Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
Bringing Together Local Businesses & Neighbors of Cooper City
Good Neighbor Podcast: Cooper City
EP #250: Aimee Sanchez-Zadak with Zadak Research and Development & Balloonatics: From Side Hustle to Serving Big-Named Clients
What if you could transform a simple side hustle into a booming business with clients like the Miami Marlins? Join us as we sit down with Aimee Sanchez-Zadak, the driving force behind Balloonatics and Zadak Research and Development, to uncover her inspiring journey from a corporate job to entrepreneurial success. Aimee shares heartwarming anecdotes, such as the serendipitous moment she connected with her daughter during cold calls, illustrating the incredible power of community involvement and networking through the Davie Cooper City Chamber of Commerce.
Aimee's transition from the corporate world to balloon decor is nothing short of fascinating. She and her husband started small, inspired by a Miami fundraiser, and eventually secured big-name clients, turning their side hustle into a full-time venture. We also delve into her expertise in behavioral strategy with ZADAC Research and Development, where she helps businesses optimize their environments through subtle yet impactful changes. Aimee emphasizes the importance of balancing passion with practicality, offering valuable insights into the business world and personal growth.
Networking is more than just a buzzword in Aimee's story—it's a cornerstone of her success. From innovative business crawls to integrating university students into the local business scene, Aimee's involvement with the Chamber of Commerce has opened doors to countless opportunities. We explore the benefits of community support, artistic growth, and the enduring impact of legacy and personal development, underscored by touching stories that resonate deeply. Tune in for a rich tapestry of experiences and lessons that can transform your approach to business and life.
Call: (954) 805-2745
Visit: http://www.aimeezadak.com/ & https://balloonaticsfla.com
This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Jeremy Wolf.
Speaker 2:Hello, hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. I'm your host, jeremy Wolf, and before we get into the guest today, I want to give a little story. I don't typically do this, but there is a little backstory here which I find kind of amusing, so I want to share it with everyone. Our guest today. Actually, the first time I spoke with her was about two years ago when I was starting Cooper City Living Magazine. I remember I was prospecting and I was looking for local businesses to call and I happened upon the Chamber of Commerce site. There was a list of businesses there and I'm going down the list, I'm making cold calls and lovely lady answers and I give her my little opener, my little ask and she comes back with an invite, says hey, you know, jeremy, if you want to connect with a lot of businesses, you should come check out the Cooper City Davie or Davie Cooper City Chamber of Commerce. And she gave me a contact over there. Raphael Walters, was it Walters? Yeah, walters, right, I think Raphael.
Speaker 1:Yes, raphael Walters.
Speaker 2:Anyway, spoke with Raphael Actually I didn't call him right then and there I kind of like filed that away in my mind and I went back to I was grinding away. I went back, called the next name on the list. Lovely lady answered Same thing. I gave her my way and I said you know, that's funny. I just spoke with a lovely lady and she said the same exact thing in a very similar way, and she said what was her name? I said it was Amy, amy Zadak. And she goes oh, that's my mother. I was speaking to Angelica Zadak. Fast forward two years. I've been a Chamber member for about that time. I've had Angelica on the podcast and here we are full circle with our guest today, amy Sanchez Zadak, who joins us from. She wears a lot of hats, she owns Balloonatics, zadak Research and Development and has been a driving force within the Davey Cooper City Chamber of Commerce for quite some time now. So I'm excited to have her on the show to hear all about her journey. So, amy, welcome to the show.
Speaker 3:Thank you, thanks Jeremy. I'm really excited, so I appreciate the opportunity.
Speaker 2:I always love chatting with you. Yeah, the feeling is mutual, of course. So let's get into it and you start where you'd like. Tell us a little bit about what you do, and then we'll kind of get into the backstory behind it.
Speaker 3:Okay, so we're entrepreneurs, obviously, as you mentioned, with my daughter my daughters are entrepreneurs as well but we started a company called the Lunatics about 31 years ago and it wasn't part of our life plan. My husband and I worked for corporate and we needed cash. We were basically broke. You know, we had just started a family. So we started this little side hustle which everybody calls now and we were selling balloons, which was just, you know, birthday balloons to our office friends, and we listed ourselves, we became legal, we went, you know, to this.
Speaker 3:We were at Cooper City at the time. We listed our little home based business and we get a call from this place called the chamber Davie Cooper City Chamber of Commerce. And my first question was what is the Davie Cooper City Chamber of Commerce? And the executive director at that time, celia, she was phenomenal. She said you know, you really need it, you need to expose this, your business, and we'll help you. And I was like I don't have time, I'm working corporate, I just had a baby, I'm going for my master's, so, yeah, it's a little hectic and she's just come, you know, just come to one meeting. So they came, they, we signed up, great. Next step we know they go join a committee and I'm like oh, don't do it, and you know how we feel as business owners.
Speaker 3:You know it's one step and then the next and they go.
Speaker 2:Just come to one committee meeting, slowly roping you in like just come to a meeting. Come to a lunch. Check it out. It'll be a committee meeting. Like slowly roping you in yes, just come to a meeting. Come to a lunch. Check it out. Yes, come to a committee meeting. It'll be a come on.
