The Suburban Women Problem - Season 2, Episode 39

Jasmine Clark: Hi everyone. Thanks for listening. I'm Jasmine Clark. 

Amanda Weinstein: I'm Amanda Weinstein.

Rachel Vindman: I’m Rachel Vindman.

Jasmine: And you're listening to The Suburban Women Problem. Our weekly election countdown is getting closer and closer to zero. You can still sign up for our great troublemaker turnout by going to redwine.blue. 

And speaking of Red Wine and Blue, this week, we're highlighting the work that they've been doing. Red Wine and Blue produces this podcast, they brought the three of us together a year and a half ago, but they do a lot more than just make this show. They do virtual events, on the ground organizing, and have a huge social media presence. And they're made up of women just like us who've decided they've had enough and want to make a difference. 

So today I'll get to share my interview with Jo Carducci, who you might know on Twitter as JoJoFromJerz. And Jo just joined the Red Wine and Blue team this month. And before that, we'll chat with Tonya and Renee, two of Red Wine and Blue’s local organizers in North Carolina.

But before we get to all of that, let's check in. How are y'all? And how's your Troublemaker Tour going, Rachel?  

Rachel: Well, I, I only did the first leg so far in Michigan and Ohio and it was absolutely phenomenal. I also just wanna point out that I am once again recording from my minivan. Very suburban mom.

Yeah, so, so the tour, I just keep using the same words over and over. It was inspiring and encouraging, incredibly energizing guys, I am just so excited. You know, so many women are coming out to learn not just the issues– cause I was in Michigan and they were like, what are these propositions? Cuz propositions are always weird, and they were, you know, wanting to know about the propositions–but they're also wanting to know how they can talk to their friends. Every night we had charcuterie and wine. You know, I'm not a big wine drinker, but I could definitely like, I mean, you know, lots of cheese was eaten. That's all I have to say.

Amanda: But real charcuterie, not like asparagus and salsa.

Jasmine: Haha. 

Rachel: No, no, no, no. Dr. Oz was not in charge and it wasn't from, yes, from “Wagners.” Also it’s Wegmans, where I went shopping when I got back for my trip because I'm still a mom. And anyway. But yeah, it was really, really fabulous. And I took pictures. I posted on my Twitter, but also I sent them to, you know, a couple reporters and I really hope that some people will come out and talk to these women because no one's talking to 'em.

And, and by the way, when it's, 10, 20, 30 people and they talk to 10 or 20 people, I mean, you do the math, right? And I think people are shocked at how easy it is to get involved. So I'm basically like a televangelist now for Red Wine and Blue, and I hope that we will be able to go to so many more states because I just love the way these women are excited and energized and really experiencing this. 

Because I heard so many people say, this was kind of their first time to get involved and, and I, I said to a group, “Everyone starts somewhere.” Right? 

Jasmine: It's really important. Yeah. Include everyone. At all experience levels. What's really important about this election, and one of the things that I think that is a really good take home message is that unlike the presidential election, where there's like this electoral college thing, this is really one of those elections where every single vote counts and a person can literally win by five votes. A person can win by 200 votes. Trust me. I know. I've been there. 

And so when you talk about these small groups of people getting together and getting involved, and then the ripple effect from that is so important because that small group of people could be the difference between your candidate winning and losing. Every single one of those votes count. Every single bit of that effort and energy actually really does count to getting the right people in office and the right people elected.

And so no one should ever feel bad if they're like, “Oh, well I only have like five or 10 people that I can invite.” Because literally in certain races that could be the difference. And it's so important that people understand that like it is. It is, you really could make a difference. Just you and your seven friends could make the difference between a pro-choice candidate getting elected and some fascist that wants to take away women's rights getting elected. So never discount how small your group of friends are and never discount how big your impact can be. Even if you're a small group.

Amanda: But I hope reporters do cover it because when they don't cover this type of small group action, this is how they miss it and miss it big. Like Kansas. Kansas was absolutely women on the ground having those conversations, small groups knocking the doors, and Kansas was a big result. And I think some of the reporters miss it because it's not this big… I dunno, women are not trained to be like crazy stunts and emotional and yelling and all of the crazy stuff that gets covered on, you know, click bait, TikTok, and everything else.

So, a lot of reporters miss it because they're like, “Oh, this isn't gonna be a super clickable story.” I'm like, “Yep, but then you're gonna miss a story of Kansas and everything else about what's really going on.” 

I mean, there's a reason why The New Yorker wrote an article about how extreme Ohio is, and it does not represent most people. It doesn't even represent most Republicans in a lot of cases. But the gerrymandering just lets us get this far. And when you start really talking with women one on one, “What do you think about this?” A lot of them have, they have some way to relate, you know, “This happened to me” or “This happened to my sister, and I know that this situation would, she would not be best served by this legislation. And it's just too extreme.”

