You are listening to What in the Winkler and iHeartRadio podcast. Hi, welcome back to another episode of What in the Winkler. Today, I have a very special guest. I feel like I say special guest every single time because all the guests that come on this show are really special to me. I either have worked with them, know them from growing up and impacted some way by them, admire them. And today I have also Marie Collins, who is my partner.
And this is about humanity, which is something that we talked about a little bit last week when we were talking about fires and fire relief in ways we can help. Elsa as a social impact strategist and humanitarian known for her work in advocacy and community building. She's been raised between San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. She earned her bachelor's and master's degree from Stanford University, and she got a
jurist doctor from Columbia Law School. I don't even know what that means, but she's extremely smart and I'm lucky lucky life that she's my partner with. This is about humanity, and we actually call each other partners in good because we work together to hopefully make this world a better place, no matter how big or small the issue may be. So let's welcome Elsa.
Hi.
I'm so excited. I am so excited you're doing this. And I haven't talked about This Is about Humanity that much on the podcast, and that part of my life, which is such a huge part of my life, hasn't been shared that much except for last week when we were talking about the fires in La So I thought, what better way to talk about this is about humanity than to have my partner in good on, Elsa Collins.
So apart from This Is about Humanity, you also have co founded several organizations PoTA Ristas I am a voter. Are there more?
But the ones that matter, the ones that it's almost like when when I'm passionate about something or an issue comes up, instead of just like sort of being like I'm gonnaet involved, like I'll just start a whole new thing and try to figure out how to how to help and solve or show up for folks. And I think that's one of the most amazing things that we get to do with This Is About Humanity is really figure out how to help other people show up and
create this incredible community. So I think more than anything, whether it's paddistas, I'm a voter, this is about humanity, whatever it might be. I think that like my favorite part about all of it is just building that community and then seeing all the ways that we can get them engaged and involved.
Do you want to talk a little bit about who we are at This is about humanity and how we came to be partners. And we also have a third partner at Yolanda, who is actually Elsa's sister. Yep, and she is also So there's three of us. There's three of us, and their sisters were all three moms. And I'll let you take it from here.
Yeah, so, gosh, this is about humanity. I think you know, Zoe and I sort of knew each other. We had seen each other at our you know, neighborhood spin class. We liked to go to this.
Speak clear, I was in the back row and Elsa was riding the podium, which, if you know, is a big deal. So let's be clear, Okay, we were we frequented the same class, but it was not the same workout.
Okay, Well we were both there, okay, okay, And you know we would see each other at you know, the larder grabbing coffee after. Obviously she's born and raised in La, as my husband is as well, so definitely like knew her and knew who she was and just kind of like, you know, she was in La. She's so La, you know.
And so anyways, long story short. Twenty eighteen, obviously family separation became more well known, more people were finding out about it, more people were, you know, having really strong feelings about seeing families being separated and being from Tequana, my sister and I, you know, I had gone to Texas to protest what was going on, and I just remember on the flight back being like, that's so weird.
I went all the way over there instead of focusing on what I'm sure is happening, you know, right in the backyard of where I grew up, and you know, obviously only a two hour drive from LA. So it really started as a donation drive. And I remember I had just posted something like, hey, if you want to give to the kids who are separated, like DM me and I wish I could go. I wish you had a history of that, dam But Zoe dm me back and she was like, I don't know, She's like I
want to be doing whatever this is. And I was like, I don't know what this is, but amazing, and so she you know, you really just so many people showed up, but I think I just remember you saying it has to be more, and like, I can't be going to sleep crying and thinking about these kids and not really doing anything. And it was so amazing to see how you just turn that passion into like here we are six years later, you know, and like I can't believe
how much we've grown just as an organization. And yeah, that was the beginning, you know.
I remember that moment so clearly because it was a defining moment in my life. And I had just had Gus, who's my third, and he was one, and I was seeing the families be separated, and I remember seeing this image on the news of a mom crying and her two year old daughter just kind of looking up at her, and I just said to myself, like, I can't this is I cannot do I can't do nothing. I have
to do something. And I obviously didn't have any background in this, and so I didn't know where to start, but I just knew that I had to start saying something, and I felt like the only thing that separated me. I've said this one thousand times with that mom and me was where I was born. Because at the end of the day, I felt exactly what she was feeling like.
I could just see her face in that picture and I knew what that must have felt like as a mother, and I just I don't know, I'll never forget it. And there's been so many things in life where you see something and it just feels too big, so you're just like, you know what, Ugh, that was horrible. Let's move on with our day, because if you stay in it, it feels so huge and like you can't make a difference. So you just move on. And I feel like weird proof like this is about humanity as proof that you
can make a difference. You know, you can start small and then you can grow into like a larger scale, or you can just stay in your community and organize in your community. You could do whatever, but you have to do something. You can't just sit back and do nothing.