Speaker 3:Yes, you'll love it. And I'm like. So I had a temper tantrum, went anyways and showed up and there were these amazing people there and it was a communication committee and we were working on a newsletter at that time and the Miami Dolphins were going to be our hosts for the next breakfast. We had a breakfast going on and they said you know, you're new, let's introduce you to the Dolphins. Why don't you call them and ask them what would they like the newsletter to say and what are they going to be sharing? And I said I've never done this, like I'm not a communication major. You know psychology, yes, communication, which is kind of related. But so called him.
Speaker 3:The gentleman that answered the phone was an intern who had just started with the Miami Dolphins. So it was the blind leading the blind, like what do we do here? And I said listen, I'll write something up, you approve it, I'll post it. And at that time it was hard copy, nothing was on email. And he said, sure, and I go. And hey, by the way, since I'm going to be at that breakfast, how about if I bring some balloons and decorate the place, so that it'll be, you know, nice? And he said sure, so we did that. Met him at the breakfast. His name was Rhett Tacone, so, uh, rhett Butler Tacone, which was interesting. So that led to another uh, conversation, met him, talked to him that afternoon. He called me and he said listen, we're doing this thing called sports town. Do you remember sports town at Joe Robbie stadium? I don't know if you? Um, no, I wasn't. I wasn't really down here until like full time, until after college.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I don't know. If you know I wasn't, I wasn't really down here until like full time, until after college, I don't know. I don't know how long ago that was.
Speaker 3:That was. That was in 1993.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I was in New York in 93.
Speaker 3:That's crazy, right, you're probably in elementary school.
Speaker 2:Let's not go down memory hill right now.
Speaker 3:So so did we what I didn't? I didn't know how to do a quote. I mean, I, you know this is a big company, right? So I put together this quote. He calls me back. He said you know it's a deal. And we did. We've been with them for 31 seasons. When people complain, I go, don't complain. So that really created a loyalty to the chamber because it was Celia pushing me every time. I didn't want to. It's like a mentorship program Now we call it like our mentors. And she knew, and that wasn't the only thing. She introduced me to so many other businesses that I wouldn't have connected with and it wasn't like come to a luncheon and then network, go on your own. It was wait a second, this is the person I want you to connect with because I think that's going to fit.
Speaker 2:So that was really that's so cool. I love that. It reminds me of a quote I heard. I don't know if you know Chris Williamson. He has a I think that's his name. He has a podcast. He does very sharp guy. And he said that the the magic you're looking for is in the work that you're avoiding. Yes, that came to mind because you said there was resistance to the committee. You're like I don't want to do that, I'm busy with this, and you kind of just said, no, let me lean into this and then you got into it and it created a connection and then, sure you know, kind of launched your seemingly sounds like it kind of launched your business off.
Speaker 3:Oh, it did A hundred percent, because at that time what happened was that Mr Huizinga owned the Dolphins, the Marlins and the Panthers, so we became very well known in the sports industry. And then every time someone you know the college games and all that, since we were working with the stadium it was like oh, you got to go to yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, and the same thing with the Panthers. It was well, we only allow these people in our suites to do this decor because we knew that we couldn't use helium. It was very specific to the customer, you know. So we worked around it. We had that corporate background, my husband and I, so it was easy to follow and understand that. You're, first of all, the charging method to corporate. Everyone thinks that, oh, you've got the Mamie Dolphins, you've got to charge them. You know, the larger the company, the less the budget.
Speaker 1:Interesting.
Speaker 3:It's not now. If you're looking at brides and bar mitzvahs and bar mitzvahs, that's a whole different story. You know, there's kind of no budget there.
Speaker 2:Why the? That's a whole different story. You know, there's kind of no budget there why?
Speaker 3:why the larger the company, the smaller the budget, Because they but they create their budget yearly, so they go okay, in events we're only going to spend X amount of money. So we have $10,000 for the year on special events and they can't.
Speaker 2:Whereas the smaller events, it's there is no, there's just like not really a budget people, it's a one-off, and they're like, oh, I'm just going to go go at it really hard and invest a lot of money.
Speaker 3:Right. So, brides, they want something. They're going to get it.
Speaker 1:And that's what's fun about getting married.
Speaker 3:You know you get what you want, right, but when corporate? So we were very sensitive to that and we we knew it because we worked for corporate. So when they came to us, our question was, okay, well, what budget are we working with? And then they would turn around and say, oh, thanks for asking, and this is our budget. And then we because you know, we'd send them a wishlist and they go, oh, we really like this, but we can't afford this. And we said that's fine. And so we've been known for in Balloonatics in the corporate world. That's our main account. Probably 90% of our business is corporate.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And then the other 10% is actually family of corporate because we get all these referrals and so we really enjoy doing that because we work under a process at Balloonetics called we call them SBUs, which are small business units. So we have a printing division. That's a business unit. We have the delivery division, which is international. People order from us from all over the world and we deliver there locally with Tri County. We deliver. And then we have the events and prop company, which is the proper image. So we have several divisions within the company, which gives everybody a stake in it. You know our team and it makes them feel really responsible for their own little business, which is fun.
Speaker 2:I love it. I love it, I want to. I can see like a reality show the balloon empire.
