the music's too loud for them, it's too much. So we're doing something so we can include all children.
Wow, where are you gonna do that at? I'm trying to do it at the Solfie Stadium.
We're in talks right now.
So okay, yeah, so Fa so fas tough stadium. Yeah so yeah, So I'm lying, I'm trying.
I'm pretty sure you will be able to do it. It sounds really wonderful.
Yeah, And I just think that that's part of being outside, that's part of being the community, and that is what's carried me through twenty years of.
Radio and the where do you plan on going from here?
With the producing producing documentaries. I just did something. I was in a documentary about Slim four hundred and you rest in Piece a good friend of mine. And now I'm working on something. I can't say the name of the title, but it is gonna it's uh looking like it'd be on Netflix or to b oh Nice has to do a hip hop and then there's a huge uh figure in La that does a lot of different events. If I said him a lot of people would know him. We're working and we've pitched him a documentary to do
on him. So what I want to do now that I'm getting older is I still want to do radio, but.
I don't know.
I want to do more producing, more behind the scenes, more developing. I want to tell stories now.
You know, well, you're a good story to thank you.
I'm curious because we are so tight on time. I'm super sad about it though, because I feel like we didn't get to come. No, we're good, but I'm genuinely curious of any iconic moments in your career that you'd like, were either shocked by or just we're like, you know what.
I think an iconic moment in my life was when I was interviewing Bone Legs and Harmony.
And I love them. I love them, and.
Lazy Bone comes up to me. He's like, Cecie, come here, I got something for you. And I was like, oh, and I don't know why. I'm just like, oh, they got me like either like a little and I don't drink, but people will bring me bottles. I'm like, maybe they got me a little bottle or something, right, No, they gifted me a bone, a bone thugs and Harmony chain and.
I will the real what yes, oh hey, And I'm like they're so nice and I'm.
Like lazy me and he goes, well why not, You've been supporting us for twenty years, and I was like, well why not. Let's do this so I'll wear you guys will see I'll be worried it from time time. And then when Snoop Dogg bought death Row records, they came down and gifted me not one, not two, but three death Row chains.
Yes Snoop or bone Snoop no Snoops yes people.
So they when Snoop bought death Row, because you know, he bought death Row, so the guys that run it came and he was like here you go. And I'm like, well, my fiance also shoots for New Dog so he works with him. So they but they came and gifted me and I was like, oh my god.
And I remember me Romeo.
We're so excited and we're like, hey, are we the only ones in radio that got this. It's just a competitive of course, and they're like yeah, We're like yeah,
we're just excited. But those are moments where I'm like, I just remember growing up listening to you guys I remember, you know, and because I am Mexican from Compton, like we grew up listening different music, Like I grew up on Chaka Khan, the Ohio Players, Teddy Pendergrass, you know, of course, the Ice Cubes, the Tupas, you know, the Whispers, Tina Marie, like that was my whole playground of music.
And so it was just so surreal that I'm just like, oh my god, Like these people I call them my friends, yeah, and some good friends. And these are people I listened to growing up, and.
I love that they value you back.
I think there's nothing more special than a two way relationship, like the fact that they're thinking of yeah, ladies.
By the way, we had Lazy I love Lazy Bone.
The I call it the third best ramen on our No he did like all the ROMs we've had, he had the.
Was it the third or second best? I think he was the second.
I know, you know, I think he may have been the second best. He is the second best rama we've ever had. And you want to know what he put in his I think it was like a miracle whip or mayonnaise in it.
I was tripping.
I was like, bro, you gotta stop adding these ingreenent. It was like a spread type ramen.
Oh my god.
It was delicious though, but the only thing he messed up with he put way too many peppers. But other than that, it was by far the best ramen and he had everything up in there. No watch that episode. People are still talking about how he was throwing down.
Cool like what he does things? You know who also can cook?
Warren g really, yes, he had Orang. We gotta get him on here.
He has his barbecue sauce and then he also he he cooks like the ribs and.
Really, what did you when you do for a long time like slow cooker, I mean smoker smoker smoke.
Yess, yes, and they fall off the ribs so goodly.
And he has his own barbecue sauce. Yes.
Snip and Griffin's.
Interviewed anything with jay I love a good jay Z story. You know what, I know you West Coast, but.