And you have been like the most integral part of that and teaching me that because there I ask you a thousand questions a day and you just have this ability to mobilize people and lead people in a way that is so it doesn't make anyone feel less than or dumb, like I've never seen anyone like it.
Well thanks, and I for sure, especially in the growth aspect, I don't want you to minimize, you know how integral you've been to grow just for people knowing and giving kind of validation, especially you know in a city like as amazing as Los Angeles', you know, to get people to buy into something new could sometimes be hard and people want to know, like, well, who is it and
what is it really doing? And and so you know, I I remember, you know, in the very beginning getting to know you better, and and I'm not going to name any any brands or businesses, but I remember one of my very first sort of like oh she can really she has influenced this girl. She had ordered a cake from a place for I think it was.
Fourth birthday, fourth birthday, and.
They messed it up. I can't remember what the issue was, but it was not right. And when I tell you, in one day, she had taken it down, like she took them down. And I was like, okay, it's not just that it.
Wasn't right, it was that they all they made me pay for it still, and I was like, wait, this is not okay.
So she was like it was like her personal mission to be like you're done, and everyone I know is done with you as well. And by the way, like I've never done any business with them ever again, but just to say that, like when you flip that to helping people and to getting people involved and getting people engaged, it's like, you know, you can you ask people to
do stuff and they show up. You know, I ask people and I and my sister and it's like, I do think that you know, we're not asking people to do anything that we're not doing ourselves that we haven't like looked into ourselves, that we haven't you know, thoroughly vetted.
You know. I think that's one of the most incredible things about this is about humanity, is how careful and how precise we want to be to be able to point take people down the line of like you gave this, and here is actually something that you can see that came from it. And so it's really been an amazing it's been an amazing journey, like truly.
And there were challenges along the way. I mean, we you and I had to learn how to work with each other. We all three of us had to learn. You know, you guys are sisters, but you had to learn how to work with each other. There were challenges. I think one of the biggest challenges is that people think that we are like a political organization, and that is not at all who we are. We are We are not affiliated with politics in any way. Do you want to talk a little bit about that.
Yeah, I mean I think the name says it all, you know, I think that we and by the way, the name part it was funny because you know, we started as a donation drive, so many people get I mean I really unknowingly volunteered to receive all the donations at my house.
I actually posted a picture last week for your birthday and it was from our first and it was just your entire house was filled with boxes. I mean, I think we got over like five hundred boxes and donations.
Well, I thought I was gonna be we were gonna be like driving it like in my like Sue don't. I don't know what I was thinking, but it was basically a fire hazard and we were like, oh my gosh, I wonder if we as part of this kind of idea of being accountable. We'll take people and we'll take the donations down, and we'll get to meet families and they'll get to see what's going on, which is what
we did. And I remember specifically, we're on the drive back and someone's like, like, so, when's the next bus And we were like we I don't know where we going to do another bus? Were we going to do more? And then someone said what are you going to call this?
And and Mandana Diana, a good friend of ours who was on that first bus, who had actually who had gone to the protest with me, was like, remember you wrote on your poster in the protests, like the maybe like a month before I had written down this is about humanity, because it's what I felt that we were talking about. We weren't talking about politics, we weren't talking
about parties. We were literally talking about human beings. And like what we were going to say was like okay or not when it comes to being like a human being and how we respect other humans and how we treat each other. And so we like from the very beginning, really couched ourselves in that lane. Is like we're not we're talking about families. We're talking about children and we're
talking about humanity. So I think, yeah, I think it's something that we've really tried to stay very closely aligned to.
And we started, you know, we started as a donation drive. We moved on. We started doing one fundraiser, like one big fundraiser a year, which it was a dinner and it was all chef driven, so it was this really awesome. So the first year it was thirty people in my parents' front yard and.
Why think we begged them to come.
We begged people to come. We were like, we will do anything for you to come to this degree, we will feed you. And there were and we've worked with incredible chefs like Michelin Star chefs, and we've grown. Now it is still at my parents' house, but now we've taken over the front and the backyard and we have about three hundred and fifty people. So we got from thirty people to six years later, three hundred and fifty people.
And by the way, and we have to like cap it like we literally we have.
Because we want to keep it well. First of all, we want to keep it at my parents' house because the location is free, and also there's something really we want it to feel really uh cozy and homie and we couldn't exist without our volunteers. So we really, you know, we but but but where we've come from. We just we just got an email and I had to go over and read the email. We are under we are,
we we are. We have a fiscal sponsor, which is International Community Foundation, and Letty emailed us and do you want to say how much we've granted out in the last six years?
Yeah, two point four million dollars.