Speaker 3:It's funny. Someone asked me once to do a reality show and I turned it down and my daughters still are not talking to me about that. They're like how could you turn that down? I go oh no, we work with family, so can you imagine the family drama? Yeah, no, it's okay, it's fine, it's fine.
Speaker 2:So 30 years ago, prior to getting into this business, did you say that you were, you and your husband were in the corporate world? I think you mentioned that right we were.
Speaker 3:We worked for a company called Electronic Data Systems.
Speaker 2:So here's the million dollar question how does not just one? How do husband and wife transitioned from corporate America into the balloon business of all places? Is that something that you had an experience personally at a party, or something that piqued an interest that you know we could do this, or how did that happen for you guys 30 years ago?
Speaker 3:That's exactly how it happened. There was a lady in Miami who she would do balloon baskets and I wasn't into the delivery process. But then I went to a fundraiser and she had these beautiful balloon decor, beautiful balloon decor throughout the room and I was like oh my.
Speaker 3:God, that's so great, that's it. It was beautiful. File that in the back of my head. And then one day, like you know, when we were struggling, we're like what could we do to make this happen, and at a very, very, very small scale. I mean, when I say we just wanted extra cash because my husband was doing jobs, painting after work, so on weekends he would do painting just to, you know, kind of make ends meet. And when you're 30, you know, that's when you should be working hard. So we were doing that, we were making sure that we had a nice life plan. So when we saw this, we just started selling these balloons and again we didn't think this was going to be a big business at all at all. So we weren't going to transition, we were just doing this as a side hustle. And then, with the chamber event event, then we realized we were doing every single marlins game. So then I was taking vacation days to do marlins games and then I was taking a, you know, leave of absence to do a marlins game because they went to world series. So we did their 93. I think was it 93 or 96. I'm looking here because I have the sign it was 93, 93. But anyways, we did that World Series and then later, I think it was 2003. So we came to the realization.
Speaker 3:I left first because I was working on my master's, and that's a whole different story. But I had graduated from my master's, I was, I started teaching at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale. So I had gauged myself. I literally had a log saying okay, when I reach this goal, I can lead corporate world. Because I was traveling a lot and with the kids and the masters it was a little hard to do and to juggle. So when we reached a certain goal, I left corporate first and then a year later, two years later, my husband left corporate and joined us, which was the best thing that ever happened, because now you've got two great forces, you know, really with the same goal, which was great.
Speaker 2:So it was a slow transition. You didn't just drop everything and jump in.
Speaker 3:No, and I never recommend that. I mean so many people who want to become entrepreneurs. You know, I always say just, you know, start part time, because you know you start with the concept of balloons and doing decor and we really do the decoration part and we get to create an environment for our members and our clients, but everybody forgets about the bookkeeping and the sales and now social media.
Speaker 2:The fun stuff.
Speaker 3:The fun stuff. So you know it's hard because, as the business owner, then you end up just doing the bookkeeping and you never do what you started with, which was, you know, the the artistic piece.
Speaker 2:So you could lose the passion quickly if you get bogged down in all the other roles that you have to play. So it's important to, as you scale up, to find other people to do the things that you don't want to focus your attention on, so you can do what you're passionate about, and that's what drives you to move forward, for sure.
Speaker 3:Right, exactly, so. So yeah, I mean it's.
Speaker 2:I love it.
Speaker 3:I love everything I do. I'm really lucky. Time management is key, though.
Speaker 2:Indeed indeed. So ZADAC Research and Development.
Speaker 3:Yes.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 3:So when I graduated with my doctorate in leadership and education, I started ZADAC Research and Development. That was 2007. And it was really what I did for corporate at EDS, which was taking a look at the behavior of an environment and creating strategies to help them. So at ZADAC Research and Development, my title is a behavioral strategist. You can be a small business or a large business. It's going into your business and just having a conversation and being a part of it, not coming in knowing what to do because I have no clue. So if I go into your business and I'll spend two weeks with you and I'm basically your employee, you tell me what to do and then, throughout that, you can see the struggles, the frustrations. You really become part of the environment. You, you walk the talk you know with. I'll walk my talk with you because I'm going to be really coming in with a very open mind and then we create an environment that's working.
Speaker 3:It's not changing your business, it's tweaking it. I have this process called life editing, because we all go into therapy, because I was practicing therapist for 27 years and we all walk in going. So how should I change? No, you shouldn't change at all. We're gonna tweak whatever you want to tweak and um, I think that gives the client a better perspective, because how great to be who you are. And we all know and we all hear we're not perfect. Of course we're not, but what do you really want to change? You know?
Speaker 1:what do?
Speaker 3:you really want to modify? So I do. What do you really want to modify? So I do that. We do a lot of uh and uh sometimes. Sometimes, what you think you need to change and I'll use the word change because that's what everybody uses you really don't. That's probably your superpower.
Speaker 2:Very interesting it is. It's a really a great approach, cause, yeah, so you come into somebody and you try to dictate how they should operate their business and you try to impose your way of thinking on them. It might not jive well with them and you're going to have problems there.
