%20-%20Magda%20DeMauro.jpg)
ACUMA ONpoint
ACUMA ONpoint
Collaboration and Leadership in the Credit Union Mortgage Sector
What impact do credit unions have in the mortgage industry, and how can they foster collaboration and leadership? Our latest episode of the ACUMA ONpoint podcast promises to enlighten you with insights from Magda DeMauro, AVP of Mortgage Services and Underwriting at Fairwinds Credit Union. Magda's leadership within Florida's credit union mortgage sector offers a compelling look at how credit unions are making significant strides. We'll reflect on the transformative power of teamwork and the importance of an open-minded approach, as Magda shares her experiences and valuable lessons learned from industry events. Our conversation explores a collaborative initiative in Florida where credit union professionals unite to tackle challenges and share solutions in underwriting. Don't miss this episode, which is filled with inspiration, community building, and a touch of holiday spirit. Sponsored by Optimal Blue.
The views and opinions expressed in this podcast do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Acuma, its board of directors, its management staff or its members. The podcast discussion presented is conversational in nature and for general information only.
Speaker 3:Hello, welcome to Atom's On Point podcast, a series focused on sharing the stories of people who are making a positive impact in the credit union mortgage industry. I'm your host, Peter Benjamin. Before I introduce today's guest, a quick word from our sponsor.
Speaker 4:This episode is sponsored by Optimal Blue. A quick word from our sponsor sizes deliver premier experiences to members pursuing the dream of home ownership Through innovative technology, a network of interconnectivity, rich data, insights and experience gathered over more than 20 years, optimal Blue is an experienced partner that, in any market, allows credit unions to optimize their advantage, from pricing accuracy to margin protection in every step in between. To learn more, visit OptimalBluecom.
Speaker 3:Today, my guest is Magda DeMauro, AVP of Mortgage Services and Underwriting at Fairwinds Credit Union. Magda, how are you doing today? I'm doing absolutely wonderful, glad to be here. How are you doing today?
Speaker 5:I'm doing absolutely wonderful. Glad to be here.
Speaker 3:I love that Love that, love that Love that I'm excited to talk to you.
Speaker 3:You know, over the past really, you know year and a half, two years you know I've had the opportunity to you know, speak at the Florida Curin a few times. I've gotten to know you. I got to know you a little bit more when we were down in Orlando, you know, hosting a party and round table for Namba and I got to talk to you a little bit more and I was fascinated about with you and you know, I think Justin and I immediately, you know, kind of pulled each other aside and said we have to have magda on the pod. And you know, here we are today, absolutely, absolutely, and so excited that you're here, I'm so excited that we were able to kind of get you scheduled and and have you as our special guests. Now I want to dive into a great conversation because and I and I'll dive into that why you're here and why we're excited to have this conversation. But before I do that, justin the hawk, and and we're gonna add that that screech to this one, the hawk what's the latest and greatest happening over there?
Speaker 2:well, we are officially recovered from, uh, our annual conference, which was a blast. We had a lot of fun, great networking, so that was awesome to see. We're kind of on the back half of the back end of the year, so our schedule as far as events gets a little bit lighter, but we have inside tracks and fast track webinars going on throughout the rest of the year and we have our young professional network fourth quarter meeting, which will be happening in december. So everybody, stay on the lookout for your emails. And we will soon be launching our newest network, the marketing network, um, right in a very short few weeks. So stay out on, stay on the lookout for that as well. Um, I'm personally excited about that because I get to head that one up and I know our members have been talking about it with me for a year now because some of them already knew it was coming. That's awesome, that's awesome.
Speaker 3:And we've already started planning out for 2025. And I mean for me personally. Second, I got back from annual. I've already started putting together the agenda for both Actually, really not both, but the summit agenda is already done. The workshops are almost 75 done and agendas for for annuals already started to be put together.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, save the dates for those go out soon. We'll have our summit coming up in april and then, uh, both workshops in uh may and june respectively, and yeah, and we'll be back to annual and and then, a year from now, we'll be having the same conversation about how we've recovered and we're looking forward to next year. I know it's nonstop, man.
Speaker 3:It's a vicious cycle but it's nonstop. But we love what we do. It's so much fun. All right, thank you very much. Thank you All right, magda. All right, so you know again. You know we we sat down, we had a great conversation at Namba and kind of brings us to why. You know why we are here and you know you are, you know, I think, a great leader in Florida. You are someone who is well known in Florida.