So we we went from being like begging people to come six years ago and getting thirty people to come to a dinner to granting out two point four million dollars to organizeas that are helping these families. And I, for one, like, I can't, I can't even believe it. I'm so proud.
It's kind of wild when you really think about it. You were like, how you know, how like you said, we started off so small. We started off being like will you give soccer balls and journals and you know, ms crayons, stuffed animals, And now we're like in a place where we're you know, funding mental health programs that are servicing you know, LGBTQ community youth teams, adults, we've got,
you know, we've done several infrastructure projects. We've built bathrooms, we've built second floors, We've like, we've done so many things that came from just trying to just starting with one thing. And so I think it does. It does go to show you, like you were saying, that you can do something. I mean, I'm not sure everybody wants to start a whole organization, because as you said, like, there are definitely I'm sure days where we're like what
are we doing? Why are we doing this? One hundred can be stressful.
I mean we also also have like other things going on. I have a podcast, you have forty million things. I've never met someone as busy as you. We both have three kids. She goes to every single game, She travels around the country. I've never seen like. She goes to DC, she goes to all these places, she works on policy, she does all of these things. I'm like tired just listening to her or watching her.
Yeah, I mean I always say I'm better when I'm busy. But yes, sometimes I feel like, you know, like with anything in life, you can really just be like, did we you know, bite off more than we can handle. I think there's always ups and downs in anything, you know, even in this amazing organization that we have, like with
anything in life. But I do think when the north star that I think we've always sort of gone back to is the good that we're doing and the impact that we've had, It's like it's worth the growing pains. It's worth you know, whatever might have happened or occurred or whatever challenge we're facing, you know, dinners this that the other I think that we've always sort of just kept that as like the true goal of the org, and that's really what's kept us, I think, so authentic to who we are. You know.
I was thinking, like, not only do you do you have like these thirty million jobs, but you have these three kids? And then your husband is a coach of the Pelicans, and so he's gone on so like it's gone months, a's gone.
How do you leave in September and he comes back sometime and like maybe late April?
Yeah, I know, you, how do you feel like you balance it? And then if there is a moment where you might like not be able to balance it, like what do you do?
I mean I think the thing, well, I have like two really hard and fast rules that I that I completely adhere to and that are like in me and I believe completely. One of which is I just genuinely don't abscribe to mom guilt like I don't. I don't think it serves me any purpose. I don't think it serves any mom any purpose. And if if you're allowed to let it go, I highly encourage it. And I also feel that, like taking care of me is super
important so that I can handle whatever else is coming. So, like Zoe said, you know, I used to love spinning. I mean, basically, setting some time aside for myself to work out is doably important to like the success of my day. And I know that sounds insane, but it's actually true. So, like in the morning, I need three things I need to work out for at least twenty minutes, and that's like my minimum. Sometimes it's only twenty minutes. Sometimes I can do longer, but like twenty minutes has
to happen. I have to get my coffee and I have to eat this muffin that I really love.
This muffin. This muffin has traveled all over the world with her.
This muffin has traveled. I've had this muffin every day for maybe the last ten years, except for like in really dire circumstances when like it didn't live further than like five days in China or something like that. But like, anyways, so when I have all of those things, I feel like I can handle whatever else is going to happen because I already did all the things that like nurture me and make me feel really ready.
You've added eggs to your morning routine.
I have. I've added eggs and protein.
Guys, this is it brings it in a thermos. We take bus trips to the border, and she brings the muffin on top and then eggs and protein on the bottom of the thermist.
Yes, which I feel like now everyone knows my super quirks. But I feel like in the last two years, you know, women getting older, bone density whatever, lifting has become way more important. And so yeah, I've been eating more more protein. And then the other thing is I sort of feel like I have to accept that I'm kind of only doing everything at thirty percent. Now. Granted my thirty percent
is probably like everyone else is like eighty percent. Yeah, but correct, I'm you know, it's like I'm I'm getting to someone's birthday and i can only stay for an hour, but then I'm gonna go to that screening that someone had because I really want to show up, and then I'm gonna you know, And so I'm kind of like going like this and barely eking everything out. This morning was a really good example of me feeling like I didn't have it all under control.
I'm ready, bab.
It was. It was a crazy morning. So my son, my youngest, he's twelve, I'd been telling him for a couple of days like, hey, I want to cut your nails. I want to cut your nail and this morning I was like, I cannot let him go to school with his nails like that, Like that's just how my brain works. So it's like, com merebody, I'll cut your nails real quick. And I was doing it real quick and oh did I Oh no, oh okay, No, he was not okay.