Speaker 3:So yeah, and it's funny because we had a, an admin at when I worked for corporate that we went in to her department and there were just little things going on that the manager wasn't sure of. And it's easy as a manager to go around and say, oh, I don't like the way she's answering the phone or the time of answering the phone is not correct. And I was trained at EDS under Deming's quality improvement, which we focus on the quality not the quantity. So that's really important. So let's say she's not answering the phone every three minutes, but the person she's on the phone with, she's giving them 100% care.
Speaker 3:What do you want to meet your numbers of answering the phone? Or do you want that person that you hung up with to be happy? So we start looking at all that and I remember sitting with her and saying, okay, just tell me what you want. She's like what no one's ever asked. And it's like we just had such a great conversation. We went to lunch, we I mean I sat there, I answered the phones, I got a a a feel for who calls and how frustrating it could be trying to always have the right answer for that person. And it was so refreshing because when you again are in their world, you really get to understand them, and we know that. We know that it's such a simple process, but we're always trying to meet the numbers. In corporate, which the gentleman we worked for, which was Ross Perot, he did not believe in, that he believed in. Our hierarchy of needs was Maslow's hierarchy of needs and his employees were at the top. You don't see that in corporate.
Speaker 2:Very interesting. I want to talk about the chamber. Yes, so I know you were a past president of the chamber at one point.
Speaker 3:Yes, In 2002.
Speaker 2:And you've been involved with the board 2002 and 2020. Yes, OK, so going back to when you started the started Balloonatics and you got kind of pulled into the chamber into that orbit, how long was it until you actually got involved directly in a leadership role in the chamber and how did that start and where did that go from there?
Speaker 3:Right. So let's see 1993, I became, you know, started to get involved, I think 1997, I became part of the board board and then in 2002, I became president. So that was the process there going. I was very, very active in the chamber. I really became part of the communication committee.
Speaker 3:I was working on my dissertation and part of it was in leadership. I was working on governance. So I did this proposal to the. I created this. I think it was like a checklist of who should be on the board, because before it was like very random. You know who wants to be on the board. So, based on the leadership at that time, the board at that time we found that, you know, we needed to have specific criteria. So it fell in right in place with my dissertation. So it fell in right in place with my dissertation. So I worked on a proposal and a practicum and I proposed it to the board. And then that was that really changed the whole process how we did elections and how we did committee members, like how to grow our committee members, mentor our committee members to become strong leaders in the community, grow our committee members, mentor our committee members to become strong leaders in the community. So that led to 2002, I was president, and then 2003,.
Speaker 3:My mom got sick, so I stepped down and I left the chamber. And then, in 2018, diane Grant, who was incoming president of the chamber at that time, called me and said Listen, why don't you come back? You know it's really changed things. That happened. And I said, ok, I'll go. And I did, and a year later, I was back on the board and doing you know, doing great things. We have a great board of directors. I mean I can't be happier about that. And so then I that was in 2018, 2020. I became president again and then for second term a second term.
Speaker 2:Can you, can you, can you have a third term, or is that precluded?
Speaker 3:I think you can yes.
Speaker 1:Well, I got to check the bylaws.
Speaker 3:Right, yes, well, according to the bylaws it's let's see it's. According to the bylaws it's you have to be one year off the board and then you can come back on.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So I've had a wonderful experience with the chamber over the last couple of years, met so many, so many great people. What would you say to any business owners out there that haven't had the opportunity to get involved with the chamber? What would be your uh call to action to them to maybe get them involved in the mix?
Speaker 3:You know it, is it? There's a trick to the chamber? There really is. There's a strategy. You know, when we're talking about strategies and the strategy is sometimes the luncheons aren't always for you and you know you go to the lunches, so some of it. You really have to sit with one of us and even with other business members and say what, what works for you, why are you successful? Like, I just got off the phone with one of our businesses and she was asking oh, should I do this, this? And I go no, no, don't do that. Don't put your money there, put don't even put your money anywhere. Do this. So I think that's what's really cool. It's understanding how what works.
Speaker 3:Now, the chamber, without a doubt, works. I mean, we're talking about social media and networking. This is key. This is key and it's interesting. I'm sure you're on TikTok, but I love TikTok, I love business TikTok, and I was listening to the young people that have all these businesses now on TikTok, which I absolutely love, and one young lady was saying do you know what I just found out? I found out that there's a chamber and you know what the chamber does. It introduces you to people and I was like I love this Future president in the making.
Speaker 3:Yes, and that is so right. So what we've been doing, we started the business crawls and that took place last night and it was beyond my expectations.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I saw some correspondence about that. Tell us a little bit about what the business crawl is.
Speaker 3:So the business crawl started. I was in Chicago and I saw the bar crawl. I'm like, what is this? My daughters were like, oh, this is where you kind of bar hop and I'm like that's fascinating.
Speaker 2:I like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so I said how great would it be to do this, but in a business you know kind of arena.
Speaker 2:Wait, hold on. Are you guys drinking on the party bus for the business crawl? We?
Speaker 3:are not.
Speaker 2:Oh man, come on that I know of you know but you can bring a drink because of thirst. You have to have two business crawls. You have one like during the work week, where you go around, and then you have another one where you go out and visit the businesses that operate after hours and everybody drinks Right.
