Nancy & Mark Spewak on Jews in the Lou (Full Episode)

Nancy & Mark Spewak on Jews in the Lou (Full Episode)

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:00

And uh you know, I live in front of just like we are excited to let you know that we have an episode every other week. Um keep you up to date on everything going on.

SPEAKER_02 0:47

But yeah, so now here we are and we've kept this. I I uh my knowledge of baseball is uh is one of my favorite things is um H. L. Menikin said baseball in Italian is like uh no, opera in English is like baseball in Italian. Which means, you know, I just know nothing about baseball.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:09

So do you not? No, so nothing about Chain.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Okay, well we'll you'll learn a lot.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Yeah, he's a phenomenal, I mean, just a mastermind. But he's transparent. I think I love that about him. Like I love that he is willing to say, yeah, we are actually rebuilding. I think for years, yeah, the Cardinals have struggled with that rebuilding term because it's the brand. You know, they don't want to hurt the fans' feelings and things like that. And he seems like he is just like, no, this is my plan. Yeah, I'll answer any question you have, which is really cool.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

And he's now another Jew in the loo, so we're excited about it. But we had to add you guys to the list. This is we did a father-daughter combo. Who is that? This we did tomorrow and how we share. Oh, cool, cool. Um but now we needed to do a mother-son. And no better than the speewks, right? That's right. Unbelievable. Um Yeah, we appreciate you guys coming and hanging out with us. And you guys both this is our first, you're the mayor of Ledue, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

I am the mayor of Lado.

SPEAKER_04 2:06

This is our first mayor, our first political, our first politician.

SPEAKER_02 2:11

I think that we are somewhat of politicians too. I wouldn't say that.

SPEAKER_03 2:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Uh but uh first elected official. First elected official. I thought that.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

Yeah, that's a good one. That's an honor, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

And uh, you know, I live in front neck, just what I send my kids to Ledou.

SPEAKER_00 2:27

I know, that's your mistake.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

That's a good thing. Already!

SPEAKER_04 2:32

Jesus coming in con I love this. Um what do you what makes Ledoux special, like in your mind, when people like talk about Ledou?

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Like I think Ledou is special because of uh for a couple of reasons, but um probably the strongest uh reason is that we are unique in the services that we offer. Just everything is um, as I would say, top of the line, open standard, our police, our fire EMS, our public works. And um, it's a beautiful community. It's a community of people who really you know they care about each other and they know each other. But I think the duo distinguishes itself because the way we operate our city uh and the services we provide are the highest standard that would put us up against anybody any day.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

So when you're not mayor, what are you? What do you do? What what how did you how did you end up like it's a good question? Yeah, I just how do you end up as the mayor?

SPEAKER_04 3:32

What's the path to get there and what do you do?

SPEAKER_00 3:34

So when I'm not mayor, um long time ago when I was a mayor, I was raising four sons. Um I started, I actually worked this famous business group.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

I didn't know there was four. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

And um boys I was in recirculation. And then I got married, had the boys. Um and right around when Mark was in grade school.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Oh, I think grade. Are you the oldest, youngest, middle? Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

He was um right around when he was in grade school, I uh started a staging business because I had a really good neighbor and friend who said who was an agent and said that there's just nothing in the market right now except one large company, and nobody really wants to use them for, you know, it's kind of a cookie cutter like something. I started with one house and um it just took off. I mean I I reached out to some agents, and um I just built this business and I had a partner at the time, um, and we just bought furniture, we own it, so we started staging.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Well, you you're not mentioning the fact that we would come home from school and the kitchen table would be gone. Or the uh or upstairs, you know, the kitchen.

SPEAKER_02 4:49

It's not unlike what I do, by the way. Yeah, it's you know, she would be using the inventory, the staging and all of a sudden it's gone.