He was gushing blood. I was like, oh my, I was literally like, is a chunk of his finger it's barely hanging off. I mean, it was so dire. So I'm like putting water on it. I'm schoozing out and putting alcohol and I'm just thinking, yep, I do not know. This is not good, guys. This is and this is where I'm like, you know, I'm I'm doing all of my first aid techniques and by the way, I called the pediatric later, I did everything right. His TENNUS is
up to date. Because of course, I call my husband on the way to school and he's like, you know, first why he's mad because it's on his shooting hand for light pinky bad news, because this is a basketball thing. He has all sorts of opinions about why this happened. And I'm like, well, you know you're not here, so
we're just gonna say that. And you know, and even with the fire and all the stress and everything that was happening this last week, I was just like, you just have to trust that I'm well trying to do the best I can and be making the best decisions I can at the moment for like mental and physical well being for our children. Yes, I messed up and
I cut his finger. That was me, guys. But I definitely was driving to school being like, yep, okay, this is this is when maybe and it's like something as like crazy as that that makes me feel like I'm just doing too much. I cut his finger.
I'm doing too much well, to be fair, cutting children's fingernails is extremely stressful.
Yes, and I use the wrong clip.
I could do you ever take a day off? I don't even know the answer to that. Honestly, I would say no. I don't think you too like in life like you you don't take a workout day off.
I mean, you know when we go on buses, which will you very early? And I want to be ready at a certain time because people start showing up, Like I will set my alarment through forty five and work out to make sure I get that work out in. Yeah, there have been in this past year. I could probably count on one hand when I've not gotten it in because of some just situation where I just couldn't figure it out.
And do you notice the difference?
Yeah, I always say like I And by the way, it's not like every day I'm going I'm doing something crazy, but I am doing something every day. But the days that I don't, I definitely feel like I could have gotten it in, and I it just it gives me like a I'm just dissatisfied, truly, and I just feel like I could have just done something. I could have walked for twenty minutes and it would have been and
that would have been better than nothing. But it is sort of like a mental It's just a mental thing that I like check off in terms of like am I do I ever just like lay in bed and do nothing? Like I don't even know, No, you don't, that's the answer. You know.
It's funny because you taught me. I think something and I talked about this a couple of weeks ago that like sometimes my anxiety, I'm a really anxious person. You do not have that issue. You are not anxious, and like if somebody is like maybe like you have this ability where if someone's kind of like being a jerk or an asshole, you're like, it's not about me, you
know what I mean? Like you have that and like where I will obsess over it until like three months from now, maybe even six, and I think, but one of the things forever, well, one of the things you've taught me that I is like the quality of showing up. And I think that it's such an important thing because so many times you'll think like, oh it doesn't matter if I go, like they won't notice, or there's so many people there or this gives me anxiety, and I just like don't want to do it. This I get
like for me, I get like social anxiety. But you show up for everyone in your life, and I think it's such an amazing quality and it makes people it's it's underrated, Like I don't know that people know how important it is to show up. And that's something you've taught me. And I just I think, I don't where did you learn.
That, you know. I think that, like I'm the youngest of five, right, so you're always trying to you know, be I think like there in my you know, upbringing, there were like the three older kids and then the
two younger kids. There's a five year gap between the three older and then me and my my my brother Charles, and so I think that like, you know, they would take they would travel and we would be home and things would happen like without me a lot and so and then you know, when it was just kind of like you know, the younger two of us with my mom, there was a lot of hey, you gotta like take care of yourself. Like I remember my first job when
I was uh, I think I just turned six. Team but it was I really got my first job because my mom had gotten to visit my older sister, Caroline, who was living in New York, and she had left my brother Charles money while she was gone. He was he probably was like a maybe he was like a senior in high school and I was a sophomore or even a freshman. No, I was a sophomore. Anyways, Okay, so she leaves, she leaves him the money. Three days later, we have no more money, like genuinely, like he's blown.
I don't know what he's done with it. And so like I'm going to school and he's like, hey, we need like toilet paper, just like grab some from the bathroom. And I'm like, I'm not going to steal the toilet paper from the school bathroom, Charles. And so I call my mom and I'd be like, are you coming back?
And she's like, well, I've extended my trip whatever. Anyway, So long story short, I was like, OK, yeah, I guess I gotta go get a job, and so like that this idea of just like I like and just I remember that being like the first time of like I just got to be a self starter and figure things out and so and then I think that like even when once I started to have kids, and your life seems so full of things and so busy, and it's the easiest thing in the world to just stay home.