Speaker 3:I think that's a great idea.
Speaker 2:I don't even drink that much though.
Speaker 3:Which actually I've got to give a shout out to Nova, because Nova Southeastern they're our trustees and they are so amazing. They provided us with the buses, the shuttles and their nice air conditioned shuttles. So we're going to break it up into two pieces. One is the business crawl, which is for businesses, and then the town crawl is the up and coming committee and the tourism committee for the students. Now in August we get 8,000 new freshmen into the university and they're from out of town, the majority of them. So we're going to have this town crawl and we're going to take them to the businesses and introduce them to the community. So we're real excited about that.
Speaker 3:So yesterday we had our first one. We had five businesses that we showcased and we just had. First of all, we had a great time on the bus, but we got to see the behind the scenes of the rodeo and Troy took us Troy Weekly, who owns Five Star Davy Pro Rodeo. He took us behind the scenes to where the cows are, the bulls are I mean the cowboys. It was fascinating. And then from there we went. We had the Davy Women's Clubs, which you've been there, so they learned the history. We went to the Old Davie Schoolhouse, which they also shared, all these events that they have. They're a great rental space. And then from there we went to Semide Dental. Who would think you would have so much fun at the dentist? They had a blast.
Speaker 2:Alex is fantastic. He's a good friend of mine.
Speaker 3:Oh, good you got three new clients from this, so that made me smile.
Speaker 2:Wonderful, wonderful Actually. I run every Saturday morning with Alex. We meet. He lives down in Miami Lakes. I live in Cooper City. We meet at the Home Depot parking lot in Miramar it's kind of equidistant from us and we go out and we run in the morning, early Saturday morning. It's always a wonderful, wonderful way to start the weekend.
Speaker 3:Oh, he's amazing, he's amazing.
Speaker 3:Actually, I have high hopes for him because he's a great speaker, so I want to connect him with you know, some people that we know, and make sure that he, you know, gets showcased because he's he's phenomenal. And so then, and then we ended up at the pizza salad at a point right there on I think it's Orange and Griffin, it's the new pizza place and Isaac is the owner and he just spoiled us with food just just provided, and you know, know, this amazing food. So it was really a success. Everybody was just so happy and and that's what it's about, I mean making that connection and the reason that started was it's easy for me to say, oh go see, jeremy, you know he's in this corner and, uh, you know, let's say, university, I don't know exactly where you're at, I'm sorry, but versus saying hey, we're taking you over to Jeremy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And now people will drive by and go. I was there and for some reason it's like now it becomes familiar. It's all psychological, it's just you know, introducing that person, bringing them to who you think they should connect with. So and it's all free. That's a great thing. We're not charging anybody anything. We're not charging the members to showcase.
Speaker 2:We're not charging the members to go and I love, I love free. If it's free, it's for me.
Speaker 3:As it should be. You're paying your membership and you know, uh, we're all struggling, right, I mean to be to be paying $5 for this, $10 for this. You know it's a little crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love the. I'm kicking myself for not hopping on the first bus, but I'm going to make sure I go on the next one. That's a wonderful idea. Right, Bring the chamber to the businesses. I love it.
Speaker 3:And it goes back to that Lunches are great.
Speaker 2:But you got to go.
Speaker 3:You may be able to network, but everybody's in a rush.
Speaker 3:You may be able to network but, everybody's in a rush but we still have the lunches because people want to show up and as long as our members want it, we'll have it, I mean, and we love having it, and we still get to showcase other members. But I think the business crawl is going to be a lot bigger than we thought. We're doing it once a month. Next month it's Cooper City and it's logistical. Yeah, it's Cooper City and it's logistical. Yeah, it's logistical. So we already have people hopping on the bus.
Speaker 2:literally, I'll be there. Sign me up.
Speaker 3:I will, I will, I will, and it'll be on the website too. So if anybody wants to, they can definitely sign up on the website.
Speaker 2:Very cool. So speaking of chamber lunches.
Speaker 3:My favorite lunch that I attended was actually the one that was hosted by your two lovely daughters.
Speaker 2:Which one was that? So it was a few months ago and they did. They themed it as obviously kind of like an improv type impromptu lunch where we got the chance to speak to our neighbor and kind of interview them and learn about them and then share with the group. It was just very fun and lively. So, which brings me to the next topic of discussion family. Tell us a little bit. I mean, I love what they do. Like I said, I've had Angelica on the podcast. I love what they do. This is improv and the historical ghost tours really, really good stuff. So tell us a little bit about the family.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that really makes me smile. So it's interesting because you know they've been working with the balloon business.
Speaker 3:I literally tell them when they were in their stroller they would hold balloons for me, because I had to go to a delivery and I'm like, ok, I take the girls, you know, so they have that great business sense. But when they decided, when they were graduating from college, they have that this isn't prop. They were trained by an amazing gentleman called Mark Duncan, who unfortunately passed away very young At NSU he was one of the professors and chairs of the department. So once they decided, angelica wanted to be a writer and when she went to her counselor at school, she says I want to be a writer. And the writer told her I mean, the counselor said, well, you can be a school teacher, that's as much as you can do with writing. And I remember she got home and she was upset, she was like about 16. And I said, well, she's right, that's what you know. There's writing teachers. But I think maybe she didn't understand that you want to write, you know, like scripts and things like that. So I had been introduced to Second City a couple of years before that and she I said, listen, there's this place called Second City, why don't we go for the summer? You take a class and see and they'll teach you whatever you need and ask questions. You know whatever you need to know. And that led her to that journey.