Speaker 3:But you know, I always start off the podcast by by saying this, and and I'm going to do it again, I feel like I always have to do this but the ACMA On Point podcast is a people piece, it's a human interest piece. We started this podcast because there's a lot of podcasts out there that highlight people in the mortgage industry, but they're always from large banks, they're always from IMBs. But I very well know that I would put anyone in the credit union space on our side of the mortgage industry, the credit union mortgage side of the industry, up against any of those guys, anyone on the IMB side, the banking side. I would put any one of us up against them any day of the year and we come out ahead. We're just that much better and I feel confident about that.
Speaker 3:And so there wasn't a single podcast that highlighted the stories of people on our side of the industry. And so that's why we started this podcast, because we want to highlight the difference makers and share their stories. And so for me and really Justin, because we kind of had that, that, that that kind of coming together moment where we got to get Magda on this podcast, you know, we want to share your story, we want we want people to get to know who you are. And so again, ackman, on Point Podcast, people Peace. Before we go too much further into this, please, for those who don't know who Magda is, who is Magda? Tell us who you are. Obviously you're well-known in Florida, but for everyone else who's listening, who is Magda?
Speaker 5:That's a great question. I ask myself that every day I'm always looking for something to grow from. Every day is a new day to make a difference. So that's kind of a loaded question to ask me. Who is Magda?
Speaker 5:Magda is a very seasoned mortgage professional who's been around the block and worked on pretty much all sides of the industry, but by far hands down, my favorite is the credit union space. So far hands down, my favorite is the credit union space. It's the first time in my very long career that work and life and my moral compass were all aligned and moving in the same direction at the same time, because prior it was always the conflict of something either and not knocking my friends in the mortgage industry but it's more about the dollar and how much I could produce and not about the people behind the loans. And the credit union space is all about the people behind the loans and not the dollars. Don't get me wrong. We still have to make a profit. I like that focus and that's where I think lending should always have been is people focused.
Speaker 3:Oh and, and I like that you said that because it's I had that same feeling. The second I kind of came into, you know that the credit union world, you know, having come from a community bank and and I had that feeling a little bit in the community bank because it was, it was a, it was a, a very it wasn't a small community bank but it was a close-knit community and so I kind of had that a little bit but it was a close-knit community and so I kind of had that a little bit, but it was definitely still a bank, so they still most certainly focused on the bottom line. But I had that feeling. But I felt like that it became full circle when I came to the credit union space and it was that epiphany moment where it was there is a greater good, right there's putting families at homes, right, that idea of, yes, families and homes, you know we really are doing, really are helping people. And I love that.
Speaker 3:You had that same kind of transition, that same feeling when you came to Credit Union Space. That that I did now kind of again pivoting to you know why I'm so fascinated by you is that for me, just kind of watching you from a distance and your involvement and how, how instrumental you are in, in everyone in florida, with everyone in florida taking this, this approach, in this stance. Know and correct me if I'm wrong and if I'm putting words in your mouth. Please forgive me. I don't mean to, but you, you you've kind of you've had this, this very successful career, and you've had this wealth of knowledge and at the same time, you've kind of taken the stance of how can I give back, teach others and make them successful and how can I make a difference in their lives, right?
Speaker 5:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And I love that because not only does that embody the credit union spirit people helping people it's. It's yes, we are helping the members every single day, but that is when you come to the event. That's like the big group hub that we always talk about. Whenever you come to an Acme event, Like you do that almost every single day with every single one of your Florida credit union peers, I love that. So what are you currently doing to kind of help the credit unions, your peers in Florida, to kind of help them kind of sort of grow, Like, what are you kind of doing to make a difference in their lives? Kind of walk me through that. And what else can we do as an industry to expand on that? And I know I just wrote a lot of different questions at you, but I love that you're doing this like this kind of give back thing, because it's all too often we have these, we have these conversations and I'm going to get on my soapbox, so please forgive me.
Speaker 3:We have these conversations with younger leaders on this podcast, right, and they often say we're even younger leaders or leaders within our industry. We just had a podcast, recorded a podcast, and it was with Nicole Poole and she was, like you know, as a leader, we have to do a better job of nurturing a younger generation and give them and giving them our knowledge, help them grow and blossom so they can be successful, right, Like we have to give them the tools to be successful. Well, it's like, well, Nicole Magda's kind of doing that, right, I mean you're, I mean you are literally doing that for that younger generation. So, please, I'm gonna stop talking now, but so kind of expand on the things that you're doing to kind of make a difference and help others be successful.