Trust me, I totally know it. And I will go through some periods where like I do genuinely be like
I'm just not going to do anything. But it really does, as I said, like sometimes when you're only showing up for twenty minutes or whatever, like because this is maybe in some cases that person's most important thing that they're planning or putting on something for work, something they've worked really hard on, you know, a special event, and I just feel like letting people feel seen is so important,
and honestly, I get such joy out of it. I really do, Like I love just showing up for folks, and so I think it is kind of like a superpower and it's hard one. It's hard to do, but I do think it served me like so well, just in my whole life, just my friendships, my relationships, you know. And then sometimes like when you start a new organization,
you're asking people to show up for you. They want to show up because you've been showing up for them, and so I really genuinely feel like it is it is just this relationship that we both have with with people and that people feel, you know, like sometimes I've had people, you know, when we first started, who wanted to come on a trip, who wanted to come on a bus and like you know, schedule travel, and it took them five years to come on a bus and
then when they finally come, they're like, thank god you didn't like stop inviting me, Like, thank god I still got the emails because one of the dates actually worked and now in here. And so I think that consistency is also super important to me, Just being really consistent with like the work that we do, like the work that I do. Just that is is really important to me.
We've talked about the bus, but I don't think we've explained the bus. So bus trips are something that after we did that first trip to San Diego, we started just brainstorming and we thought it would be so incredible to actually take people to Tijuana to see what is going on there and hear from these families because there's so much information misinformation about these families that are you know,
waiting to come to this country. And I felt like for me as a Jewish person, it was my duty to hear from these families because a huge part of seeking asylum was created during the Holocaust when families were coming here and America was accepting these families that had been affected by World War Two. So it's it's always been a really something that I don't know, it's just like it it it to me feels very connected. But so these bus trips we leave in the morning at
six am, five forty five am. We take about thirty to forty people with us and we drive down to Tijuana on a bus that has a bathroom, so don't worry, and we go and visit. We opened a relief kitchen there. Do you want to talk about the kitchen.
Yeah, So we run a relief kitchen in partnership with ICF and Flumesabe. It is feeding three thousand, one hundred asylum seekers and migrants a day at twenty seven different shelters, including an accompanied minor, children, families, women, LGBTQ individuals, and six days a week. So it's it's really like I said, like we literally started as a donation drive and now
you know, we're feeding people every day. We're gonna we're on track to serve a million meals in this year, and so it's kind of mind boggling to think how how we've grown, and like the number of people who are just impacted by the programs and by the donations
and the support that we get is exponential. You know, it's just we can't even I mean, we try to measure it, but it's really you know, you can't really measure sometimes like the value of like a warm meal and feeling like you know, people are there for you and like you have that support. And so we go and we volunteer at the kitchen and then usually we have a service activity that's related to one of the shelters we're going to. Sometimes, you know, during Pride Month,
we'll go to the LGBTQ shelter. You know, it just depends, and you know we always say like, well, your your life will change in one day. Truly. I mean I've seen people who come on buses who have gone back and just been like mind blown, you know, just just a different perspective and appreciation for you know, what we have in our own lives. And so it's it's I joke around because I'm so anal about you know, when I send the emails. I'm like, okay, here's everything you need.
Here's the schedule. You know, we leave at five point fifty. If you're running late, text me. And everyone's always like joking, like have you ever left anybody? I'm like, yeah, we have, we have.
We Remember we had Jane from Zoop, Yeah, from Goop. She came to write a story and we left her and.
She drove Yeah, she's to be fair, she drove herself down and then jumped on the bus. But but it was, you know, like she's like, where are you. I'm like, it's six ten. I said six we left, We left, but yes, to her credit, she drove down and joined us. But I'm I'm always really, you know, I think people are surprised, but it's a it's a pretty uh it's a lot of operations and logistics, so you know, it's
a tight shure. Yeah, five to seven minutes could be two more hours on the way back for traffic, So you know, I'm really And.
By the way, I want to be clear, we leave at like five five fifty in the morning and we come back by seven pm the same day, so we don't spend the night there.
Yeah. Yeah, And we have lunch.
Had an amazing restaurant, and every single.
Type because every yeah, every bus is different. Every bus has like a different by the way, you had some people who come on like twenty buses, right, and I want to be clear, but every bus has a different like all amazing but different vibe, different focus, sometimes different personality.
And on the way down, everybody introduces themselves, which some people hate, some people hate, but everyone and I love themselves that I know, it's my favorite part. And they say like what they do for a living, why they're what, what brought them to come on this trip? And I love it so much.
And also crazy to see people out in the wild and they're like we do on our bus, you know. Or they'll you know, people have gotten my jobs off of the bus. They might make contacts. I'm waiting for the dating marriage to yeah, the bus. What do think?
What's something about running a nonprofit that you think people would be surprised to learn?
Oh my gosh, there's so many rules. There's a lot of rules.
There's a lot of rules, like you know, for instance, like even just during this this fire relief situation, like there's a lot of thought and there's a lot of there's a lot of rules that you have to follow.