Speaker 3:She did an improv class at uh NSU, which really that's where it started with the improv with Mark. And then here we are they she wanted uh when she graduated. She's like I really love the writing when, which she writes scripts. She's won awards for that. And then Alexander was a great director. So she was a theater major at NSU. Directs like no one's business can build a prop that nobody would even know she could build. So together they decided to create in 2015,.
Speaker 3:This is Improv and the whole deal was that Angelica was shy, so she that helped her through it. So she wanted to give back to the community and that was our rule in our family business. You know, whatever you do, it has to be done with good intent. So we're not here to make the money. The money will come and if not, we get three, four or five jobs. You know, we all know that, but it has to be humble and it has to be with good intent.
Speaker 3:And they followed that to the core and when they started evolving in this is improv and teaching kids how to feel good about themselves and have a voice in the community they developed. This is life, unscripted, and that's a 501 C three and that's to give kids again a voice in the community. And they give scholarships so kids can take improv classes and feel heard. And that evolved into business because then they got calls from big corporate clients saying, listen, we need to do this with our, our employees. They don't feel like they have a voice. And so it evolved and they started growing and growing and it's just phenomenal what that is. We don't take the arts as seriously as we should. The arts is really a huge psychological component for our well-being. It really is. When we take a look at the arts, it teaches us how to get along with people. It teaches us how to encourage ourselves, that we, that we understand that rehearsals are important in life.
Speaker 3:You know, everything in life. One of the great stories we had a young lady who wanted to be a school teacher and she went to four interviews and would start crying in all the interviews and obviously not get the job. So we brought her in I work with them in the behavioral part and Angelica created a curriculum for her and we kind of did a sketch. And Angelica was the interviewer, I was the observer and my deal was giving her feedback on body language, which is 80% of our communication, and watching what made her passionate, just observing her and making sure I understood her, and so from that, angelica taught her techniques on interviewing, and tough ones too, I mean, put her in situations that made her uncomfortable but, it was in a safe space.
Speaker 3:So she goes to her next interview. She has no experience and the key we had her walk away with is you have a passion, show your passion. Just remember your passion for these kids, and they were special needs kids. So she went. She went to her interview. As she was walking to the parking lot, the principal calls her and says listen, you have no experience, but your passion came through and hired her.
Speaker 3:That was she called us right away. She was you're not going to believe this and I go. We do believe you have a heart of gold. It's all you. You did all this and that's the key to the success. And it works, and it doesn't it's. People get nervous because you go oh let's, let's do improv, let's play, but it is a game changer in your life. So many things.
Speaker 2:So so much of what you said resonates with me on a deep level, Like when we're children. We, we have no filter. We express ourselves fully, but somewhere along the way society dictates that you have to bottle all that up and you have to hold it within. Then we get all self-conscious about all these things and we, what are people going to think about this and that? And then most people live their whole life is not truly expressing themselves and really tapping into their hidden potential within for fear of expectations, what other people think. All this stuff you get in your own head.
Speaker 2:It's something that I've really, really dived deep into. I play the guitar. I've always wanted to sing and play, but my singing voice has always been not great and it's always been. I've been telling myself this story forever now that I just, I guess I can't sing. And the truth is I've never actually tried, I've never put the work in, I've never actually tried to get better at it. And now I've been practicing a lot and I'm starting to see the improvements. And, yeah, maybe I'll never be, maybe I'll never be a Grammy award winning artist. Okay, that's fine, but you know what I can create something that people will appreciate and that put a good vibe out in the universe, and that's all that really matters.
Speaker 3:Exactly, you've got an open mic night.
Speaker 2:I've seen the flyers and the emails and I want to go and I will go at some point. It's just again. It goes back to what I said about being self-conscious and where it's, I think. What do they say? People are more afraid of public speaking than they are of death, or something.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, what do they say people? People are more afraid of public speaking they are of death or something.
Speaker 2:Oh, oh yeah, oh yeah, 100. And then performing. And for me, with the voice, or even like, like stand-up comics, right, I can't, I can't imagine going on a stage and trying to do a stand-up, because every stand-up comic has bombed at one point and and that feeling has got to be incredibly, uh, terrifying, right, but the growth potential, like having gone through that, I dealt with that, I could deal with anything now.
Speaker 2:I want to do that too. I want to do stand-up. My material might be too inappropriate for the open mic night with you guys.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:Well you can tweak it, but it's so funny because that is so true. The open mic night what I love is that there's so many performers there that and they're supportive. Like you're not going to get, like you said, a Grammy award winning performance. I was, I was having such a great time because it's such a safe space you have. And that's the arts right. We all support ourselves, even if you don't have that high pitch voice that some people want to hear. The key is that we know that you're there and you're there with your heart. You know you're, you're sharing your heart and everybody's like, just so. The energy in the room was so amazing because I hadn't been to any of them and then I went, I went with Heidi, actually from the chamber and it was amazing. It just sometimes I get teary eyed because you see these people. They're so brave, they go on stage, but they're amazing, they're amazing and the support in the audience was was great, and that's improv too. And and again we go back to the arts.