I know I don't. I haven't done anything with jay Z, but I love jay Z. But I interviewed Rick Rock and Rick Rock is a producer and he told me a dope jay Z story where he went to the East Coast. Jay Z had heard his beat and was like, I like this kid, like come over and he's like, oh yeah, jay Z flow to the East Coast. But then once he had his beats, jay Z was like, do you have anything else? Yeah? I don't like that anymore. No,
I don't like it. No, do you have any And he was like, oh shit, and he showed him all his beats and then he saw a keyboard in the corner and he said, can I just play something? And he said yeah, and he was just playing and then he said that's it. I like it, and he was like but he was like at some point it was like okay, I'm running out of OX and I'm like, oh my god, Like how crazy is that?
Imagine you get that far in the room and only find out you get you know who?
Uh?
One of the kids that well he's grown now. So that's James Andre Jefferson Junior. I don't know if you know James, but I remember Trevor Knall was tracking him or whatever and he like flew him out and he really wanted to.
James did to make the cup. But I was like, damn, you got so close. Yeah, sometimes it's just what it is.
But I think in this industry, the key is just consistency. Just keep going, just keep going, just keep going, Just keep doing it. You know, even if you fail that first time, keep doing it again, keep doing it again, because it'll grow, it'll get bigger, and people will, you know, catch on to it and really support you. So I think for me, I just as long as I don't stop, and I never look back at my highlights, I don't.
Sometimes people got to ask me and I'll be like, oh, yeah, the other day my assistant was like, oh, you interviewed that person I said I did. I don't even remember, Like, I don't really go back and look my highlight.
You don't think that's good to do.
I enjoy the moment really quick, but I have so much more I want to do, so I will let people tell me. You know what I mean, Oh you did good, did all right? Perfect? You liked it?
Was it good to touch you? All right?
Bet? And then I go into the next because I have more projects I have to do, so I never look back at it. And then one thing I've never done and I don't care. I stand by it. It doesn't bother me. I have never ever watched myself on television what never, Never, I don't. I will have my friends watch me, and I.
Will says, your sister ever comment on your stuff?
Oh yeah, souse, sisters be they Oh my see that's the thing that my sister and sister you were the amazing You're so great. Yeah. Yes, I take constructive criticism for my friends, and I'm like, look, if there's something that you think I could do better, please tell me. You're my friend. I value it and I will listen. But I can't watch myself because me I will beat up myself. I will look at myself. I will tell myself I could have worn this, I shouldn't have did
my hair like this. Why did I do my makeup like that? I didn't blend very well? Oh my god, I stuttered at this word. And I will depress myself.
It's so crazy because I was sitting here thinking before you said that. I think one of the most beautiful things about you is the embracing of you, Like, yeah, embrace you. So to hear you say that is crazy because on the outside, the way you handled your business, it seems like you embrace you. But to hear that there's this side of you, that there there yourself down is crazy because I'm sitting here like, I love how
you love who you are and what you represent. Like I think that if I were to walk away from this whole interview, I'd say I love the way she loves who she is, and and.
I do, and I think in those moments, I don't want to take that away because like I'll be at an event and I'll be so happy and I'll be like we did good and I loved it and everything came out good, and I'll see a video and the video I'm leaning a little forward when I'm walking, so it looks awkward and I'm like, why did I walk like that?
So madam more like perist.
Yes, I'm such a perfectionist and so I I do that to keep my own sanity and my sanity at the house, so I don't watch anything. I will tell I tell people that all the time. So I'm like, what do you? And my friends always give me beautiful constructive criticism, but they're like you're good. See they're good, They're and they just say, I wish you would watch yourself one time, and yeah, and I get I have anxiety,
like I'll get up. My mom has tried to make me sit down and watch and she's like, baby, just sit right here, just watch this real quick. And I'll sit there and then I'll get up and I'll like act like I'm making something because I need to be out of the room because I am looking through a different lens than my mother is. So those are that's just my thing. But I'm a perfectionist. But at the end of the day, I'm happy, like I I I
I don't know, I just I'm happy. But I think that I'm also conscious of like other people around me, and I don't know how I am perceived to them. So I always want to be like extra loving or you know. I always wanted to take time and speak to people just because there was a time I met somebody and they were like, oh, cec I met you a couple times. I don't think you like me. And I said, I don't even know you, what are you
talking about? And they're like, well, I wanted to take a picture with you at a concert and I went like this and you pushed my hand off you, and I was like, oh my god. I was probably in a moment where I was going through something and I am some random guy and you touched me. I went like, I'm so sorry, and I'm like, this happened two years ago. You carried this with you for two years. You think I don't even know you. What's your name? My name
is Cecil. Let me introduce myself properly. And that bothered me because I felt bad and I was like, Wow, somebody really walked around thinking that I didn't like them when I was just in a moment and concert moments crazy. I was in a moment and they must have touched me and I didn't realize it and I pushed her hand. So I try to stay conscious.