Speaker 5:I'd like to start how it all started to begin with, because when I came to the credit union space I was used to I've only been in the credit union space seven years now and I was used to whatever information you had in an organization and stayed within your organization. Your trials, tribulations and successes, they stayed inside the organization. You didn't share, you didn't talk, you didn't nothing product development, nothing. And early on here at Fairwinds I was encouraged to be active in our community and network and I met a bunch of folks through the Florida Kirin at their conferences and it became really evident really fast that not everybody has resources at their institutions or varying degrees of bench strength or people on their teams. It might be a two-person team, maybe a one-person team, and that one person is the underwriter, the loan officer and the closer all in one.
Speaker 5:And in talking to and I'm going to credit my friend Carlinda Lilly at Achieva, we talked and we realized, hey, we can, can I call you when I have a question? And we started doing that and we started. You know she had an issue. She's also a very seasoned underwriter. I'm a seasoned underwriter but we don't know everything and sometimes you just need a different perspective than the one in your, inside your organization, because chances are, the person that wants you to do a loan is probably the person who has the most interest in getting the loan done, and not necessarily finding a way to do the loan and mitigating risk, if you will.
Speaker 5:So through that came, we started talking and then we invited a couple more people to join us and for over a year now we hold monthly calls and we invite all credit unions in Florida to join us, and it doesn't have to be just underwriters we processors, loan officers, people who want to know more. The only thing we ask is that they come with an open mind and a spirit of collaboration. That's the only requirement of this call, and we come with some topics just to keep the conversation moving, but 95% of the time, or more, it becomes an organic conversation as to what the challenges are that everybody's facing. And it's not my answer, it's not Carlinda's answer, it's the community's answer, because we all like share.
Speaker 5:Well, this worked for me and this didn't work for me, or we tried this, and it's a very collaborative, synergetic environment and it's fantastic. So, aside from the monthly call, I give everybody my email freely. Ask away, and if I don't know it. I can find a resource that probably does, and we share emails and we have email chains of what are you doing with this? Or I got this audit finding and this is what they told me. What do you think of this? You?
Speaker 4:just share.
Speaker 5:Somebody once upon a time gave me a chance. I didn't know everything about mortgages when I started, so how do we share our knowledge and our experience with other people other than by talking and making it easy to get access to you? And that's kind of what I've done. We've done to make sure that who needs it can get the help that they need.
Speaker 3:So how long has that call been going on for?
Speaker 5:Over a year now and it started with just a handful of people and we now have well over 30 something people that join us on the call and it's a great call and I get so much energy from that call. I get an adrenaline rush from that call.
Speaker 3:That's awesome. So you know, as you look at, you know, internally within your individual credit union, you know what are you doing to kind of help within your individual credit. You make sure obviously you're a great leader and you know you want to make sure that your individual credit union is kind of still growing and blossoming and that you're making that difference in your credit union and within your team. How are you, how are you making that difference as a leader within your credit union and within your team? How are you making that difference as a leader within your credit?
Speaker 5:union. Well, the credit is not all mine. It does take a team to have a great team. We have some amazing leadership, some very smart people in our executive management team, but me personally, I have an open door policy. Literally, my door is always open and I'm always available. I'm always walking around and, hey, how are you doing? How can I help you? What's on your mind? And very rarely do I walk through the loan officer area that I don't get a question, and it might be one that they maybe didn't want to email or put in writing or whatever. But if you're available, ask the question, and I tried. My team does the same thing.
Speaker 5:We all try to be the leaders of our area because we have the largest knowledge set, not skill set, actually, whatever. You know what I'm trying to say. I'm not trying to hurt anybody's feeling, but we have the larger experience in the underwriting area. So it's our responsibility to help others and it's not about saying no, I can't do this alone. Let's talk about why I can't and what we can do differently to maybe do this alone, a different way, or structure this to help the member. Is this truly the best way to serve this member? And we live, I live my everyday, lending life with that mantra. Is this the very best we can do for the member? Is this the very best we can do for the member? Is this the very best we can do for our crew?