Jasmine: I think that that's the point. One of the things about a small group is you get to actually just talk. You get, you filter out all the like sensationalism and the, “Oh, they're doing this, and they're doing that.” And when you just have a conversation and you're like, “Honestly, the reason why I don't wanna ban books is because even though maybe I wouldn't necessarily want my kid to read a certain book, I also don't want that book to not be available to someone else's kid who might need it.”

Or, “Hey, guess what? You know, I don't know anybody that's trans. I don't know anyone who has a trans kid, so I actually really don't understand it enough to have such strong opinions about it.” But then you sit in a room with someone who's the mother of a trans child and you realize this mom loves their kid just as much as I love my kid. And this mom just wants their kid to thrive just as much as I want my kid to thrive. And it takes away the othering. 

So I think these, that's why I think all of this stuff is so important and I think you can open a lot of eyes and a lot of minds in these smaller settings. And then, like I said, let that message reverberate out.

Amanda: I think that's such a good point because when you sit down and you meet the mom and talk with the mom of a trans kid, you realize they're just trying to be a mom like you are. And you realize all of these, all of this legislation is Republicans judging the way someone else is a mom. And if there's one thing I know all moms hate is somebody judging the way that they're momming. And that's basically the entire platform of the GOP right now. “I'm gonna completely judge you as a mother, and then I'm gonna tell you what I want you to do as a mother, because I understand your kid better than you do.” And man, is there nothing. More inaccurate than saying that to any mom.

Jasmine:  Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. That's it. That's it in a nutshell. I don't care what side of the aisle you're on. No mom wants to be judged for how they mom their kids. Speaking of conversations and relational organizing and just having those tough conversations with people, I think it's a perfect time to bring on our Troublemakers of the week.

Tonya and Renee are both moms in North Carolina who have recently joined Red Wine and Blue as local organizers. Hi Tonya and Renee, thanks for joining us today! 

Renee: I'm so excited to be here. 

Tonya: Thanks for having us. 

Jasmine: So I'd love to hear from both of you about what led you to Red Wine and Blue. I had an interview with JoJo from Jerz this week about how Trump's election really sparked both of us into action. That's how I ended up running for office. And so I'm curious, what was it that activated you two? 

Tonya: Well, you know, my father is very much into politics. Always has been. Very much into social justice issues. But of course after Trump became president, of course it got everybody a little bit more interested in figuring out better ways to actually communicate with people.

I mean, I think that relationships between others are just really off and that to me is the biggest thing. Because as mothers, as women, as wives, I mean, we all really care about the same things: making sure that our kids are safe, making sure that they have a proper education and that it's not being taken from them, you know, we want the same things that everybody else wants. 

And so I think that it's really important to get back to, you know, having great relationships with people and coming together and understanding that we hold so many superpowers. If we come together and we use our powers for good and not evil, I think that we'll see changes. We've already started seeing the changes. So I'm just interested in helping people learn more and which is, I think, something that they really wanna do. Red Wine and Blue, what I love so much about them is, you know, we are just giving people resources. You know, women are smart.

Amanda: Oh, I love that you said that women love these resources and this research because then we see a lot of… happens to be men, Republicans, who just run off these crazy emotions. We've all seen it, we've seen the videos and the memes, right?

Tonya: Right, when people are talking about they're gonna ban plan B but don't even know what plan B is.

Amanda: “It just felt right. I, you know, I'm a man and I've never used Plan B and don't know what it is, but it just feels like the thing my emotions are telling me to do.”

Tonya: Right! 

Jasmine: Yeah. So what about you, Renee?  

Renee: So, I didn't start out political, like at all. We didn't really talk about politics when I was a kid. It was the Reagan era, and it was just taken as a given that Ronald Reagan was the bestest president ever. And we just didn't talk any further than that. 

So I had kind of gotten into politics and I considered myself political, but what I meant was that I voted. And then Trump was elected. So I started kind of realizing voting is not enough. And I started trying to take like tiny little baby steps into my local Democratic party just to see if I could kind of learn how things worked. But it all seemed really high above me. 

But then honestly, my life totally zagged because this education advocacy issue fell into my lap and suddenly, before I even kind of knew what was happening, that was what I was doing, was education, advocacy, trying to get a law changed. And that's how I learned about Red Wine and Blue. And I went to one of the SWEEP salons and I'm pretty sure I cried that night when I came out. It was just amazing to see these women all across the country who were having the same experiences and feelings and wanting to do something. Kind of what I love about Red Wine and Blue is that it's not above me.

Rachel: I love this so much. I am crying actually. As I said earlier, I'm literally in my minivan. This is everything, Renee. This is absolutely everything that I was saying about what is so exciting about these Troublemaker Trainings and so exciting about all this is the accessibility. 