SPEAKER_04 4:58

That's funny. Because it's a concept to start. Yeah. She's just trying to cut overhead costs a little bit, you know.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

And so I'd haul out the furniture stuff, and um, that grew, and then that grew into uh interior design, which I didn't see coming, and it wasn't really a plan. But uh people that were buying the homes would see what we did and say, hey, what do you do with the house? And so now um I have a partner, Susie Sheehan, and um it's uh the company is property enhancements, and we do interior design, and we still have the staging division too.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Yeah, so from still have no furniture in your house, from saying she's got now tons of furniture.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Okay, all right.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

So what I'm interested in is from doing that to entering the public sphere and and why.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Okay, so I started um with the boys in the school. There was an event in Ledoux called the Ledue Dog Parade and Festival, and I uh one of the men on the committee had a son in his oldest brother's class, and he said, Hey, will you come sit on the committee and represent the public schools because I had kids in Ledoux schools, and um so I did, and that's how it started. Um I just I got to know the people that were running the city, and I just I was raised here. My dad was from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and my mom was from Paducah, Kentucky, and um my dad came to uh St. Louis for Washio, he's an orthodontist, and he came to teach and start a practice, and um all he wanted the only place he ever wanted to live was Ledou. To him, it was the pinnacle, you know. He had a they he had five, um there was five kids, his parents. They lived over like probably what was a little bodega on a corner in Milwaukee, and they had that little store, and there were five um five kids, and each one of those the oldest brother took it put the next one through school, and then the next brother put the next one through. And so this was to him, so I grew up having the city and knowing that it was really special.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

Right.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

And so I got this opportunity, and the dogwood parade was so fun and so cute.

SPEAKER_02 7:23

There were more people in the parade than there were um watching from like organizing a parade to saying I'm gonna run around for Mayor, I'm gonna run this city.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

So then I um so then I um so then I started running the parade in the festival, right? And I was chairing that, and then there was an opening on City Council, and um the mayor at the time said there's an opening, how about you run Irene Holmes? And she said, Hey, how about you run? You know, and I had gotten to know the other mayors prior to that because and the city council people, you know, because we were doing this big event for the city, right? So um to me, it's the ultimate give back. You know, I did a lot of volunteering. I was president of the Friends and Children's Hospital I worked in, did I was on the Miriam shop board. You know, just did a lot of volunteering children oriented, my husband's dad as a pediatrician. So um, to me, this is like the ultimate give back. There's no pay, salary zero, and um, you're really doing something for your community. So then I wanted, I got on the council, and then I started to see things that I thought might be that we could continue to approach.

SPEAKER_04 8:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:40

You can't be at the top of your day.

SPEAKER_04 8:42

So how what's what what um I've always kind of secretly thought that maybe I'd be like I'd have fun being the mayor. Like I live in Ritual Heights, you know what I mean? I've always kind of thought like it's gonna be fun to kind of just be the mayor. Like then you think about all the like the net. I'm sure you deal with negatives, a lot of like people that are complaining about different things.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Yep, we've got to be.

SPEAKER_04 9:02

You know, it depends obviously what city like Ledou. Um hopefully you don't have too much like of complaint, but there's somebody that's gonna have a problem no matter what you do. Like it's just what it is.

SPEAKER_00 9:14

It's uh navigating uh a business, navigating of course there's going to be and we're a community mostly of you know of leaders and people who are leading their companies.

SPEAKER_02 9:25

Well, that's true. So Ladoo is, and we're gonna get to Mark in a second here, but uh Ladoo is definitely uh filled with personalities, filled with people, you know, with a lot of accomplishment, filled with people with uh with status. And uh I I can't but imagine that that's part of uh that's that's that's a double-edged sword, obviously. A lot of uh strong opinions, a lot of um, so um my wife's a teacher at the Ledou fifth grade center.

SPEAKER_04 9:55

Oh yeah, and so it's like the dynamics there's many parents have many different personalities in Ledou as well.

SPEAKER_00 10:03

I learned over the years that uh when someone is upset about something, you you have you listen to them and I always learn something. You know, I always listen to someone else's perspective and I learn something, and we come to a conclusion.

SPEAKER_02 10:19

Sure. Are you a politician?

SPEAKER_00 10:20

Are you do you feel yourself as like I don't think of myself as a politician?

SPEAKER_02 10:24

You have no one's you have aspirations rendered in the city of Ludwig.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

I do not.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

You know, it's a it's a legitimate question.

SPEAKER_04 10:31

It's more healthy because it's more because it's like home to you. Like community. You don't want bigger than that.

SPEAKER_00 10:36

I want I this is how I firmly believe that LeJou or any community anywhere cannot remain at the top of their game, be one of the top ten communities in the country uh without responding to the needs of your residents currently. And you have to continue to move your gold standard to what the residents expect.

SPEAKER_02 11:01

And um, you know, I just read uh a line in uh in a book uh that stuck with me that says everything has to change for everything to stay the same. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

You know what? That's very valid. That is that is I love that.