Speaker 3:member as well. It goes both ways, I mean. So I mean, obviously it's not every underwriter, not every credit union has that mindset, right, it's. Sometimes we kind of go down that path of being overly risk averse, right, and it's not necessarily about that putting families in homes, right, we kind of that. That that risk aversion almost overly complicates things and we stop thinking outside that box, right, you, you know well enough that there are guidelines, right, there's, there's always alternatives and there's always ways to find, there's always options to work with someone, right? So how did you get to that point where you were? Is this two-part question? How did you to that point where you kind of had that that moment where you're like I want to be that underwriter, I, I want to be that underwriter that helps people, that sits down and explains things and really finds solutions. That's part one of this question. Part two is how do we get more underwriters or more credit unions that really think like that?
Speaker 3:I've known plenty of underwriters. I've led and managed plenty of underwriters in my day that were, I mean you would think, that denial stamp. Remember the good old denial stamps that were just red and they were just, you almost rubber stamp them red denials Like that was like their happy moment, where they can just deny alone Right, rather than work with me and rather than even let me talk to them about an option or alternatives or counter offers or whatever, whatever solution we probably could think of, they might rather just quickly deny it Right and once it's denied, I'm kind of I'm up the creek right or down whatever the saying is. So. So how, how did you just kind of walk into this and say I'm this type of person, I'm gonna find a solution, I'm gonna be a positive about this. Is that just come to you by nature, or what was it?
Speaker 5:It's a combination of things. I think I've had my fair share of some very unpleasant underwriters who carried that red pen and that red stamp that you're referring to, and it was their way, or the highway, and always wanting to have that conversation. But why? What if we do it this way or that way? Conversely, I also have some fantastic underwriters who encourage me to. Well, this is what I have to work with. What can we do to fix it? All within the guise of integrity and quality and all of that.
Speaker 5:It's harder. It's easier to say no than it is to say yes. Sometimes, and I strive to try to find a way to say yes. It might not be the same thing that you're asking me for, that I'm going to say yes to, but we can reduce the loan amount, structure it differently, and it's always got to be a dialogue. I am capable of mistakes and I'm one of the first people to admit I made a mistake or oops, or whatever it is, but always take another, broader look at something, ask somebody else for their opinion and find a way to make it work.
Speaker 5:I mean, not everything can be saved. There are some things that are justifiably that you should be saying no because of your risk appetite and your organization or anything. But if it makes sense and I feel that they're going to repay the loan, I'm like let's try it, especially if it's a member. There's nothing more satisfying knowing that you're helping someone to get somewhere that they where they need it. Somebody's AC broke and they need a home equity line to fix their AC Heck in July. No AC in Florida is a bear. I will have your loan done really fast. All right, now watch me get a bunch of requests for key lock for AC repairs. But anyway, it's just an example of you need to have empathy when you do this, and nobody is beyond reproach. Just because I made a decision doesn't mean that somebody else can't have a different perspective, even with my underwriting team. If somebody disagrees with my perspective, they have their lending authority. We have healthy discussions. We don't have to always agree. There's always multiple paths to get to a successful lending.
Speaker 3:So how do we get more underwriters to think like that?
Speaker 5:Not being afraid to make mistakes and just be human, because we're not expecting. There was a time that I thought I needed to know everything and you don't. You absolutely don't. I have a significant portion of the Fannie Mae guideline memorized in my brain. Fannie Mae changes that a lot. So now I'm at the stage of is that the way it was or is it now? So now I'm constantly just fact-checking myself, if you will, but you have to be open to feedback, perspectives, information and then just make the best decision that you can.
Speaker 5:It's okay to make mistakes. It really truly is, is, and I think as institutions, we most a lot of institutions. I shouldn't generalize anybody, but if an underwriter makes a mistake I used to be an environment you made a mistake and you were gone. You can't be a successful underwriter if you're operating under that level of stress. That begets more errors. So you have to give them the opportunity to make mistakes and learn and grow from it. If we have an audit response that's required the first ones that are responding and researching it is the underwriter of record. How did we get here? What did we miss? Did we miss it? Is it the auditor's mistake? And there's growth in that process, but it's never an absolute yes or an absolute no. Somebody in my life used to say what's mine is mine and what's yours is negotiable. Same thing with ideas, same thing with thoughts. You know, your mind can be changed.
Speaker 2:Justin, you leaned in. Yeah, I love that attitude of you. Know, just because it's a no right now doesn't mean it's a definitive no. It means let's rework it. I mean, I've said that a thousand times to people in different ways, that no doesn't necessarily mean no. It just means we got to find another way to get to the yes. So I love that approach.
