Red Bull & The Vegan Valentine's Disaster

A chance encounter with a Red Bull brand ambassador reveals the unexpected paths careers and health journeys can take. The passenger’s story spans from her Boston roots to landing her dream job through a bold conversation on Marathon Monday that changed everything: “You guys are drunk at work. I want your job,” she told the Red Bull team—and they listened.

Her transition from Molson Coors to Red Bull brought significant perks, including a company car, paid gas, comprehensive insurance, and the fulfillment of working for a brand that matched her vibrant energy. Beneath this professional success lies a deeper personal transformation centered on health, nutrition, and embracing a lifestyle aligned with her values.

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Transcript

Speaker 1 0:11

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers, while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, john Foddis, and we're cruising the streets of Washington DC. Buckle up, let's drive, so tell me about you. What's your story.

Speaker 2 0:37

My story is I am, I work for Red Bull.

Speaker 1 0:43

Oh, the um.

Speaker 2 0:44

The energy drink.

Speaker 1 0:45

Okay.

Speaker 2 0:46

I work for Red Bull. Oh, the, the energy drink. Okay, I work for Red Bull, I love my job.

Speaker 1 0:51

So you're my person if I need the Red Bull hookup is what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 0:55

I might be, I very well might be.

Speaker 1 0:59

I had an old narrow friend of mine who did artist relations for a guitar company and he would just show up at my house with like five cases of Red Bull. Smart man Like here and I'm like dude, I don't really need all that Keep you energized. And whoever discovered the Red Bull and vodka genius.

Speaker 2 1:15

Genius. Yeah, we have so many flavors now. That is like people are getting real creative with the cocktails.

Speaker 1 1:24

Well, it's like riding the lightning right. Yeah, it's like you're balancing the edge of the stimulant and the depressive at the same time.

Speaker 2 1:31

Yeah, I've had too much Red Bull today. I'm feeling a little nauseous. Oh no, don't do that, I'm going to dinner. Okay, that's good.

Speaker 1 1:38

So I mean, what's that like for you? How'd you fall into that gig?

Speaker 2 1:42

honestly, yeah, by chance I um, I'm from, originally from boston, nice. I quit my full-time job and worked my part-time job um, like basically full-time, and I was basically like a brand ambassador for, uh, molson core's beverage company okay, I see the pattern, yeah and so I met the people on the team on marathon monday and I'm you guys are drunk at work, I want your job, and they're like oh, there's a program, Are you interested?

Speaker 1 2:11

Wait what kind of program? First they clean you out before you start.

Speaker 2 2:16

There's a program to like get you like hired. Yeah. So they flew me. I did the interview process, three interviews, I got chosen. They flew me out to Milwaukee for six weeks, Okay. And then they're like you have to be a hundred percent willing to relocate. And I said okay. And yeah, they chose for me to move to the DMV. Wow, and so that was right. At the pandemic, I moved here October 2019. Pandemic happened hated working for Molson Coors. I'm like it's a lot of old white men's little, not my vibe Fair. And then Red Bull reached out to me and they had all the perks Okay, they give you a car pay for your gas, pay for your car insurance. The benefits are endless with Red Bull. And, yeah, I've been here ever since.

Speaker 1 3:03

That's a good start to your story. I like it. I like it. I've been here ever since that that that's a good start to your story. I like it.

Speaker 2 3:06

I like it I've been here ever since so the boston connection.

Speaker 1 3:09

You still have people back there I do, I do whereabouts. I don't know what intimately, but give me a juxtaposition um.

Speaker 2 3:15

I have family in roxbury, dorchester I have some folks out in lynn, which is a little bit outside of the city, some folks in brockton, all so you're entrenched.

Speaker 1 3:26

Okay, that's cool.

Speaker 2 3:27

I am a Bostonian.

From Boston to Florida Connections

Speaker 1 3:30

I did a summer vacation with my family. This was years ago.

Speaker 2 3:34

It was mostly Maine.