SPEAKER_04 11:15

You know, tomorrow it's gonna be the sl the new tagline of Ledou. Yeah, you're gonna see it on Science every year.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

I'm gonna have to chance there.

SPEAKER_04 11:24

So heartbreak. Let's uh let's talk about Mark. Well, he's a leader.

SPEAKER_02 11:28

She talks about Ledou, and he's a leader. So Mark, Mark, uh, introduce yourself to those who don't know you.

SPEAKER_03 11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:34

And um I know that there is a very, very strong, uh, impactful, powerful story. Um just tell us a little bit about who you are, what you are. Um and then tell us a little bit about the story. Your story.

SPEAKER_04 11:52

Well, yeah, the rate from the racing to uh to the stroke, all that.

SPEAKER_03 11:56

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 11:57

No, I mean you gave it away. Well, no, but I've gave it away. Now I've been building it up. I could have started with that. But now I could have started with that. But now because you gave it away. I know. Well you tease it, I gave it away because now people are like locked in. Now they they're like doing it as well.

SPEAKER_03 12:13

Okay. Yeah, I mean, if not, uh I don't have the story that my mom has, but definitely definitely have uh definitely have had the inspiration, you know, of what she's done in her life and accomplished. And I think, you know, for myself, I kind of always knew that I didn't want to work for anybody else. And I think part of that is when you're a young kid and you see your mom, you know, own their own business, yeah. You know, you kind of just believe that that's a path. You know, I think that a lot of people, you know, don't really realize that you have to some people, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

I own my own businesses, and my kids are looking at me like this. Look at the sleepless night. Yeah, look at all this. And my son came up to me the other day, he's 14 years old, and he said, Why would you ever do this to yourself?

unknown 12:51

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

At least you keep your furniture.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

Yeah, that's not true.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

You take them out too much. I take him out, you know. What do you think?

SPEAKER_04 12:59

Have you been to some of the other some of the other restaurants? Anyway, I want to know about Mark.

SPEAKER_03 13:03

I want to I want to know about Mark's work and yeah, so you know, I, you know, ran high school, ran college, you know, cross-century tracking field, and that was just something I was very passionate about. And uh, you know, as I got into my you know, into my twenties, I knew I kind of wanted to, you know, do something with that and make that funnier. Exactly. Yeah, and I actually I mean I credit a lot, you know, with your brother because uh, you know, Arique and I think my brother would anything. Come on, I'm gonna give him props because you don't have to tag. Well I have to give I have to give him props because you know, in my early 20s, I mean I started my coaching business, Back training, when I was uh 23 years old. Wow, and I was connected with Eric because I'd been having some injuries and things like that. And so from early on in my business, I mean, you know, Ariq was working with people that you know that I worked with, and then he was, you know, sending me a lot of clients. And so, yeah, I think with anything like you can't grow a business without support of community partnerships. And I think that first partnership with Ariq, you know, really kind of solidified that for me and made me realize like if I want to be successful at this, I have to have a constant line of referrals, but it can't just be a one-way street. You know, you have to find ways to work with other people and work with organizations and things like that. So, yeah, 10 years later, I mean it's myself and we have 10 coaches and we work with people all over the country.

SPEAKER_02 14:15

Incredible. I'm gonna cut you off for a second here because I want to tell our listeners that uh if it was up to me, my brother would get credit for nothing.

SPEAKER_01 14:25

I love my brother.

SPEAKER_02 14:26

Uh, but it's just a reminder to our listeners that we don't rehearse for those things. No, we don't uh uh have any questions in mind. No, this is just a simple conversation. But anyway, I love my brother. I look up to my brother. But it does show the deep connection, and and I can't even think of a week that doesn't go by that people come up to me and say, Oh, we love your younger brother.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

Well, you know, I think you know, it's one of those things where you know I knew all about you through a rec. I mean, you know, really early on, he was always like, I'll take you to my brother's restaurant. Every day he would say that. Every time I'd see him, we're gonna go to my brother's restaurant. We never went, by the way, or he never actually took me, so uh I gotta give him a little shit for that.