Amanda: So Renee, I know that you actually host a podcast of your own, and it's called Advocacy Bites. So I love this. So I always consider myself as an advocate for economic policy since I'm an economist. And recently there was like this whole meltdown on Twitter, whether or not economists should be political, whatever you think political is. And my head was like, “If you advocate for any type of economic policy, you are political whether you like it or not.”

So I would love to hear more about your podcast and how you got into it and whether or not you considered it political to start with. 

Renee: So what happened was, our school board members have these board advisory councils, and it's just a representative from each school, a parent and the principal. And my friend was the BAC rep for our kids' elementary school and she had to miss a meeting, so she asked me to substitute for her. And we found out there, the school board member talked about this law that would've made it so we couldn't have art, music or PE teachers basically in grades K-3 at a minimum, which of course affects everybody.

And at the time there was a bill in the House that would've fixed the whole thing because the legislators had claimed, “Oh yeah, no, whoops. We didn't mean to do that.” And so it was sitting in the Senate and I was very, very, very naive. And I was like, “Oh, all they need to do is know that we want it passed and it'll go and pass.” And we started learning that, “Oh no, this wasn't a mistake.” We started learning that our schools were under attack in North Carolina and the problem was much larger than one bad law snuck into the budget. 

So my friend Susan, who I met through Save Our Schools, we were both sitting there going, “We had no money. We are a 501c nothing, and we're just two moms doing this in our free time.” We wanted to get the word out because so many people just don't know what's happening or they feel like they don't know what to do about it anyway, so she said, “You know what? We should have a podcast.”

Amanda: I love that. That sounds awesome. I think people from outside North Carolina would love it as well. 

Jasmine: So, Tonya, I'm interested, is your issue education as well, or what types of issues are you focusing on in North Carolina? 

Tonya: Well in North Carolina, I just would like, you know, the abortion issue to stay legal in North Carolina. And I say that because you know, I am a triple negative breast cancer survivor. So I have plenty of Pink Sisters who have dealt with pregnancy during chemotherapy, during treatment, and they have a lot of big decisions that they have to make. And for this to come into play, you know, it would lead to so many added stressors, you know, going through this. 

Also, I'm big on education. I have a grandbaby who's two years old, and the fact that our kids every day are losing out on funds, because you know, Mango Unchained– I won't even say his name, I call him Mango Unchained– but Mango Unchained is out here basically bullying people. And now we've created this mountain of people who really don't even understand what they've been sent out to do.

Jasmine: Oh, I agree with that a hundred percent. 

Tonya: They don't even understand how they're hurting the very people that they say they care about. 

We have got to get back to having some type of, being able to have conversations. I mean, think about it, when Mango came into the picture, after that, we couldn't even have decent conversations. I mean, people were cutting off family members. I mean, people were getting blocked. They didn't have any friends anymore. It was just terrible because it made it hard for us to do anything. We have to learn how to do things together, you know? And when Mango interrupted the flow of life, it sent a lot of people into this thing of “I don't even wanna know anything about politics.” It's a lot of people that don't even wanna talk about it. It's sad.

Jasmine: Yeah. It got so bad that people were like, “I just wanna disengage completely cuz it gets, it's too much mud slinging and I'm not trying to get dirty.” And now they're like, “You know what? I'm in this fight because now they're coming after me or they're coming after my sisters. They're coming after my daughters, they're coming after my kids.” And so now they're like, you know, “As much as I don't wanna get involved, much as I hate politics”– I hear this all the time– “I hate politics.” But people are like, you know, “Sitting out is not gonna help. And it's starting to affect my life or the life of people I love.”

Amanda: And I think that disengagement is part of the point, right? Because when women are disengaged from politics… and so actually research says that the more women are engaged in politics, the more we actually invest in our children. Like we actually spend more money on our children when women are more involved.

So I'd love to hear, Tonya... You have mentioned you're a grandma. How do your kids and your grandkids inspire your activism? 

Tonya: Oh, I mean, I just want the best for them. I want them to see what happens when you take action. You know, when you do something, when you get other people that you communicate with, when you get them involved.

My father didn't just teach me through telling me things. He allowed me to see how the government worked and how the people really control how the government's really gonna work. But people don't realize that. They think that, “Oh, this stuff is already just rigged and you know, it doesn't matter what we do.” And my dad used to always tell me that's what they want you to think, because if you think that then you won't, you won't activate.

Amanda: That's such a good point. So we went on a walk this weekend for our community and there were a bunch of inspirational quotes and one of 'em was from Lily Tomlin. And it said that “You know, I always said somebody should do something. And then I realized I am somebody.” Which I was like, “We have to be that somebody.” 

And so Renee, what made you be that somebody? 