Speaker 1 3:35

We did two weeks and turned around at Bar Harbor and the last stop was Boston. Needed to go to Fenway and all that you know. Yeah.

Speaker 2 3:49

And I get it like I know it's a great city and I'm a history, but where's the but?

Speaker 1 3:52

oh, it's coming for sure. But yes, we had such an amazing kind of bucolic downshift kind of experience in Maine. The stimulus overload literally ruined the whole trip.

Speaker 2 4:05

Really, because that was our last stop. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 4:07

I was like nah, I'm like in lobster blueberry pie mode, getting up at like 11, and all of a sudden I'm in Boston and now there's like bullshit going on and just tension.

Speaker 2 4:19

It's a lot and it's my thing I get it right. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 4:22

I can roll with that. I just wasn't in the right mindset for it.

Speaker 2 4:25

Yeah, so Definitely got to be in the right headspace.

Speaker 1 4:28

Yeah, yeah, for a good old boss soon. Yeah, my kid, my oldest son, he was a football kid.

Speaker 2 4:37

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 1 4:38

And he was being recruited at some schools and there was one north of was, north of providence, which I know isn't boston, but they had a business program that had a feeder program into boston and new york by default brown or something like I believe. Uh no, it's called bryant oh, I know bryant university.

Speaker 2 4:57

I have a lot of friends who went to bryant.

Speaker 1 4:58

Yeah, it was cool, a little small, not much going on, but way more than my school that I went to where'd you go?

Speaker 2 5:07

I went to wheaton college, so with the w wheaton yep so north of rhode island as well, okay, 1600 people yeah, that is small so brian is bigger wow, okay yeah that's one of those deals where you know where you stand within two weeks.

Speaker 1 5:23

It can be challenging or it can be like dialed in, I guess.

Speaker 2 5:26

I was like you know, if I probably went to a bigger school I might have failed out. It might have been a little harder. So, it was right where it needed to be.

Speaker 1 5:33

My school was very small, that was down in Florida. Okay, a thousand years ago.

Speaker 2 5:38

I used to live in Miami.

Speaker 1 5:52

I would go back. Okay, yeah, I went to school in Boca. Okay, I know what a horrible place to be as an 18-year-old kid. Terrible Late 80s, Terrible time.

Speaker 2 5:54

What could go wrong? My God, I don't know what my parents were thinking. I love Florida, yeah.

Speaker 1 5:56

Let me not say Florida.

Speaker 2 5:57

Yeah, had a good time in my life.

Speaker 1 5:58

For sure Before Lauderdale. Yeah, yeah, I have the opportunity where I'm building a second business down there with an old friend of mine and she's in Tampa and I don't know if I could just live, live there, but I might be able to do like a modified snowbird down there for the winter and move some things around and then come back here in the summer.

Speaker 2 6:19

Yeah, my good friend he's. I want to say he's like 65 now. He's a snowbird and I I'm just like that is the life, right there it can be, especially if you're renting something that's kind of pre-furnished.

Speaker 1 6:32

You're not dealing with insurance.

Speaker 2 6:33

He owns and then, like he rents the in the off season. So you know residual income perfect yeah perfect, perfect, which is smart. You. Yeah, people always want to go to Florida and South Beach. It's not the same post-pandemic but, it might be better that way.

Speaker 1 6:51

The humidity thing is just a trunk slammer for me. I can't deal with it anymore. I just can't. It's a lot. I'd rather be cold.

Speaker 2 6:58

Humid, or really rainy or just humid.

Speaker 1 7:01

Yeah, I just I know I'd be a vampire like if I would only go out at night, which is fine, but all alfresco at night, having to do dinner or whatever.

Speaker 2 7:10

But it's not even like you have a lot of hair in your head. That's what most people are worried about is their hair getting fuzzy, that's true. What are you going to have a little sweat on you. Your hair is going to be like a bush.

Speaker 1 7:22

I love it. Great observation. To be fair, I voluntarily shaved my head like 15 years ago Fair, thick, greek, italian.

Speaker 2 7:30

My hair wasn't going anywhere, did it never go back, shaved it off.