SPEAKER_02 15:10

Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

You know, but I mean overall, like, you know, I started the coaching business, you know, and I for years, I mean, basically since I was what, 19, 20 years old, I've been putting on charity running events throughout the city, yeah, uh doing things like that. And so uh fast forward to now, uh, you know, in 2021, we started basically a charitable leg to my coaching business. Um, you know, we actually just had a race yesterday uh Sunday with the Jackie Joanna Curtis Foundation, which was incredible. Uh it's amazing. We close to 500 people that were there. It's a sellout crowd for us because we can't do much more uh you know with that venue. Uh but Jackie came to the race and she's you know fully involved and fully supportive of what we're doing. So incredible. It's opened my doors to you know a lot of things and opportunities that I wouldn't you know necessarily have. And so, I mean, I was thinking about actually on the way over here because I was thinking, you know, with all the charity running events that I've put on, you know, in the last 10 years, you know, it's been over a hundred thousand dollars raised through different uh charitable you know initiatives. And so it's it's pretty cool to think that, but you know, the reality is that that's the community that does that for you. And I think my perspective probably was shaped with my mom. She, you know, she didn't mention this, but she did a lot of work with like Marcia Dimes, the St. Louis Children's Hospital. I think like you didn't basically dad tell you you had to start a business because you were working for Corey. Um you were working for charity, all she did was charity.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Here is the line. One day he said to me, Um, listen, you are making millions of dollars for charity. How about making a little for us?

SPEAKER_02 16:46

You know what my favorite my favorite uh line from my grandmother when we we used to tell her, hey, we work so hard and she would see us work. And she said, if you work when you work so hard, when do you have time to make money?

SPEAKER_03 17:01

That sounds like a grandmother line. Yes. Well, was it uh well, you know, this is uh the best grandparent line that you know that we have is my grandma, you know, telling me when she gave me a hundred dollars that she gave me a little bit more than my other grandma. Yeah, you know, so that was our that was our famous quote from that way. You know, so yeah, I mean you know I feel very fortunate with what I get to do. You know, every single day I get to be passionate about you know what I do, and it never feels like it's a job.

SPEAKER_04 17:25

Mark, yeah, go ahead. I want I want to hear about these. Well, I was gonna say first before we get to that, like you talk about all the money you've raised. The the and I think I could speak for Ben when I say this, like it's just not for me. I just hate I've always hated running. No, no, money. I have no problem asking people for money. Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_00 17:50

But I love I share your.

SPEAKER_04 17:52

It's the running. But but where I was going with it was the running community is such a tight-knit group. Talk about the running community a little bit. It's a cult. It's a cult, it's a community. It's a religion. It is.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

Well, it is. And one of the reasons why I like putting events on is it gets us outside of that bubble of what just the running community is. Because all of our events, they're unique, you know, kind of similar probably to how you run your restaurants. You know, my the distances that I have from my events are not 5K's and 10ks and half Americans. 6K's, a mile, 3K. Like everything that we do is to be unique, but also to make it super accessible to people to walk. Because I want anybody in the community to feel like they can be a part of it, so that when Alex says, like, yeah, I'm not a runner, I don't connect to this, well, I can imagine that you're not a runner, but I'm sure you have cardio at your fusion at some point. You know, I'm sure that you you know like to exercise. So now if there's a chip tie to it, well, then you can just come out and walk your party slow enough for your snapshot on the way. You know, even your party.

SPEAKER_02 18:52

Three days a week, uh I have a personal trainer, and all we do is maybe a couple stretches, but then I skip because my shoulder is killing me. Well, even your former exercising. Detest it. I was a pretty decent soccer player, but outside of that.

SPEAKER_00 19:08

Well, I used to always say the only place I would run to was the bathroom. Gotta run to the bathroom. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 19:13

You know, the community in running is probably very similar to a lot of things in St. Louis. You know, I think St. Louis gets a bad rep with a lot of things, you know, but I think that the you know, there is that, I mean, it what it all kind of was established really by all the churches in St. Louis having these charitable initiatives, and I think that's really launched over into the community. And so, you know, people that stay here, they want to be invested in St. Louis, they want to be a part of it. Um, and that's something that I find so unique about what we do. But the reality is like, you know, if you want these things to be successful, you have to put your energy and effort into those things, and you also have to realize that you know you're not always gonna have it's it's not always gonna be hundreds of people waiting to support you in it. You know, you have to be the one to say, This is what I want, this is what I want.

SPEAKER_04 19:56

And talking about the support, you had um you had something go on over the last year where the outpouring of support from the running community, not only the running community, the Ladou community. Like I've never seen anything like it. Obviously, what you went through is not what the typical 30-something year old got 20. So how I don't even know how old I was.