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of rules. And then I also think that you know, not everything is is going to be great. I think that's that's really you know, giving back is amazing and the impact you have is amazing. But sometimes like it can be it can be hard, and it can be onerous, and you can think like why why are we even doing? You know, sometimes I'll be like, no good deed goes unpunished, Like I remember the remember the bus where like they didn't send a bus and then we were like an hour.
Late and you were you were beside yourself.
I know I was gonna say, I don't have anxiety, but I definitely like to be in control. Yeah, and things that I cannot control are where I sort of feel like, okay, this is yeah, and so that was just like so awful.
But I think we've had events sometimes that like didn't go the way we wanted. You know, we'll do we do like these drives, we do a holiday party, We do a Best Birthday Ever, so like a birthday party for kids that so we work with Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a pro bono law firm, and we've done events for that. We work with them, we love them, they are credible. But We've like done an event where afterwards I'm like, oh, that wasn't the best we could do for you guys.
I'm sorry, you know, like, oh that didn't work. Let's do this. It's a lot of troubleshooting because it's and a lot.
Of learning, like a lot of learning. First bus to I don't know now we're like fifty five buses in. You know, there's there's a lot of things that we've learned. You know, with every bus we come back with some type of learning how we want people to experience today. And by the way, sometimes there's nothing we can do
about it. Like sometimes we can't. There's so many factors that are just out of out of our control that you know, we we try to do the best to have it be a great experience, and I think it always is. But because we know all the things, we can be super.
Nitpicky about it, and because we want people to leave the experience any experience with us feeling a certain type of way, you know.
And I also think I guess the other thing just about running it out or just like having an organization or nonprofit is like what do you want it? And it sounds weird, but like, what do you want it to feel like? Because I do think you know, we have a really clear idea of what we want everyone's interaction with this is about humanity to feel like. We want it to feel easy. We want it to feel
like inclusive and inclusive. We want it to feel like you can just show up and that's all you need to do, Like you can invite your friends, can you can align yourselves, You'll find community, and.
That it's not all about money. Like yes, money is a huge part and a very necessary part for us to be able to keep the kitchen running, keep building these learning libraries, keep doing all of these things, keep having these events. But it's also about your time, like giving your time and and and showing up for these families. I mean, they're so when we go to these events, when we host these events, when we go to Tijuana,
the families are so happy that we're there. They feel seen, they like our goal in those days is not to, you know, look at these families and feel bad for them. Our goal is to look at these families, hear them, and then and then and then make them feel like we hear them, we see them, they matter, and they're not forgotten. You know, like those are the things that that is our goal, and that's how we want people who volunteer to feel as well.
I know, I was talking to you know, we just had our holiday party and I was talking to Veronica, a good friend of ours who had gone to volunteer with her daughter and her daughter's best friend, and she told me, like, hey, I was talking to Sage and her friend and they said, you know, we we've like felt like okay, we're going to go volunteer to be fine.
But they were just saying that the experience of how they felt just even interacting with these families, that it ended up being so much more and so much more meaningful than they ever thought it could be. And like that to me was like, ah, the highest you know, sort of like affirmation that like okay, no matter what, like we're doing good and and people are feeling like they're impacting people's lives. And we've had people who come on buses, you know, like Bronico, who stayed in touch
with families who continue to help them. You've you know, been a sponsor of a legal sponsor for aye.
I'm a legal sponsor here for a family from Honduras. They have three children, a mom, and a grandchild. And I mean it's changed my life, its changed my kid's life. I will say that holiday part my mom was in the hospital and I was not my best self. I could not stop crying, but no one knew. So it was like I was just like I almost felt like and then I'm so grateful that I have these two incredible partners who I could say, like, I'm not okay.
But Ace for his bar mits for project this year, raised money to do a toy table at this UH holiday party, so that he raised over fifteen thousand dollars and it was a table like as long as the warehouse filled with toys that he picked up better, it was better.
And also like he actually was like very specific and intentional with what yeah picking.
He was picked every toy.
People were into it, because sometimes you've have toy tables where I'm like, I don't know that people are that excited. But it was like every toy was.
He went age by age, you know, he really he was very but I was so proud of him, and that day was so emotional for me and I think I came up to you and I was like, I'm I'm not well, so I'm going to meet you to help me out. And that is like partnership at its finest. I think in those moments, you know, in the moments where we're learning from each other, you are very very straightforward. You are You're moving a million miles a minute. I am more sensitive. So it took us a second two.
I would be like, are you mad at me? And You'd be like, I'm not thinking about you and I'd be like, oh, okay, okay.
You know what.
We had to really learn.
How to That was actually a funny. That was a funny, like memory, remember that time when we thought we were never going to be friends again and then somehow we were sell it. I mean, it was that story basically where Zoe was like, are you mad at me? Oh?
Yeah, I think you called me privileged? I did, and I was like, I.