Speaker 1 7:34

And over the course of time I did start seeing the pattern on top.

Speaker 2 7:38

I'm like God damn Were you getting the cul-de-sac.

Nightlife at Balos Supper Club

Speaker 1 7:41

The who the cul-de-s sack, the who the cold sack that's what people call it. I call it bullshit. I don't call it a cold sack. Oh, but yeah, it's there now and I'm like all right, fine, I'm 56 whatever it's fine, you're totally fine. That's so funny. So tell me more about this. Um, what is it ballos?

Speaker 2 8:05

ballos, a mediterranean restaurant that opened probably like a year and a half ago I would say and um, it's literally like if they call them supper, they're opening more and more of them, but they're called supper clubs, basically. Okay, yeah, where they're still kind of nightlife centric. There's a live DJ in there. They have a whole segment where, like, the waiters come around and give you a stack of black napkins, they cut the lights off and then, when the lights come back on, everyone throws napkins Like it's a whole party. People are standing on the couches and then, like, the food's also good too okay, clientele, wise vibe age range it's a mix.

Speaker 2 8:46

Am I gonna be like a?

Speaker 1 8:46

fish out of water. On them, just just kick it, just everything's cool, it's a mix.

Speaker 2 8:51

Okay, all right, I would say that, like age wise, it's a mix, but I think that, like you know, people usually go there for, like, their birthday dinner like you don't want to go there like you.

Speaker 1 9:00

You, I don't know, like you just went deep sea fishing or something, but um, but it's a nice vibe in there and the food is pretty tasty as well you know, the nice byproduct of doing this podcast is like I get to rediscover the city through other people's lens yeah, which is really cool and I'm also vegan, so if you have any vegan listeners, you can get a vegan meal oh, I have a good vegan story for you what is it?

Speaker 1 9:25

well, my wife and I will traditionally, traditionally do day after valentine's day for whatever it is we're going to do. So the night of I was down here doing this and I drove a couple of people just to get content right and this one lady randomly said hey, have you seen any fights tonight? I'm like what do you mean? She goes you know Valentine's Day, you know fights. I'm like no, what are you talking? That's a thing. She's like yeah, I said, just watch, you'll get one. Okay, have a nice night. See you later Next ride. Young couple Date Valentine's Day. Right, she's a vegan, he's not. They're going to dinner. I don't know how, but they started talking about the book the Life of Pie Familiar. I'm staying out of it at this point, but her position was the tiger never should have been on the boat to begin with, because it's not fair to the tiger.

Speaker 2 10:26

Okay.

Valentine's Day Vegan Confrontation

Speaker 1 10:27

Like taking the vegan position a little too far outside of the bubble in my opinion. Right, it's a book, like I get it. So I don't know if he knew, like the door was closed before it even opened, but he's like laying in a little bit, like pressing it, and he's like I don't see it that way. And then you know well how do you feel about this. You know, I'm going to New Orleans and I'm going to get on an airboat and we're probably going to go down and like take pictures of little baby alligators and stuff and feed them marshmallows and things, and then she fires back. I don't like that for you. So first of all, let's on, let's unpack that phrase for a couple of days. I don't like that for you, okay. And then at that point I just can't take it and I chime in. I said something to the effect of well, I don't think. I think the marshmallow is vegan, so maybe there's some common ground there for you oh my god, or something like that.

Speaker 1 11:28

Oh I know it was so funny because you know I don't really need the job. I just figured, you know why not? And so it was. It was a little icy. And then I kind of apologized and she was like no, no, no, you're in it now. And so now it was this triangle of weirdness going on and it was so funny. And when the guy, when they're getting out, and he did the right thing, they were going to a vegan restaurant, Like good for you, bro, but like you could just tell, like there was a pathology and it was just over before it started.

Speaker 2 12:02

Yeah, he's like, this is too much for me. Probably should have picked a different day, bro.

Speaker 1 12:05

Maybe. And so as he's sliding out of the car, he looks at me and kind of laughs and I said, hey man, I dare you to get a steak later.