SPEAKER_03 20:17

I'm 33, yeah. It's 32.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

So tell us about it.

SPEAKER_03 20:20

Tell us about yeah, I mean, uh, I uh you had a stroke. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I had two strokes, and I went to bed on a on a Thursday night after one of the best days of my life, to be honest. Um, you know, so you know, one of the things that we're doing right now with Speedwalk Racing, the Charitable Egg, is we sponsor Confluence Prep, which is a charter school in St. Louis, uh, downtown St. Louis. Shout out Coach Benson, uh, great guy. And we pay for their shoes, we pay for their uniforms, and coach wanted their kids to have their first experience of a cross-country practice, um, actually on grass, because when you run cross-country, you run on grass. But because they're downtown, they don't have any grass. They run on the arch grounds, they run in the roads, and so he said, Would you come out you know to Forest Park and coach the kids? And it was a hot day, and I was like, Of course. And I went and I had the best day, like the best day. And I remember calling a good friend of mine, Sonny Ta, who I know uh you're familiar with Sonny. Yeah, you know, I was just telling him on the way home. He's very involved in our organization, he's actually the best man at my wedding. And I was telling him, yeah, I was like, I know such a small world.

SPEAKER_02 21:22

I was just telling him, I was like, Sonny and Kimi just spent them uh in Morocco, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:27

Yeah, yeah, they loved it. So it just was telling him over, you know, like this is such an amazing day. I mean, this is what we're meant to do. You know, these kids, yeah, not only are we able to like donate money, and that's great, but we're actually involved in the program. Like, coach wants us to be a part of these kids' lives, which is so special. And I went home just like on top of the world, and uh, you know, every Friday morning our our team gets together for a 6 a.m. run. Uh we we meet at the Caldi's Coffee in Kirkwood that day or DeMont, and um, you know, I was just getting ready to get up for uh to go to to go run and uh Uh it was probably like my wife left the house at like 4 30 in the morning um to go run herself and I remember she came right back and she said she just felt like something was off, you know, like she didn't couldn't explain it. And if you know my wife, she doesn't skip out on anything. And so if she's coming back from a run five minutes into a run, that's very some sort of that's not a normal thing for her.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

She is a uh what what like what what was it?

SPEAKER_03 22:25

What did she and I wasn't even up yet? So that's the thing. So I wake up to her alarm, and it was one of those days you probably had those things where you wake up before your alarm, and I think I was just so energized from the day before. I felt awesome. Like I felt fantastic, and I immediately stepped out of bed, and it was the craziest thing in the whole world. Like, I couldn't stand on my two feet, I was running into the wall, I was you know, falling into stuff, and I had this like ringing in my ear and my eye, and it was just I can't even explain it. And uh, long story short, Katie is back in the house and we laugh about this. I can say this now, she won't get upset about it, I don't think. She thought I was having a head rush. So she was like, just go lay in bed, and we laugh about this because she had me lay in bed and set a timer. Uh so she set the timer, and I swear she set the timer like five minutes after she said she was going to, because she said she was waiting, you know, it's gonna be 10 minutes and I was gonna lay in bed, and it was it felt like 20 minutes. But I'm laying in bed and kind of thinking, are you having a panic attack? Like, what you know, what is this? Like, is it just anxiety? Is it really a head rush? You know, she got head rushes from similar things and getting up too fast, and um, that's kind of when it all went sideways. I remember uh, you know, I don't know how graphic or much you want me to get into this, but um, you know, I think it's worth sharing because young people do not typically have strokes, but young people can have strokes, and so if I could share my story and what I went through, that can be a huge thing for helping somebody else in the situation. And so I'm laying in bed, and I remember Katie came back down, and there was um my I was looking at my phone, and like the numbers and the letters, everything was off of the screen. Like it was like me chasing like letters and numbers off the screen. But at this point, like you just think like, I mean, you don't really know what you're going through. Yeah, you just think something's wrong. And so we live on a dead end street. I'm thinking there's no way in hell I'm gonna go in an ambulance out of here. Yeah. I was like, everybody on our street, and we love we love Karen, our neighbor, classically named Karen up the road. We love Karen, and we know that when that ambulance goes by, Karen's gonna hear it. Yeah, you know, everybody on the show. So I'm like, I don't want to leave in an ambulance, especially if this is just something that's like, you know, I if it's not a you know a serious issue, I don't want to just like it. I had a head rush and whatever. It was me, you know, whatever. But I think when I realized that stuff was really going downhill was the fact that now I can't speak, you know, and now I can't see. But I was I was aware enough in that moment to have my wife email and text clients and say, hey, I gotta cancel my 11 a.m. Okay, I gotta have you do this. I was like, I need to I need to clear this day. So I basically had her clear my entire day because I was like, oh, Jackie, I'm meeting with her at 10 a.m. at Francis Park. Like she needs to know because I don't want her to be stood up, you know, because I'm not gonna make it.