Look how approachable you are, though, because for the fact that they can come up to you and say that shows that probably they got they caught you when you weren't a party at somebody's party, we were able to talk to you about it. Yeah, I think you're a real beautiful genuinely beautiful, like it's vibrating, very loud, one of my favorite breakfast dishes on the show.
Yes by far, I hope we could stay in touch.
Yes, are you gonna make? You should make like a like a recipe book with all this we are.
That's why I said, put to put your address very yeah, because we want to send out an Eating while Broke cookbook. It's so funny because I've talked to publishers about doing the cookbook, and when I send over the ingredients of all the celebrities, I mean, these are successful people, and I'm like sending over their their dishes spam and egg and cheese, and they're like, who's gonna buy this cookbook? I'm like, bruh, you It's not just it's the stories
behind the cookbook. It's known that your favorite MC, your favorite author, your favorite entrepreneur started at this point. And honestly, most of these dishes these people still eat because now it's become an iconic thing. I used to tell people all the time, you don't you don't want to rush past your brokeness because I look back at my broke stories and I laugh and they bring me so much joy. Right, And when I hear like the success stuff just doesn't do it for me as much as like eating all,
you know, like just just my old stories. I still joke about, like I used to search my car to make a whole dollar to buy like a dollar make chicken.
Like I would be like, I.
Know, there's a quarter somewhere in this car, and I just need one more quarter to buy this And I joke about it now, but like those stories like make me so happy and know like I came from this. But this dish is absolutely affordable, easy to make.
I'm gonna be my daughter's gonna be eating this tomorrow, probably for a long time.
And I love that being on this show, I'm learning more and more on how to make tortillas work. Yes, And then one last sidebar we are definitely over time is how do the women DJs work with each other behind the cameras. Are you guys supportive or you guys hater ish? Like I'm genuinely curious both, because there's few, there's only there's a very few of them.
There's very few. Mmm. Sorry, I know you got a mouthful.
Some are supportive and some are haters, like you just have your you have both. You know, everybody's different. But I think that with the people that have been in radio for a very long time, where we like to say like we're the vets, we're kind of like the ogs. We're more supportive because we have more of an understanding how crazy, how hurtful, how judgmental, this industry can be so we have I want to say the girls that have been in it longer have a better understanding and
support each other. I think the girls that are coming up, they don't have that understanding yet because they haven't experienced certain things. So I could be a little caddy, you know. I think once they sty they learn though, and they go through it, then they understand it. But I support myself. I surround myself with a supportive network with girls that have been in this business, whether they're promoters their concert you know, concert throwers, or their producers, or their fashion
designers you know DJs. I support my I really have a small circle, very tight, very loving, and very strong. And that's how I move through the business. A lot of people know me, and a lot of people see she's so sweet. But you know what keeps me sweet on their radar? I don't. I don't. I don't out well, outwear my welcome. That's one thing I don't do.
Outwhear you're welcome.
You don't. I go to an event, I'm there. I mingle everything. I'm out. I'm not involved in the what we like to call it cheese man. I'm not involved in gossip I'm not involved in no petty stuff.
I literally like, you do your time and your out and I'm out.
That's it.
I make a classic yes clastic and.
I'm known for that. People like, oh Ce, she's in and out, and I think that's that's why a lot of artists like me too. Like when I go to events, Snoop will do stuff at the compound. We go to events, we don't outwear, are welcome. We're not the person that's sitting there and you're like, dang, they've been here for every they need to go home. Now why they're here? You know those people like that.
You said you don't gossip because this is a very click clacking industry, and you're right. If you stay too long anywhere, gossip will be the conversation that comes up.