Speaker 3:My goal and the girls wish and dream is to create an arts area in Davie, just of the arts, just like they have in Second City. So like have a corner of Davie somewhere where everybody goes and shares the arts, and so we'll see. Maybe it'll happen at the Davie Women's Club, because it's such a great corner and we can do that once a month. So you know, there's a lot of plans moving forward that we're really excited about. We have a lot of artists reaching out to us. The Old Davie Schoolhouse is an amazing place, too, to do that. So we're kind of starting, and I think you're going to see more and more of the arts surfacing, so I'm excited about that I would like to see that.
Speaker 2:I love the arts and I just had, actually, judy Dempsey from Summit Quest Montessori. We just did a podcast together and we were talking a lot about the traditional education system, where it's geared toward the hard sciences and math. There's a lot of the arts are oftentimes left out and it is just so important for children to have that in their lives from an early age and to continue on. Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3:I bring it to. You know, I teach at NSU and I bring that into the classroom. First thing they have to do in my intro to psych class is they have to draw their soul, and it is the craziest thing Draw your soul. Draw your soul. Try that. That's an interesting exercise.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 3:Do that at the chamber, don't you think? Yes, draw your soul. We have different souls. The whole thing started because people get confused with personality. This is my personality.
Speaker 2:Talk about a question to ask. They got somebody to think deeply about themselves. Draw your soul.
Speaker 3:I chuckle because my students, some of them, draw, they're great artists. So they draw these souls and I take pictures of them and I say I have your soul on my phone. They look at me and they go that's really freaky and I, I go. But it's such a beautiful soul. So, um, yeah, I love, I love that. It's a great exercise. That's a whole different podcast, I think, but it's a great exercise, um, and you really connect with who you are. And then we, I take a look at it because drawing is so important. You know there's therapeutic drawing and I take a look at it. And then I talk to them and they go are you a psychic? And I go no, I just read your soul.
Speaker 2:So they told me the story.
Speaker 3:I shared their story and then they validated and I love it.
Speaker 2:That's good stuff. So we're all shaped by our experiences and oftentimes it's the most trying experiences that while we're going through it right, we're in the weeds and we're like, oh, why do I have to experience this? But then, kind of with perspective, looking back with hindsight, you kind of of draw upon that experience and say, like you're grateful for having gone through that. Is there something that comes to mind in your journey, one of those experiences, a life hardship, a challenge, something that you struggled with tremendously along the way, that at the time, having gone through it, you thought it was kind of the end of the world. But now, looking back, you can say that you're grateful for having experienced that.
Speaker 3:You know it's interesting, my knee jerk reaction to that is the passing of my mom was extremely difficult. She was she. She was way ahead of her time. She was a housewife for so many years. She came from Cuba when she was 27 with three kids and she was always in the. Her headspace was always in the educational realm Like she was a great educator in life and she loved teaching kids how to read. Actually, she had a very thick accent but taught children how to read English and they never came out with an accent. So I was going to. I don't have an accent.
Speaker 2:So you know, I was always going to happen.
Speaker 3:You know, like how did you do that? So she was like a magical unicorn in literature.
Speaker 3:So that was extremely devastating for all of us because she we could always go to her and say she was such a great problem solver, so we should. We could always go to her and say how do we fix this? And trust me, I think what I learned was it was never the answer I wanted to hear, but it was the answer I needed to hear and that shook us. But I guess what helped us with her passing because that's my dissertation was on death and dying because she passed and I teach death and dying in school now and she taught us how to create that foundation and my focus has always been to live and be true to her legacy. So it was a devastating blow. It's been 20 years and we still struggle. In fact, today's her birthday. So that's an interesting conversation. That just blew my mind.
Speaker 3:But she really showed me that I needed to stay strong even after her passing. I needed to take that and everything that she taught us now was the moment to put it into action, especially with the girls. She loved children and she knew how to listen to people. So when the girls were growing up, my intent was always having that voice. My mom's voice was what are they trying to tell you? Don't let them make a decision, they're too young, because a lot of people we hear now is like, oh, they need to decide for themselves and they're 15, 16, 17. And she was like, no, your job is to make the decisions for them until they're able to make the decisions for them, and right now they're not, and balancing that. So she was always great listener, but that really her passing really made me so much stronger so much stronger.
Speaker 3:So yeah, it was. I would say that would be it. That's what's coming to mind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I mean it's, it's I. I've been fortunate enough to not not lose anybody. I've I've lost grandparents, but I haven't really lost anybody too close to mind. Yeah, thanks for sharing that. I mean I've been fortunate enough to not lose anybody. I've lost grandparents, but I haven't really lost anybody too close to me.