SPEAKER_04 25:12

That's the first thing that goes through. That's unfortunate.

SPEAKER_03 25:14

I was just thinking about it all, and that's why you don't think it's as serious because you're thinking, okay, I can think through things continually. So Webster EMS comes uh because we just decide there's just no way I can get out of bed. You know, I can't, you know, it was gonna be too much to ask Katie to carry me, a hundred, you know, 85 man, you know, out of the house and all the rest of stuff. So the EMS shows up and uh you know they come into the room and you kind of it's a weird feeling when you know what they're doing and you're the you know you're the victim, but you kind of know that like they're taking it really serious, but they talk to you in a way that's like, Mark, Mark, you know, like you know, can you say this for me? Can you do this? And they were kind of assessing things as we went um and really kind of realized in that moment you're having a stroke. And Katie and I not thinking stroke. Like that's the last thing the whole world thinking. So we get in the ambulance, and uh, you know, I know that we wanted to go to Mobap. That was the hospital that my doctor recommended, you know, and everybody, you know, our family, that's where we wanted to go. And the Webster EMS, like, I want to give them a shout out. Like, they told my wife, like, you are not going to Mobap, you are going to Mercy South. Yeah. And we're in Webster, it's probably about it's the closest stroke level one center in the city that you know, directly to Webster. And the reason for this, and and kind of backing up, Katie has a has a mentor and colleague at work who had a really massive cerebellum stroke um years ago. And it's a phenomenal story. He's a public speaker, he's writing a book. Um, he missed years of work, but has come back and become you know a very successful lawyer. Uh, but his result, like why he had such a hard road back, was because he got sent to Mobap, actually. He got sent to a non-level one center because I don't think they even maybe even had the same protocols. So his whole advocacy now, and he was telling Katie actually this the other day, is that he's really focusing on making sure you get to the right hospital, you get the right care, because that is everything. Intervention in those, it's a ticking time bomb. If you don't get in right away, like your entire life can be changed. Um, and so I'm in the ambulance and I just I can't stop vomiting. Like I am just like it's almost as if like you're flipped up upside down. Yeah, like I'm just so sick. Now it is funny because the EMS guy at Webster, he uh, there's a guy that runs with us, he uh he's a firefighter or EMS at uh at uh Webster, and I'm asking him like mid-stroke, hey, you know Nolan? As I vomit all over the guy. Yeah, and he's like, Oh yeah, yeah, Nolan, man, he's a good guy. Yeah, and so we go to the hospital, and you know, I'm I'm met with like six or seven people right away, go in there. Um the protocol is they put you in a CT scan, and then they immediately put you in an MRI. Because the CT scan is not always gonna catch a stroke, and then the MRI is gonna be the most definitive thing that they can see. And so what happened with this guy was they didn't do that whole protocol, they just did CT scan. So he was a diagnosis vertigo for two or three days. So that's why that intervention is so important because once they figure out that you have a stroke, you immediately go right to the right spot, and that's that's kind of how it all unfolded for me. And I'll say this like not to be dramatic, but I'm in the MRI machine, and I mean they got me in there within like what I probably got to the hospital with at 6 45 in the morning, and I was in the MRI machine within minutes, which for any of us, like we you know, we've waited months to try to get an MRI sometimes, you know. I I just kept thinking, oh, I probably kicked out that one guy that thought he was gonna have 7 a.m. No doubt you know, you know, 7 a.m. MRI for this. So I'm you know, I'm in the actual uh MRI machine. And you alert to this time, like you I am just vomiting and I can't speak, and I'm just horrible. And I you had to stay still, and I'm so sick in there, and like you know, it's like I I couldn't get out of it, and you're in an MRI machine. That's terrifying as it is.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

The MRI MRI It's like being buried alive. Yeah, it's the worst thing. It's the worst, I think it's the worst thing.