Speaker 2 12:18

And then the door shuts. I hope you laugh.

Speaker 1 12:24

Yeah, how did that become part of your life, that lifestyle or that choice, political, nutritional, both Nutritional, yeah, okay, become part of your life, that that, that lifestyle or that choice, um, political, nutritional, both nutritional, yeah, okay.

The Journey to Conscious Eating

Speaker 2 12:37

So I, when I moved here, I had just always had it's just still like, I think, you forever just trying to figure out your, your, what kind of health type of lifestyle you want to live, and so I had given up beef and pork. In high school, one of my classmates told me some freaky story. I can't even remember what it was, but it was enough for me not to up beef and pork. In high school, one of my classmates told me some freaky story. I can't even remember what it was, but it was enough for me not to eat beef and pork again.

Speaker 2 12:54

Okay, and then?

Speaker 1 12:57

Oh my God, it was green for a second.

Speaker 2 13:00

I think that I just started to. I had a lot of stomach problems.

Speaker 1 13:05

Okay.

Speaker 2 13:06

And so I had, during the pandemic, I self-diagnosed myself with a soy intolerance and soy was in everything and I was just miserable. But I was like, okay, well, my stomach still hurts, so maybe it's not soy. So I just went down this rabbit hole of just like information.

Speaker 1 13:22

Okay.

Speaker 2 13:23

And so I started to learn about the stuff that I was that we're eating, yeah, and I was like yo, they're trying to kill us. Like why is all this stuff banned in?

Speaker 1 13:38

europe and like we still eat it here, I'm like. So I literally was like they're trying to kill us literally gmo.

Speaker 2 13:40

I get it, you know they call it. You know sick care, not health care. And so from then on, like just the more information I learned, at first it had nothing to do with animals. It was really just like me just knowing what I was consuming. Yeah, and I had gone vegan one time before, years, years ago, but it wasn't a thing and I was really hungry and I was partying hard yeah.

Speaker 2 14:01

So I was eating like bags of chips fries and at the end of the night and I was like my skin was breaking out. Yeah, all things processed and so now it's just kind of like that's how it started. I just educated myself.

Speaker 1 14:14

You know that's interesting, like I mean there's no way in hell I could ever do that. But I had a recent like pretty bad health diagnosis.

Speaker 2 14:23

My question is why do you say you could never do that?

Speaker 1 14:27

Well, okay, let me rephrase that I don't think it's, I don't think I could why. I know myself I could try, but the longevity of that effort might not be there. But when I got this diagnosis, it required a complete, radical change of the way I ate, consumed or whatever, and I've been this size my whole life. You know athletic, played sports, yada yada. I'm Greek and Italian. I know how to cook. I cook good food.

Speaker 1 15:01

I just probably haven't just exercised well, my whole life or whatever, or properly, but through this process of just going 180, replacing complex carbs with quinoa, lean pork and chicken versus steak, lots of fish, juicing vegetables, all that reducing the sodium, all that stuff. That to me was the kicker was how much sodium is in things that don't necessarily need to be there, like a frozen chicken breast plain that you would think is super healthy, that you would get, say, at Costco, has like 700 milligrams of sodium in it and they're injecting it with it.

Speaker 1 15:44

And you're only supposed to have 1,500 for the day. So I think I'm making these great adjustments limiting my inbound, but what's already in the product itself is derailing me.

Speaker 2 15:56

Yeah.

Speaker 1 15:57

So I get it. I think that's great when you have that much self-awareness and you do a change like that. Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 2 16:05

It's definitely not easy and I find myself trying to shy away from putting myself in the category of vegan because when I was in Europe, trust and believe I was eating some prawns okay, I had some octopus like. I can't eat that here yeah, yeah, that's so I just I, just I just think I'm like I'm a conscious eater. Sure, I'm gonna start calling myself that aly either labels are bullshit. Labels are meant religion, uh, political party.

Speaker 2 16:35

Everything is meant to divide us you know, and we don't need to be divided, we need to be coming together I agree, and you should be able to to eat what you want.