Speaker 2:But I can imagine that having that experience obviously when it happens you go through grief and all this emotion at the time, but it's got to give you a deeper appreciation for the time that we do have here, strengthen the current relationships that you have, especially with your children. Because I mean, it's one thing I'm noticing on the North side of 40 now like time is fleeting. I remember my thirties. I was like, oh, I got plenty of time, I'll do it later, but not anymore. Like I'm starting to look. You look on social media and you see all the actors that were young when we were younger, and they're all getting older now and you're like, wait a minute. Like this got to make the best use of our time that we have available, cause we don't have a lot of time left.
Speaker 3:It is not to sound bleak or anything but it's not, you are so.
Speaker 3:You are so, absolutely right. And when I teach my students on death and dying, uh, when their their final exam is, they have to prepare their own funeral and they have to write their eulogy. And they struggle with their eulogy because all I can think of is, oh, I'm going to be a doctor, I'm going to be, you know, it's a title. And then I show them Steve Jobs eulogy and I show them Muhammad Ali's eulogy and nobody mentioned their awards, Nobody. It didn't matter. Nobody mentioned, you know, Steve Jobs' creation of Apple. It was how kind he was as a human being and we will remember who we were, in the sense of what we gave to the community. If you were a billionaire and you were a doctor, but you were a jerk to everybody, that's what they're going to remember. So the students get a grasp, and the exercise we do to get them there is I ask them to list all the qualities their parents have, and a lot of them they have successful parents. None of them say, oh, my dad's a surgeon. They'll mention how kind they are, what they do, their memories. And I said now you've just created your eulogy, how many of you would like to be like your parents and have that legacy. And then they get it. So I think that what they walk away with is learning how to live now so that they have a goal for when life is over.
Speaker 3:And we do a kind of, I guess, an exercise that jolts them, because we take the amount, the age they have, and we say, okay, you want to live to 100. So you multiply the days you have left to 100. So if you're, you know, 40, or, like me, 62, you know, you turn around and you're like, oops, I got some, I got some numbered days here. So you know we no longer have all those 36,000 days, you know. So that puts like a big jolt and say, OK, do I really want to spend time with people that don't touch my soul, that they don't make me feel good? Why am I here and so many times we think we have to be and we really don't make me feel good. Why am I here and we, so many times we think we have to be and we really don't.
Speaker 3:And I think that if we live our life saying, okay, where am I going to serve, and serve the best of my ability, then that changes the whole game, the whole game when people go how do you do everything you do and I go I'm not doing, it's not work, it's all interrelated and I'm very selective because I think it's really important that um, the world sometimes gets a little angry, you know, and we don't have to jump on that wagon at all and we have to respect those that are angry and say, okay, you know how can I help, and sometimes you can't and you have to step away, just like in therapy, you know, um, the struggle that we we have as therapists is that we can't have people see what we see in them and how great they are.
Speaker 3:And, uh, you walk away and sometimes and I was always very clear with my clients I was like you know, that makes me sad, that you don't see how great you are, and that shifts them, because I'm not trying to change them. I'm trying to say this is what I'm seeing. You're so amazing and I, unless you're you're in a serial killer capacity. You're an amazing person. So, you know, we'll see. I mean, I just, I just really wish that people would really connect on, just touch base on, asking them what have I done? That's so wrong? That doesn't make me a good person today and you don't have that answer. Nobody has an answer, because they'll turn around and go. I'm not, I did, I did pretty well today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and we could always do better, we could always improve. So no matter what's happened in the past, you could always get better and grow and do good.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, the next day is a new, fresh day. It really is. I mean, if we just follow nature and we take a look at Mother Nature, who is an incredible educator, you know nothing's perfect. Branches aren't perfect, they don't go all straight. You know, the leaves fall and new ones grow, and it's just awesome, coco.
Speaker 2:We hear you. Thank you for joining us. My doggy's barking in the background. I love it. Come here, buddy. So, amy, you truly are a wealth of knowledge. Your wisdom shines through in everything that you're doing For anybody out there that's listening, that would like to connect with you, either for a party, for the balloon business, or through Zadak Research and Development, to get in there with your behavioral strategist that you talked about, which I love, or just to join the chamber. How could they reach out to you? How could they connect?
Speaker 3:Yeah, they my cell. They can call anytime. Text me anytime. So my cell phone is the easiest way. So that's 954-261-5749. Text me. If I don't answer, text me. That means I'm in a meeting, but I will return the call or text whatever makes anybody comfortable and reach out.
Speaker 3:I mean, there's so many great things out there, there's so much in the community and everybody like, like you you're doing. Oh my God. The members are so happy to be on your podcast, so I appreciate that so much. It's amazing, the information's amazing. You're an amazing host. So I think that connecting the right people to the right people is key and I'm more than happy to do that. I love doing that.
Speaker 2:Awesome, and we will, of course, link in the description to all of your contact information so folks can reach out and learn more about what you do. So, amy, thanks for joining us today. It was a pleasure.
Speaker 3:Thanks, jeremy, same here.
Speaker 2:Thanks to our listeners for tuning in and we will catch everyone next time on the next episode of the Good Neighbor Podcast. Everyone, take care and have a blessed day.
Speaker 1:Thanks for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Cooper City. To nominate your favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to GNPCooperCitycom. That's GNPCooperCitycom, or call 954-231-3170.