It does, it really does. So if you go in, do your network, make sure you're seeing, take your pictures, what's up, you know what I mean, be very happy.
Then we're out.
We're good. I give myself a two hour window for everything. I'm like, we're gonna be there for maybe an hour and a half, So it's like an hour and a half to two hours, two hours. If I'm really enjoying myself and then I'm out because I and I think that's why I feel really in my heart, that's why a lot of people have respect for me because I'm not. I don't never get too close where we cross that boundary or that line. I'm very respectful in that sense.
But I also love being home. It's my fortress. It's where I feel safe, you know. So I will go to an event and my fiances in the entertainment industry too, will go and then we're out and we're like, Okay, we're home now, you know what I'm saying. We get to chill a little bit. Yeah. So it's been a.
Balance and hearing your whole story, you can actually see where your mom's uh what do you call it foundation was laid even if you hear how you're talking about. And I'll stay in your welcome like so you guys living in the trailer and like, hey, be mindful of this, very mindful everything that you had you carried, if you actually trace it back, it's these little foundation seeds that.
She planted right right right. I just think that's incredible.
And my toughness that I have, I do have a tough exterior and you know it's for my father, you know what I mean, Because my father was out there doing what he.
Did, gang banging, and he's still around right.
No, he passed away, and it was it was due to his lifestyle, you know what I mean. He just he succumbed to the lifestyle. He lied, you know, so, but he passed away. But he taught me always to be strong. And he'd be like, my daughters ain't no suckers, you know what I mean. My dad growing up, I don't know, just like you're, my daughters are gonna be in suckers. You girls are gonna know what's going on. When I was at a restaurant, my dad taught me you never sit with your back towards the door. You
sit facing the door. You're a female, you know. I remember when I had a Nissan Center. Back in the day, we used to have something called Dayton's. I don't know if you remember that, the rims. But I was like, Daddy, I want Dayton's and he's like, no, you're a girl. You don't want to draw attention. People are gonna try to rob you. Like he always he was from the streets. He had me. I was very streets.
Did he also teach you about man like players manibulation all that day?
Yes, Yeah, And my.
Dad spoke to me like I was a boy, so with a lot of cussing. It was a lot of ulgarty you know what I mean. You're gonna You're gonna go this dude, This dude, don't give a funk about you. Like. But you got to understand, my daddy was from the streets. He didn't have a father to be like. You know. My mom used to have to remind him at you got daughter, he's ain't your homeboys, and he'd be like, read, I only know how to speak to them the way I know how to talk. This is one, you know.
So I learned to accept that too. So I do have a rough exterior that people be like, oh, you're a little rough, But I'm very loving. But I feel like I have my mom's like heart, you know, and I try to apply it in everything that I do. And I know that we're blessed. You know. My sister's successful.
I'm successful. My mother's had seven strokes, and we take turns taking care of her, and thank God, we have the ability to provide for her and to make sure she's good and she's taken care of and our thing was we don't want anybody else taking care of mom. Mom didn't have nobody take care of us. She did it by herself.
I love that. Yeah, I love that.
So where can everybody keep up with CC Valencia?
So you guys can follow.
Me on how to be like you? Just so I don't know if you see, I'm like trying to add my little radio cute.
I love it and I love your hair at I AMCC Valencia on all social media platforms and you can hear me every single day daily on KD from three pm to seven pm. I do the afternoon Ride and I'm the only girl doing afternoons in a hip hop format.
Wow.
Yeah, I love that.
I love everything about you than you, including your cooking. Okay, but you're still in La right, You're not Valley.
I'm Valley.
You are.
No.
No, that's good because I'm Valley.
Okay.
Yeah, I could be like, yeah, girl, what's your cooking today?
Yeah I'm Valley now.
Oh yeah, where as you said, I was happy, okay because.
Because my friends would be like, girl, you move to the valley now, you brand new now, and.
I'm like No, just worked really hard.
You know what.
Let me tell you something.
People always hate on Valley, but I will say this, LA is very expensive. You get way more bang for your bucket Valley.
Yeah you do.
But no, I'm happy because you know I may hit you every once in all. Listen cool, whatever you need I got, He was banging. Shout out to y'all, thank you for tuning in to another episode of Eating While Broke He sol six one thous