Renee: Well, it didn't really feel like a choice. 

Jasmine: I understand that completely.

Renee: This thing was sitting in front of me and it, I'm gonna start this by saying like, I am privileged as heck. I have three kids in the public schools right now. They are 11, 13, and 16, but they were all in the same elementary school and we had a great school experience. We had an art teacher, a music teacher, a PE teacher, and could not imagine our schools without it. 

And it wasn't until like a year in that I learned that in like Hoke County. There are schools where they don't have music instruction anyway. This wasn't a thing for them because they didn't have the teacher to begin with. 

Amanda: Which is why more of us need to talk and realize that like you should have music, you should have art. 

Renee: Absolutely. That's one of the things I love about North Carolina is our constitution puts it on the state to provide a basic education to every child. It's not up to each individual town or county. So we have the potential, there is potential here in North Carolina to not do that to kids. 

Jasmine: But we have to, it has to be enforced.

Renee:  Yes. And we have to fling ourselves on the legislature if they won't listen to the constitution. Then the voters have to do it. 

Jasmine: One of the things I love that Stacey Abrams used to say, especially when in her first run in Georgia, is “If the people in charge won't change, then change the people in charge.” And that's what elections allow you to do. 

So with that, thank you Renee and Tonya for joining us. 

Tonya: Thank you. 

Renee: Thank you guys so much. 

Jasmine: Now we're gonna take a quick break and when we come back we'll have my conversation with JoJo from Jerz.

BREAK

Jasmine: Today’s guest is a suburban mom and a self-proclaimed passionate anti-MAGA campaigner. She's gone viral on Twitter and TikTok as JoJoFromJerz, and she recently joined the Red Wine and Blue Team. Jo Carducci, welcome to The Suburban Women Problem. 

Jo: Thank you. So great to be here. Thank you for having me.

Jasmine: Absolutely. And welcome to the team. So let's just talk about how you got here. Have you always been involved in politics? And if not, like, what sparked your passion for politics? 

Jo: I have been paying attention to politics since I was a kid. I'm the youngest of five and my dad raised all of us pretty much by himself which was pretty unusual at the time, but all of my siblings had something like some little niche with my dad that I didn't have.

Like, you know, there was the athletic one and the smart one and the troublemaker and the sensitive one. And like I, I was trying to find my spot other than being the youngest, you know, where did I fit in? And he wanted to listen to the Iran Contra hearings when I was young and none of my other siblings were interested in that at all. And I was like, “Wait a minute. They don't wanna listen to that. I don't know what he is even talking about. Maybe I'll listen.” And so I got to sit in the front seat and I got to listen to it with my dad. And then we got to have those discussions. 

And then that evolved into me finding my spot with my dad through political discussions. And then I realized that I didn't align with him on a lot of his philosophical things that I, I hadn't even realized yet about. So then we started debating and we would have long car rides, like I went to school in Boston and my dad would bring me to Boston and bring me home, and those entire rides were spent in political debate. And it was just something I was super passionate about. And so I went to college and majored in communications, politics, and law. With a dream to be the press secretary for the President someday. 

Jasmine: Oh, I love it. 

Jo: Yeah. Well, life had a different plan for me.

Jasmine: Hey, I love the dream, though. I love the dream.  

Jo: I mean, Jen Psaki’s the GOAT. She's literally my hero.

So my life definitely took a different path than I had anticipated and I ended up, you know, being a mom in suburbia and that really took a hold of my life and I lost sight of a lot of the things that I had been passionate about politically until 2016. And then everything changed. I mean, for a lot of people I think it did, but it definitely changed for me.

Jasmine: Yeah, I can definitely attest to the 2016 story. My background is in science and I like to say in 2016, on that fateful night in November, I went to sleep a scientist, and I woke up the next day a mad scientist. And that's what propelled me into politics. So yes, I completely understand where you're coming from. 

So Jo, you're not just an activist in a social media star, you're also a mom, as you said. I'm a mom as well and I know that my daughter and my son both really like, kind of inspire me to and keep me going sometimes. They're my why. And keep me from saying like, “I'm done with this stuff.” So like, how do your kids inspire your activism? And I get this question a lot, so I'm gonna ask you, how do you balance all of that? 

Jo: So again, back to that night in November, the reason that I'm doing all of this, it really goes back to that. My kids came and voted with me and I put them to bed and I said, “Tomorrow morning you're gonna wake up with the first female president elect. Like we, it's gonna be historic.” You know, I was, I was sure I kept telling them that right would prevail, you know? 