Like, when I tell you, I did not. We didn't. We both did not know if we were going to come back from that.
I literally was like I'm done.
This is She was like fuck this shit, and I was like and to me, you know, but that was the first time.
So just to be fair. Like when we started this, I really didn't. I didn't. To me, privileged was a negative connotation. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure you meant it that way too.
We had just come back from a bus, mind you. Okay, I've just been in charge of forty five people's safety well being all the things.
Because we had to cross back.
Yes, like by the way we go to a different country, we come all the way back right Like we've heard these, you know, heart wrenching stories where you cry, You're like, oh my god. And you know, we get on the we usually talk right after the bus to be like, hey, what had you think this? That and the other? And she's like in the first thing she does is were you mad at me? And I was like, no, babe, I no.
No, I think I texted you on the bus.
No, no, but yes, right after we got on the bus from gatatas are you mad at me? And I was like, no, not mad at you. Again, I'm a super straight forward person. Not mad at you means I'm not mad at you.
I'm not used to super straight for our people.
Sorry, I don't know, I guess the very beginning. Just so we're clear, Just so we're clear, this was like bus three. Okay, this is bus three year, this is not even your one. This is like month two. We get home, she calls me, hey, Babe, I just wanted to make sure you weren't mad at me. And I was like, I literally told you I wasn't mad at you. And she's like, but I'm pretty sure you were mad at me. I'm pretty sure you were mad at me.
And I'm like, Babe, I was I'm not mad at you, nor was I mad at you, although I'm getting kind of mad right now.
We've had we've had moments like we communicate completely differently and we have completely different backgrounds. So like like.
I like, babe, so I literally say, I wasn't even I were not even thinking about you, Like when I got on the bus, I'm making sure that I'm counting how many people like and so this is why I said. The fact that you think that I'm mad at you or I'm thinking about you like might be it just I did say privileged. And and then by the way, it was like a nuke went off.
By the way, that moment I'll never forget because I was able to say, like I was able to think about it and take a few days, and I am privileged. And that does come with sometimes thinking that without even knowing it, you think that your importance or your needs
in that moment are like them. And and so I had to learn and I had to check that about myself because to me, it was always like, how do I you know, I never wanted that to be but but but I had to realize, like, Okay, this is part you are who you are and learn to be better, you know.
But it was such an important again, and one of the things that I so appreciated about that moment and even our relationship in the years after, is that you genuinely do want to like you want to know, like, hey, if there's something I need to work on, Like, I genuinely want to know.
You're the same way.
Yeah, for sure, I have like a healer. You know, you got all sorts of people who will tell you all the tricks and things and I need I need to get the cliff notes. But yeah, I'm the same way too. By the way, I'm I'm always you know, it's.
Actually got you a session with my healer and you loved it.
No, I did love it. I really did that way.
Yeah, we we both I think that is something we both do and and it and and and the relationship has grown so much in six years.
Yeah, by the way, I think that I it really has, you know, becoming partners and working closely with you has really helped me be more sensitive to you know, two different ways of communitydling, communicating, you know what I mean. Like I think for me, who's such a as you said, like straightforward person, you know, like if I were mad at you, I would just be like I'm mad at you,
you know what I mean? And so I so it was always confusing, like I what no I And then you know, and for someone again who like measures every output of everything, I was like okay, Like and then you got to know me better and you would now like if she were mad, she would say out.
But we started this, we were not friends like we know each other and we would say hello to each other and maybe give each other a hug and yeah, you know, but we were not like we were not super close. We didn't and we really like our friendship grew as the years have gone on, Like there were years that we just like in O and we would sort of like we were just going going down the road and we were working really hard and we were respectful of each other, but we weren't like hanging out,
you know. And I only feel like in the last couple of years we've really grown to to get to know each other as human beings, not just partners in business. And I'm so grateful for that. I'm so thankful.
I know, same same. I think. You know, sometimes, you know, we'll be having a conversation about something and you'll bring something up and I'll be like, yeah, no, not even about me, just like in general, like this thing happened or like this person said this, and I'll be like, literally, not about you. Yeah, it's And I think that that's one of the things again that is showing up I'm
really good at. The Other thing I'm really good at is like, literally I don't teach anything personally, Like I don't.
I've never met anyone like that. But you genuinely you're not just saying that you don't. And I'm always like.