Speaker 2:And then how you built this community, like you're saying that people used to be, you know, if you messed up, that was it, like it was one and done right. It was pretty much zero tolerance, right. But then you built this community to like really kind of take that fear and kind of channel it into a community of individuals who can come to a table together and just kind of share ideas. And I mean that's the credit union movement all in all. I mean just being able to come together and just kind of share ideas and I mean that's the, that's the credit union movement all in all. I mean just being able to come together and collaborate. So I think that's that's awesome that you're doing that.
Speaker 5:I absolutely love it, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean you can't see her, but you can't see Magda's face, but you can tell she loves it. I mean you can hear it in truly something special. You can, just you can already tell absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 3:You know, you know, magda, you know for me, whenever I would go, you know, hire an underwriter, I'd always hire. You know I'd always look for for a couple things I I would hire a tough personality. I wanted a strong personality one for a couple of different reasons. I wanted someone who could stand their ground against the toughest of loan officers right, because I didn't want a top producing loan officer coming in and trying to bully an underwriter. So I wanted to know I had an underwriter that could stand their ground right.
Speaker 3:But at the same exact time, I wanted to know I had an under that was compassionate and that they were a human being and that if a processor or a loan officer just went up to them and talked to them actually like a human being, that they would actually sit down and teach them and talk to them like a normal person, that they would work with them all day long. And those were always the underwriters that I recruited. They were tough but they would always work with my loan officers and processors. My loan officers hated it because they'd always push back, but whenever a loan officer would come into my office and complain about an underwriter and my response would always be well. Did you actually talk to her like a human being? And they'd always say, no, I'm like, go talk to her like a human being, get out of my office.
Speaker 5:You know what, peter, and I also don't mind the pushback, because that's part of I have to be able to stand behind a decision that I'm making and if you don't agree with me, show me how or why I should be making a different decision, and let's find a way to meet somewhere in the middle and still make this work. Wow At the time they're not even showing you the guidelines, that's okay, that's where you show them.
Speaker 2:That's where you show them Education. I love it. We're all about educating.
Speaker 3:That's right, that's right.
Speaker 2:They're going to complain about your under, complaining about your underwriting.
Speaker 5:But I'll show you the guidelines next next thing we know, magda's going to be assigning five page, five page essays on how to do underwriting. That's right? No, so you just need one page, one picture one page, one picture.
Speaker 2:Picture says a thousand words, right?
Speaker 5:that's it.
Speaker 3:That's exactly right yeah, so you know, I kind of you know we, we need to start transitioning, but I do want to have a short conversation on something, and so you know, in many ways I'm going to frame up the fact that you know the thing that you're doing in Florida as far as this underwriting call that you do, and please, is it monthly or quarterly?
Speaker 5:Monthly and we call it the roundtable call. Okay, the roundtable call.
Speaker 3:Okay, the roundtable call. In many ways, it's very much a mentorship program for loan officers, processors, younger underwriters or even seasoned right. It's certainly something that teaches people how to be successful, right and so if a younger processor just wants to learn, they can just call into this and be a sponge, right and so earlier in this conversation, I talked about how, as an industry, we really need to do a better job of mentoring the younger generation and giving them the tools to be successful right, helping them be prepared to be the next leaders, be the next underwriters, giving them the knowledge to be the next Magnus, really Right. So, in Europe, what can we do as today's leaders that give them the tools to be successful? So, I've already heard from the likes of Nicole Poole, who's an excellent sales leader right, she focuses a lot on sales and sales training.
Speaker 3:But you are an underwriter. So, as someone who's listening to this podcast, who wants to be an underwriter, who wants to go down the path of being an underwriter, and who wants to hear from a great leader in underwriting, who wants to learn about the steps of becoming a great underwriter and wants that mentorship, what can someone do to become the next Magda? What are some of the steps that they need to learn to be a great underwriter?
Speaker 5:It depends on where they are on this path and this journey. One great resource and one of the things that I do whenever I onboard a new underwriter is I, because not everybody learns the same. People sometimes are good listeners. Some people need to do, some people need to see. So I try to do a multi-tactile environment to help people learn our lending philosophy here, but I also ask them to take several of the multiple and my company's webinars. There's a whole bunch of them. They're all free, from income calculations to the overarching process of a loan. Where is the money made? You know all those kind of things and understanding your industry If you really want to be an underwriter.