And they were four and seven at the time. And when they woke up in the morning and looked for me to reaffirm this idea that she had won, my son found me in the bathroom crying. And I didn't want him to see that, but he did. And he knew instantly it hadn't gone the way I had told them it would. So I made a promise to him, because he said to me in that moment, he's like, “But how did the bad man win?” And I said to myself in that moment, sitting there in the bathroom, that I was gonna do whatever it took, whatever I could do from that moment on to right that wrong. Because as a mother, you know, you tell your kids that there are these intrinsic things, these lessons in life. 

Jasmine: Yes. I know exactly what you mean. And then to see. All the things that we taught our kids were the wrong thing to do, the wrong way to speak, the wrong way to be, it was tough. As a parent, I completely empathize with what you're talking about right now. Yeah. 

Jo: I mean, it reinforced all of the opposite messages that we were telling them. I mean, here's this articulate woman who's this knowledgeable and capable and ready to take this position. The most powerful, important position, a position the rest of the world looks to, all of America looks to for moral leadership, right. As well as, you know, like political leadership. 

That she didn't ascend to that position. But this person who made fun of a disabled reporter, right? And bragged about sexual assault, right, was going to be the person. It was just… your mind couldn't fathom it. It was so fundamentally wrong and fundamental wrong still existed and it was really important to always remember that. And I feel like we still, we'd still take that with us today, right? That's why I keep fighting and so that I can make sure that my kids grow up, like your kids grow up, in a world where the right messaging is reinforced. And they see it in their leaders.

Jasmine: I love that. I love that because I had a lot of the same thoughts. But my daughter, she's a little older than your kids, she's a teenager, but in 2016, she wasn't a teenager yet, but she was, you know, she was a preteen. And even then she was like, “I just don't understand how that could happen.” And that, you know, was one of the reasons why I was like, “I have to do something” was because I've gotta show her that when bad things happen, we don't just say, “Oh, oh, well something bad happened.” There are things that we can do about it. 

So you actually got a chance to meet Joe Biden last week, and you gotta take a picture with him. And this actually prompted someone on Twitter to ask you how he smelled. And your answer was like the warmest cup of cocoa on the perfect snowstorm night

Which then turned into a whole Twitter storm as people reacted to it. It's amazing what goes viral on Twitter, I swear. So what's it like going from being like a regular suburban mom to having articles written about you meeting the president? Honestly, I can't imagine. I haven't ascended to that level yet. I'm in politics, but I haven't gone viral for, you know, my meeting with the president and, you know cocoa on a perfect snowstorm night, but like, what, what was that like?

Jo: The whole thing was surreal, but it really, it was funny because really, what I was describing in that answer wasn't so much what he smelled like. I mean, I was, I had gotten back from being at the White House, from meeting him, from being able to smell him. And someone asked me that question, and I was still in this weird euphoric dreamlike state. Like, Yeah, how often in your life can you say like, your, your literal dream just smacked you in the face? So I was really kind of in a weird place. I was trying to assess how I went from… when Trump won, I was a married woman, you know, with a very suburban cookie cutter life. And then by the time I was standing at the White House, you know, I'm now divorced, I'm a single mom, I mean, my whole life is different. So I was just sitting there in that moment, kind of like taking it all in. And somebody asked me what he smelled like and what I was describing was really how it felt. 

Jasmine: Yeah, metaphorically, yeah. 

Jo: Yeah. It really felt like, you know, that feeling in a snowstorm when you're– and I'm defending this, I get it, and I definitely got trolled for it–but like when you're home with your kids and there's nowhere to go and there's no expectation and nobody's hurrying, and you're sort of like, “Let's just be together and relax.” That's the most natural, like easy, warm, right, comforting feeling there is.

Jasmine: I think comfort is the best word. Like it's when you say the words, I picture it, you picture the blankets and the fireplace going, it's cold outside but you're warm, you're comfortable. Yeah. It's a good feeling. So yeah, I get it. I feel like sometimes people on Twitter are just like, choose to not get things. Just to be contrarian or to be controversial or to like try to ride the viral coattails and be like, “I'm gonna go viral.”

So aside from this euphoric feeling, I'd also love to just hear more about why you were at the White House and what that was like.

Jo: You know, I'm sure you guys have probably noticed that the White House's social media game is kind of like retooling itself a little bit, in a good way. I think a lot of people have wanted the White House, wanted the President, and wanted the administration to hit back a little harder. I mean, we were literally dealing with fascists on the other side, right, who don't pull any punches. And so, The White House seems like they're, you know, retooling and trying a slightly more snarky kind of in your face and yet still respectful and not right in the mud.

Jasmine: Yeah. They’re mud adjacent. The mud is there. I can see it, but I'm not in it. Yeah. 

Jo: Yeah. And I'm better than that, but I'm gonna acknowledge it. I might flick it a little. But I'm gonna keep my hands clean. 

So included in all of that, I think they've decided to reach out to some. On Twitter that are kind of already spreading the messages that they want spread, but in their own unique way.