Oh okay, I'm literally like, oh, I don't even care like whatever, And I do feel like but it's it's a I think it's an important skill because you know, you always want I always want people to feel like they can always come whenever they can, show up whenever they can, and so a lot of times, I think, especially in the nonprofit space, there's like pressure to do things, to show up to whatever, and I'm like, great, like we'll be here. This is going to happen regardless, So
like extra points if you're there. If you're not, the people who are there are going to be super excited. I'm going to be super excited. And I do think, again,
what do we want? This is about humanity to feel like we wanted to feel like a no pressure situation, and so it really, it really has been an amazing experience and also just an incredible way to even in this time, you know, with the wildfires that are happening, be an organization that can think about like, okay, yeah, we usually focus obviously our north stars on these families have been affected, but guess what, some of those same families are being affected by this fire, and some of
the people in their extended family have been affected by this fire. And some of our donors and our support systems, some people who have helped us build this organization to what it is today, have been everything.
Why don't you why don't you tell a little bit about like what we are doing for this wildfire relief situation?
Oh we I think we all maybe even on that day as some of us were, you know, Zoe and I live in LA.
We live in West LA. We were packing up, we were both packing up to evacuate. We're like, well, what are we going to do?
Yeah, what are you doing? Are you leaving? Are you saying what's happening? And so I think even while that was on our minds, we were also thinking like, how do we set something up where we can really Yeah, yeah, how can we help? And it's just as the trusted organization, how can we do our best to support other organizations?
And so we launched the This is About Humanity Emergency Fund for that Los Angeles wildfires, and we are supporting, you know, frontline workers, second responders, immigrant families, and individuals impacted by by the fire. We're you know, supporting organizations on the ground who are giving emergency relief, cash assistance,
legal services, you know, essential needs, necessities. And I think in a longer in the longer run, we will also start to get engaged a little bit more in like housing assistants and getting people sort of set up to for a longer term, you know, solution. I think it's like it's such a dynamic situation. I mean, even right now, I think the Palisades fire is only twenty seven percent contained, you know, the eat and fire a little bit more.
So it's not like it's over. And of course, now since we've all become meteorologists and wind experts, I know that the wind is going to be picking up in on Monday, and so talk about like I don't have anxiety, but I also am now addicted to the watch study app and I know all sorts of things about buyers and so so yeah, so it's an amazing way that we we have this ability to show up for people when we can, and so I think it's been an
amazing experience we had. You know, we set out an urgent call for fifty thousand dollars EVA Longoria match to fifty quickly, and by the way, we probably have had over two thousand donations come in, which is incredible, you know for an organization like we're pretty small still, by the way, to have that kind of support from everywhere has just been really impressive.
I think it's also important to my dad always says this whenever he talks about organization, but there's no staff, it's the three of us, and then he's our fiscal sponsor. Like that's it. There's no like, there's no warehouse like the warehouse has been our garages like it is. You know, we are like a very thin grassroots organization that is able to help people. Don't like donate where where it is going to be safely and and respectfully attributed distributed.
Yeah. No, I feel like, you know, we some people be like, so who should I see see? I'm like me, Yeah, there is no assistant, there is no you know, X person, And so sometimes it makes me laugh because I, you know, I dream of having someone help me do something. But you know, then by the time I think about like that, I'm like, oh, I should just do everything myself.
You know, I don't feel like delegating is your is your is your strong suit?
Mmm? I mean if I could like clone myself, yeah, yeah, I would love to delegate to to another me. Yeah for sure, I would like that. Yeah. No, it's been you know, these past this past week has just been obviously challenging for so many people, obviously, people who've lost everything and people who've had to evacuate people who've been
close to areas. You know, I think there there is this sort of collective like, you know, we're all not all of our shoulders are just up a little bit, you know, and we we just want to do the best we can for our community, you know. And I think that that's that's kind of where we're at right now.
I know that you have so much on your plate, but if you could like magically start one more thing, what would it be?
Oh my gosh.
Oh let's see you could add like one more project, what would that project be?
Oh my gosh. You know, I would love to have someone sort of say, hey, you've been on the ground in so many different places and spaces. You've seen important work that grassroots ors are doing, different individuals in different spaces. Like here is like, here's a blank slate for a blank slate for you to make the change that you
think is best and go out and do that. Because I think that, like, you know, as a I have a consulting company, and I do a lot of work in a social impact space, and you know, it's depending, it's dependent on different projects and different focuses, and so sometimes I'm like, you know, this is recumended is a good example, right, this is not this is not our job, right, We're not getting paid.
We don't make it. We don't make a sense, we.
Don't make a sent we don't take a salary, you know. But it is very genuinely like a project that I would do like in my regular work, except for that it's a passion project that we do because it's you know, it matters to us and it's important. And so I think that a version of that, you know, but in a broader in a broader way like elsa, go make some change, and.
Well if anyone can do it, you can do it.
So oh for sure, I'm like ready, look at us, look at us, look at us, look at us. Okay, well, I hope that's amazing. Thanks, iHeart, don't forget give what in the Winkler Pod? A follow on Instagram at what in the Winkler Pod?
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