Speaker 5:Self-employed income is usually one of the biggest hurdles for people because they're just fearful and intimidated by tax returns. Go take a tax class from H&R Block. They have them, and if they cost anything, it's minimal, but they offer some free classes on how to prepare taxes, or maybe even Intuit. Intuit probably has them for free now too. Take those tax classes. Build your wealth of knowledge. Get familiar with the resources.
Speaker 5:Remember, you don't have to have all the answers, but you need to know where to find them and systems. Understand the whys in the system Because, okay, the debt-to to income ratio isn't working right. If you don't understand what's included in a debt to income ratio, how can you ever know that the computer is right or wrong? So it's understanding what's behind the scenes and not solely rely on automation. But beyond that, I think, making ourselves available, not just locally here in Florida. I think making ourselves available not just locally here in Florida, but on a broader scale as a resource for people to come and join if they want to learn, because everybody wants to learn. Nobody knows everything. And, if nothing else, network with like-minded people that could be part of your resource network.
Speaker 3:I love it. Okay, last question, it's the last. I always ask people on this podcast uh, again, people piece that kind of. Again it kind of ties back to the people piece, but you know what? What? What motivates you Um, one foot out of bed? You know you are just like everyone else, keeps you going. We'll keep pushing what keeps pushing you forward, day in, day out.
Speaker 5:I'm going to go back to being curious, because I love to learn. Every day is a new day. Every day is a new opportunity to be better than I was the day before and I still got a lot of life ahead of me, so just keep moving forward. The people, the people I work with, have become family. They motivate me individually every day. My family there's a whole lot of motivating factors. I've been very blessed with a lot of motivation in my life and I just want to be able to keep helping people Up until the day I don't feel like I'm helping anybody. I want to keep doing this. This is all I've really done on my career is mortgages, with a brief stint, not not in mortgages during the great recession, but other than that. This is all I've ever done and I absolutely love it, and I think I told you my my little job at the hotel California thing. Mortgages industry is like once you get in it, it's very hard to get out of it because you fall in love with it.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 5:People rarely leave it once they're in it.
Speaker 3:Yep, you can't leave. You're stuck, stuck forever, and every time you think about leaving, it somehow pulls you back. It pulls you back in. That's awesome. Thank you very much for answering that. Well, magda.
Speaker 3:It's time for us to transition for the second segment. Now. This is where we sometimes do Jeopardy. Sometimes we play trivia, sometimes we do the crowd favorite dad jokes, but today we're going to do a little ranking game.
Speaker 3:Now, thanksgiving is around the corner, and so we're going to do a little fun little ranking game centered around Thanksgiving food. And so what I'm going to do is I'm going to ask you to rank without knowing what comes next. Just some Thanksgiving food between you and Justin, okay, so I'm going to say a food. It's going to be five foods. Okay, I'm going to ask you just to say the food. So I'm going to say the food and I'm just going to say rank between one and five. Okay, and it's just going to be where you would think that food would go in your top five foods. Okay, and keep in mind, you have no idea what food is next in this top five. Okay, you ready to play, justin? You ready to go also? Absolutely, I love this. All right, first one up and by the are all. These are all traditional thanksgiving foods, according to the website delish okay, okay, we get the option to change our answers later.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay, okay okay, again, without knowing what comes next, and you have to say it out loud, of course. The first one is, and I'll tell you what the website ranked it as, according to this unofficial survey at the end. The first one is green bean casserole. Where would you rank that in your ranking? Green bean casserole.
Speaker 5:Five being high, one being low.
Speaker 3:Five being like, not your favorite, one being your absolute favorite. Okay, where would you? I'm gonna say four four. Okay, justin, bring me a casserole I'll go with three three, so that one's like a solid middle for you. Yeah, okay, the next one. Next one keep in mind this is based off popularity, according to the website delish. The next one corn casserole, corn casserole, five, five.
Speaker 5:I'm going to have to agree with him. That's probably five.
Speaker 3:Five. That one's dead. Last I had to look at what corn casserole was. That sounds gross. It's kind of like I. Actually I've always heard it as like corn pudding, but it's called corn casserole. It's basically like cornbreaderole. It's basically like cornbread, just softer, not bad. All right, next one. So you have All right, next one Mashed potatoes.
Speaker 5:I'm going to go three. I'm not a mashed potatoes girl, but I'm hoping there's better foods on the list.
Speaker 2:Hoping that there's better foods. Put it at two, because I think there's going to be something worse at four. Come on, man, I don't like potatoes. No, that's not a mashed potato. That's a fried potato.