Gotcha. And it was also sort of a way to acknowledge us, you know, the people who are out there every day. And so they invited a few of us down there. I think partially for that reason, but also they kind of wanna see if we all maybe come together and help amplify some messaging. Cuz the Democrats are not necessarily known for their strength in cohesive messaging.

It's just unfortunately one of these things. You know, Red Wine and Blue is amazing ad by the way. They could take a lesson from Yes. Red Wine and Blue for sure. But yeah, so they had a bunch of us there and I could talk all day about what it was like because it was incredibly emotional. I won't describe it as a cup of cocoa, but like, it was really, I was having a very hard time not sobbing just from the reverence of the place, knowing how tarnished it was for those four years that Trump occupied it. Seeing it restored to its glory, its rightful glory, like it was just beautiful.

Jasmine:  I can, I can under, I feel like that a lot. I'm like, it feels so good to just be back to normal a little bit when it comes to the presidency. We just had this clown show for so long and just to get back to just like that place being a place of reverence and a place where we are doing the work of the people… I'm so glad that we're getting back to that and, let's admit it, it's not as sexy for the media. And so that's why I'm sure they were like, we need people out there who can spread our message in a, in a more unique way to kind of be that buffer between like, this rambunctious, very just obnoxious former administration to an administration that's actually just doing work. But it can feel like it's a little boring when you had four years of constantly being amped up by everything that was going on.

But let's talk a little bit more about your Twitter. You're really successful at reaching people on Twitter and I think a lot of people, you know, they're like, “I really wish that I had a platform where I could really help.” So like, do you have any tips for our listeners about how they can use their social media to really fight for democracy?

Jo: Oh, well I think a really good start is to look at a group like Red Wine and Blue. When 2016 happened, I thought I was alone and so I was quiet at first. I was really quiet cause I was scared. But like if you're out there, and that's one good place to start. If you think your voice doesn't matter, link up with a big group like Red Wine and Blue where lots of people like you are together and in that giant number, there's so much strength and power that your own power will be amplified. Right? So that's a great place to start. It's an automatic network of people who are like-minded and passionate about the same things that you are. 

And it's a, it's a good place to find your voice and to find the issues. Cuz it's different for all of us. You know, for some people it's abortion and for other people it's education and for other people, you know, everyone's got their own issues that are really front of mind. Protecting democracy and voting rights, like for me, those are, those are definitely big ones. But you can find little groups within subgroups within bigger groups, and then you really find what you're passionate about.

And then when you find that thing, it's really easy to just put your feelings out there and then other people will be like you, who think like you, and it'll click with them and resonate with them. That's the trick to Twitter, really. That's it. It’s finding your voice, being authentic to it and then knowing that you're not alone in the way you think and that other people will find enough in what you have to say that resonates with them, that they want to share it and that grows and grows and grows.

So really just coming from an authentic self. And that's, you know, that's really, that's my approach to it. I'm so happy to be working with you guys now cuz it's given me such a feeling of community that I didn't have necessarily out there spinning my wheels on Twitter all day long. I didn't have the same sort of sense of community that Red Wine and Blue has given me. It's amazing.

Jasmine: I love Red Wine and Blue as well. And I'm so glad that you're joining the team here. Can you just kind of tell us a little bit more about like what you hope to do with Red Wine and Blue?

Jo: I mean, I love to be able to bring some of my sort of snarky sense of humor. While keeping it classy, which I'm not always so good at. Cause I'm Jersey.

Jasmine: Hey. We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I love it. 

Jo: A little restraint is probably a good thing. It is not a bad thing, and it's a lesson I have got to learn anyway, but I'd love to be able to bring some, like, you know, funny snarky content. The way I approach my Twitter account, the way I approach the messages I want to share in many ways is to condense things into very bite-sized, palatable ways of digesting information. And one of the best carriers, one of the best vehicles for doing that is humor. When politics is kind of fun, they're a lot more receptive to the messages and the messaging. So that's something that I would like to be able to bring to Red Wine and Blue is kind of adding a little… there's some funny content already! That video of Julia Louis Drefus was amazing.

Jasmine: I love her. I love her. 

Jo: When she hit that part about, “Unless you're a truly terrible person.” I was like, I had to watch it so many times, and she's like, “In that case, keep scrolling.” I'm like, “That is amazing.”

Jasmine: Yeah, I love it. All right, Jo, so we're now at my favorite part of the interview, and that's where I get to ask you some fun rapid fire questions. 

Jo: Ooh, I love it. 

Jasmine: All right, here we go. So, you're from Jersey and it's such a big part of your identity that you go by JoJo from Jerz. So what's the best thing about New Jersey?  