Speaker 1 16:44

Just don't tell me it's because of a tiger on a rowboat that that puts you on that journey, because that's some bullshit right there. It just is.

Speaker 2 16:52

That girl was so crazy, yeah however, I do feel that people have majority of people have food addictions and people are like. People know that, like eating an excessive amount of meat or processed food or fried food is bad for you, but they're like, so people, and that's why I say like. Why do you think you can't do it? It's because you want to eat.

Speaker 1 17:16

What you want to eat, yeah but it's also like you know, it's bad for you right so it's just like yeah, but to be fair though, I've been eating so clean now for like six months I don't want to eat anything uber saturated because I'll feel horrible.

Speaker 2 17:28

Yeah, I just don't want to eat anything uber saturated because I'll feel horrible.

Speaker 1 17:30

Yeah, I just don't want to do it Like, but I've learned a new way to enjoy the food that I do happen to allow myself in small bites.

Speaker 2 17:39

It is a process.

Speaker 1 17:41

I adopted the Japanese. What is that, Umami? It's about the experience, the texture, the flavor.

Speaker 2 17:46

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 17:47

I don't need a big, huge plate of one thing, just give me a couple small bites of, and if I'm in a jail, you know five, six nights a week. At home I go out once to dinner somewhere and that's cool and I kind of enjoy that kind of change of my, my brain chemistry that way what is this place here?

Speaker 2 18:09

this must be new which one that 12 17. Nexa rose bar. I've never seen that before in all my drunken nights.

Speaker 1 18:19

I was gonna say. I'm never here in daytime, like at night I can wash things out. Probably because of the signage, I haven't been outside in a while. Rewind.

Speaker 2 18:32

Oh, it's a rug store.

Speaker 1 18:35

Not as exciting as I thought it was, but yeah, that's my story, okay. I like it. I like it, and you're young enough to where you're going to have a lot more chapters, which is great.

Speaker 2 18:55

I hope so. Yeah, what's considered young these?

Speaker 1 18:59

days. Who knows, man, who knows?

Speaker 2 19:06

I mean I'm 56. I thought you were 57.

Speaker 1 19:10

Damn it. Give me three weeks. In my head it's a ping pong game back and forth.

Speaker 2 19:15

Both ages are good.

Speaker 1 19:18

Yeah, Like I know you're vegan, I'm just going to tell you straight up Surfside fish tacos off the hook.

Speaker 2 19:24

I've had Surfside before, but I definitely had vegan tacos.

Speaker 1 19:27

Okay.

Speaker 2 19:30

I'm sure those are good too. They are Well if you like lamb though they say the lamb at Bala's is really good.

Speaker 1 19:36

Okay, I'm totally going to drill into that for sure, I appreciate that Normally I pass that on to someone else in my journeys, but I'm going to hold that one for myself.

Wrapping Up and Final Recommendations

Speaker 2 19:47

Yeah, I think you'll enjoy it that this is a supper club. They just opened Bar Angie. It's funny, it's my. Gaija, is that your wife's name?

Speaker 1 19:59

No, no, it's like a nickname for one of my kids.

Speaker 2 20:01

oh, it's at the light on the left okay, cool balos bar angie. Similar kind of deal gaia, I don't want to pronounce it g-a-i-g-a-i-a. That's the new one, that just it's not open yet. A-i-a. That's the new one. It's not open yet. It's opening next week. Okay, oh, this isn't the chat. Cool, beautiful, it was lovely chatting with you, yeah yeah, enjoy your evening.

Speaker 1 20:27

And small world, who knows, maybe I'll see you in there someday.

Speaker 2 20:30

For sure, you never know. Be safe, absolutely.

Speaker 1 20:32

Take care. Bye now this episode of Rideshare Road Talk. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, we'd love for you to review the podcast on your favorite listening platform, like Apple or Spotify. Your support helps us so much, and don't forget to reach out on Instagram with your feedback or topic suggestions. Until next time, let's drive, thank you.