Speaker 5:Come on, man, grease makes everything better.
Speaker 3:Grease makes everything better, except for your heart. Next one, stuffing. Where would you rank stuffing? By the way, this did not specify what type of stuffing, except for your heart. All right, next one, stuffing. Where would you rank stuffing? And, by the way, this did not specify what type of stuffing. It just said stuffing.
Speaker 5:I'm going to go with two.
Speaker 3:Two.
Speaker 5:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:All right, so Justin.
Speaker 2:I'm going to go with four, four.
Speaker 3:Okay, I hate stuffing. That would have been dead last for me, knowing that that was probably still out there.
Speaker 5:I would have just waited for that one to pop up now I have my husband's a gourmet cook and he makes this fabulous stuffing that everybody always asks us to bring it when we go to their house so stuffing for me is high what type of stuff is it? Pine nuts um cranberries. It's just amazing so.
Speaker 3:So, based off what I understand, stuffing is actually when they cook it in the bird right. He doesn't cook it in the bird right, he doesn't cook it in the bird?
Speaker 5:No, it's cooked on the side.
Speaker 2:I don't know which one's which.
Speaker 3:So it's like stuffing and then dressing. Right, yeah, yeah, alright. Last one is sweet potato casserole.
Speaker 5:Number one Number one. That's what I was hoping for. I thought you were hoping for that.
Speaker 3:I'm going with number one on that one as well well, that was the only option, so they were both number ones.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know, but seriously, that was the best one out of five, alright so if you were to, let's go over your options again.
Speaker 3:If you were to switch any of them, would you switch any of them?
Speaker 2:no, yes, I would move green beans to two and I'd move mashed potatoes to three okay, all right.
Speaker 3:So you want to hear what the official ranking is according to the website delish? Yeah, all right, I'll start with number five. So the worst according to the website delish, you're actually gonna. According to the website delish, sweet potato casserole is number five. People like that the least. Number four is corn casserole, or corn pudding, which I know it as. Number three is mashed potatoes. So apparently no one likes mashed potatoes. Number two is green bean casserole and number one is stuffing.
Speaker 2:I only got mashed potatoes right, that's it it well, I switched two of my answers, so I got two of them right. Well, it's not about getting it.
Speaker 3:Right, it's all about personal preferences, but that is based off of the website delish and what people consider to be their favorite foods. On thanksgiving and, by the way, the only one I actually like I guess creamy casserole is good. I can do without out mashed potatoes. Yeah, I can do without it. I actually was shocked that mac and cheese wasn't on there. Do you guys have mac and cheese on Thanksgiving?
Speaker 2:No, yeah, but we also have sushi.
Speaker 3:See, I'm going to come over to your house, I'm going to have some sushi.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I don't have these foods for Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving is very different to this.
Speaker 3:But I know again the website Delish just Google. Yeah, you know ranking I mean. By the way, I might try this. I do want to know more about the stuffing recipe with pine nuts in it.
Speaker 5:I'll hook you up with my husband and give you his secret recipe.
Speaker 3:Please do, please do. I've yet to find a stuffing recipe that I've liked, but if you're saying people request it, I'll try anything once Always once it's not in the bird.
Speaker 5:This is a standalone.
Speaker 3:Standalone. Okay, I won't go with it. Well, well, magda, that wraps up this episode. I want to thank you very much for joining us on this episode of the Akma's Envoy podcast. I really enjoyed our conversation. I really appreciate everything that you do for our industry, everything that you're doing down in Florida. Again, you are absolutely amazing. So thank you very much for joining us.
Speaker 5:Thank you for the opportunity. I'm absolutely honored and I find this to be a privileged, privileged, not edged. Find this to be a privileged, privileged, not edged.
Speaker 3:Of course, of course. Thank you very much, thank you.
Speaker 5:Thank you very much for having me Of course.
Speaker 2:And Justin, thank you very much.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, it was my pleasure, Awesome and to close out, thank you again to Optimal Blue for sponsoring today's episode and to all of you. We know your time is valuable. Thank you for tuning in to the latest episode of Acuma's On Point Podcast. We hope you enjoyed it. Until next time. Be well, my friends.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening. We'll see you next time at the Acuma On Point Podcast. If not already, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating For more great episodes and information. Be sure to visit us online at acumaorg and to get the latest updates. Head over to our LinkedIn page.