Jo: I think the best thing about New Jersey, there's two things I'll say. I think the best thing about New Jersey is that everybody else hates us. So the expectation is kind of like, “all right, let's go. I can get away with a lot cause you already hate me.” Go to, you know, go anywhere out of New Jersey's, everyone’s like, “Oh, New Jersey.” So it kinda gives us a chip on our shoulder, which gives us like street cred or something. 

Alternately, kind of on top of that is the idea is this knowledge that New Jersey is actually incredibly beautiful. And it's not what exit you are off of the turnpike and it's not all industrial. Where I live is farmland and much of New Jersey is farmland. So I love the diversity and the mislabeling of my state, so it kind of makes it feel special. And I love the attitude that we have baked into the cake, just being from Jersey.

Jasmine: I love that. All right, so next question. If they made a movie about your life, who would you cast to play yourself?

Jo: Okay. Well, I mean, anybody, right? Like anybody. I would go… she's a Jersey girl, so I would have to say Meryl Streep. I would have to say Meryl Streep.

Jasmine: Oh, that's a good one. Love. That's a good one. 

Jo: She's from Jersey and she's, I mean she’s the GOAT.

Jasmine: I love that. All right, so if you could win any award, like an Oscar, a Grammy, the Nobel Peace Prize, any type of award, what would it be?

Jo: Oh, a Pulitzer. 

Jasmine: Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. Oh yeah. All right. So if you could only watch one TV show for the rest of your life, what show would you choose? 

Jo: My gosh, that is a tough one. It has to be something funny. Haha it’s so dumb, but I love the Brady Bunch. I know that sounds so dumb, but like, I just love the Brady Bunch. I could probably watch the first couple seasons of the Brady Bunch, like, every day for the rest of my life. Seinfeld is definitely another one. I would put that up there at the top.

Jasmine: Yeah, I liked Seinfeld when I was younger. I feel like TV shows back then were just way better. But anyway. All right, so you’re a mommy. So what's your proudest mom moment? I know, that's a hard one. 

Jo: That is such a hard one. Okay, I know what it is. Well, there's a few. There's a few, and I'm gonna get emotional. Okay. My son is very sensitive. He's always been like that. Like he's always just always been like that. 

So recently a friend's father died and her son is on Leo's baseball team, my son's baseball team, and he's a grade younger. And he was having a really hard time and my son's been through now the passing of both of his grandparents. And so he approached this young boy and he said, “How are you doing?” I didn't know any of this until his mom shared it with me the next day, and this boy said, “You know, I'm having a really hard time,” and my son said, “I understand what you're going through, and I just want you to know that I'm here for you and if you need anything, just, you know, reach out or let me know. You can always talk to me.” 

And he didn't tell me about it. His mom texted me the next day and said “Austin came home and he was like, ‘Leo's such a good friend. You know, he let me know that he's been there, that he understood where I was, you know, how I was feeling.’” And that he didn't tell me was number one. I was proud that he didn't feel like he needed to brag, but that he had enough empathy just of his own that he approached this other child. It just was like, okay, I'm doing something right. 

Jasmine: Yes. Oh, I love that. Yeah. I love that. Yeah. Aww. Oh, that's really great. 

All right, so that's actually the last question and that's the end of our rapid fire questions. And so Jojo, if you could tell us where people can go to find out more about you online? 

Jo: Well, look for my content on Red Wine and Blue, on their Facebook and other social media pages for sure. On Twitter also. And then I'm on Twitter @jojofromjerz, with Z cause I'm fancy like that. I'm on Instagram @jojo.fromjerz I think because somebody else has it. I don't know where you are, but I'm gonna find you.

Jasmine:  Who are you, Jojo not Dot from Jerz??

Jo: I know! Why do you have my Instagram handle? Right? I'm also on Facebook. Same thing, JoJo from Jerz and I have a Patreon where you can get a little bit more personal stuff and some exclusive stuff. And I have a newsletter now that's free. You can find that on my Twitter page. And that's like just more political rants and sort of my thoughts. And you know, I put an exclusive post about my trip to the White House up there last week. So yeah, that's where you can find me. And on Red Wine and Blue, definitely look for me there. 

Jasmine: Awesome, awesome. Well, Jojo, thank you so much for joining us today. It's been a pleasure talking to you. Thank you. 

Jo: It was so nice to meet you. So nice to chat.

BREAK

Rachel: Welcome back everyone. Jasmine, I'm a little jealous that you got to talk to Jo, but also really excited. Great conversation. We met in person, I think in March. You know, she also deals with a lot of haters and trolls and she handles it. And she knows that, you know, when they do that, it's more about them than it is about her. 

Amanda: She's a great Twitter follow. And I will also say, I think like in a way moms were made for this. Like, do you know the things that I have heard from my five year old? And guess what, I went on with my day. Or I clap back like, “No, five year old, you are not gonna order me to do that.” 

Jasmine: I saw a tweet like that. It was like “These trolls think they're doing something, but have you ever had your five year old…” Like, I forgot what it said, but something about like, “Your food tastes bad.” 

Amanda: Haha! Yes, I saw that one and you're like, yeah, that's exactly right. Like you think you're gonna hurt my feelings? Please. My five year old said I was the worst mom ever because the broccoli was overdone.

Rachel: Mine's usually fashion. She's a tween, and with all my clothing options and my makeup and everything, she’s like, “Oh, have you thought about doing this with your makeup?” I'm like, “Nope, haven't thought of that. Probably not gonna do it. So next, but thank you for your opinion. I appreciate it.”

Jasmine: Exactly. All right. Well, I think now is the time for us to close out our show with our Toast to Joy, where we talk about something positive that has happened in our week or just something great that we wanna share with our listeners. And so, Rachel, let's start with you. What’s your Toast to Joy?  

Rachel: My Toast to Joy this week is we just recently celebrated a few days ago Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year. 

Amanda: Shana Tovah! 

Rachel: Yes, Shana Tovah! So just, you know, to new beginnings, every day is a chance for renewal and redemption and to start over. I think everyone knows that that's possible, but it's a nice reminder when we have a big holiday or something to have us focused on redemption and change and renewal. So yes. So Shana Tovah, Happy New Year to all who celebrate and I'm ready to get started on some new and exciting things for a sweet New Year.

So what is your Toast to Joy Amanda?

Amanda: So my Toast to Joy today is to our neighborhood patio crawl. So we, every once in a while, it's actually only our second one, but we've started to do more events like this and we visit different patios. So we were a host and the theme was different decades, so, well, it was technically drinking in different decades. So we were drinking in the 1950s, which was super fun, and I always love these things that we do in our neighborhood. I love getting to talk with our neighbors, and I also like peeking at their patios and what other patios look like. Don't tell them!

Jasmine: I do that with patio furniture as well. I'm like, “Oh, this is cute.”

Amanda: I know! 

Jasmine: So my Toast to Joy this week is to being recognized by the Georgia Legislative Black Caucus as the 2022 Legislator of the year. 

Amanda: Woo! Can I just say on the podcast, they can't see it, but we can all see her gorgeous award sitting right next to her. 

Jasmine: Yeah, so it was a great night. I got a dress and I ordered the dress online, so I did not know how the dress would fit, and it ended up being absolutely amazing. I got so many compliments on the dress. It was like white and gold.

Amanda: Oooh.

Jasmine: It was, it was really pretty. So I accepted my award in this dress and I had absolutely no idea I was getting an award. And then on top of that, my dad was there at the gala because he works for Kaiser Permanente in Georgia and they had a table, and so they had invited different people to sit at the table and so he accepted the invitation. So he happened to be at the dinner. 

Amanda: He didn't know either?

Jasmine: No, I didn't even know! So he happened to be at the dinner on the day I get an award in my fabulous dress, and so it's just like this perfect storm. It was amazing. 

My dad's like my superhero cause like, I feel like a lot of the things that I do, I do because I wanna follow in his footsteps. I really do admire him a lot. And so the fact that he was there to see me accept that award was like, it was, it was perfect. 

Rachel: That's so cool! 

Amanda: Congrats. That is awesome. And I saw on Twitter you were endorsed by Collective PAC! 

Jasmine: Yes!

Amanda: I love the Collective PAC and the empowering that they do. So congrats on that too.

Wait, are you feeling confident? Everyone asks Casey. How confident are you?

Jasmine: So, I will be honest, I never feel confident in any election until, honestly, until the numbers are in. Cause you just never know. But I will say this, I've knocked on thousands of doors. I have sent thousands of mailers and postcards already. We've made hundreds of phone calls, pushing up on the thousands. But together, I know we're putting in the work, so I feel very good about the work that we're putting in. You know, we've got like less than a month until early voting starts here in Georgia. So I guess, I don't know what the word is. I feel productive, so I don't feel good or bad. I feel productive going into election day. 

Amanda: That's good. You know, you're doing what you can. 

Jasmine: Exactly. 

So starting this week, we're gonna start closing every episode with a new segment about voting. So today our advice is to make sure you're registered to vote. And don't assume that you're registered just because you voted in the past. Cause I know like here in Georgia, they like purge voters. 

Amanda: Yeah same here. 

Jasmine: And people don't find out until they try to go vote and it's like, “Oh no, I thought I was registered.” But yeah, so you can go to vote.gov to check your registration and remind everyone you know, to check on their registration too. So that's VOTE dot GOV.

Rachel: Excellent advice. 

Jasmine: All right, so thanks so much to everyone for joining us today, and we'll see you next week on another episode of The Suburban Women Problem.