SPEAKER_03 29:17

I don't mind them typically, you know, but when it comes to like being trapped in them where you're already sick.

SPEAKER_01 29:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

And I remember the uh the head nurse goes, like, do you think you maybe have like because at this point they don't know if you had a stroke yet or not? They're like, Do you think you had anything, you know, to eat last night that could have upset your stomach or something? I was like, Well, I did have a lot of Oreos, you know, and my initial thought was maybe I'm having a diabetic reaction. Like maybe I am officially diabetic, and this is how I'm gonna find out that I'm diabetic. Like that's where my head was going, you know, where EFS, everybody else knew that.

SPEAKER_02 29:47

So obviously a very It was a dark day. A very dark day.

SPEAKER_04 29:52

So when did you find out you were having the stroke?

SPEAKER_02 29:54

When did they they after the MRI they probably got the results?

SPEAKER_03 29:56

You get sent into the step-down unit, ICU, um, and I think I think actually they told me right at the ER. Yeah, I think that's the same thing. Yeah, I think she just said, I'm so sorry to be the one to deliver this news to you. So what uh what did they do?

SPEAKER_02 30:07

What what are you doing?

SPEAKER_03 30:08

They they basically sent me right in and they're they immediately did.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

They took him right into the step-down stroke unit. So he wasn't ever in the ICU stroke, but he was in the septum, which is bad enough. Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 30:23

But what what what's what uh how do they treat the rest?

SPEAKER_03 30:27

Yeah. Then they then they you basically are like from there they're they have to do something. So what type of intervention did they do? The problem was because I woke up with the stroke, they they can't they could not give me the intervention uh drug or whatever they use because they did not know my last known time that I wasn't having a problem.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

So they have to know your time in order to do that. Wow. Um, and they didn't know when you wake up with a stroke you can't have it. So they basically took, I mean, but the neurologist was right there, the uh ICU nurses were all over them, and then basically some of it's a blur, but um they they like put him to rest. Yeah, and and then they kind of just came in and said he had a stroke and it was in the cerebellum, and you know, that was that was it.

SPEAKER_02 31:19

So aftermath, what uh you're in the hospital for a whole for a while.

SPEAKER_03 31:22

I was almost a week in the hospital, and then I went to rehab for about 10 days afterwards. And um And when you're in the hospital, they're just observing you. You're not being well, I ended up having issues in the hospital. Yeah, what about speech? What about the first one? First couple days, yeah, they come in right away with speech thoughts. Yeah, right away. So the problem for me when I was in the hospital was that um, you know, when you have a stroke, your body is just so tired.

SPEAKER_02 31:46

And you find you're probably very disoriented.

SPEAKER_03 31:48

You yeah, the first day is such a borer. I mean, it's it's it's like I don't remember the first day much because you're just so exhausted, you're so weak, and you've been vomiting, you know, so you know, you have nothing in your system. But they what they're trying to do during that time is figure out why did you have the stroke. That's the number one job of them, you know, to be able to diagnose you. And so they do this thing called a bubbles, bubble test. And I guess because you know, I'm in, you know, healthy, 32 years old, didn't have any cholesterol problems, didn't have any factors for a stroke, you know, their decision is they gotta figure out why you had a stroke, and it's very common to have a stroke from a PFO, which one in four people have a PFO, which is it is a hole in your heart. Now, most people will never know they have a hole in their heart, but in the four of us, I meant it could be all four of us, you know. And and the thing is that the and I asked my doctor, I was like, should I tell my brothers? Things like that. He's like, no, because you'd you know, basically you'd be there'd be no there would be well, there'd be no room for the hospital like to have even like the ability to see all these people because the entire world is just full of people with PFOs. Wow. But one percent of those folks who have a PFO have a stroke. And so once they realize that you have PFO, that's pretty much their reasoning for why you had the stroke. Sure, sure. And so it was the bubble study test kind of said I had a stroke, or kind of said I had a PFO, but it was kind of inconclusive. And then they give you another test, which is called a TE test, which they put you under for it, and they basically just go in and they can look at your heart. And that they stopped it because at that time they thought there was a blood clot in my heart, uh, which ended up not being true. So it was just this it was a wild chase while I was in the hospital for them to figure it out. And so, yeah, you you stay in the hospital and then by the end of it, uh, went to rehab. And honestly, I my success and my growth happened once I got to rehab because it is like, I mean, I kind of enjoyed it because it was like boot camp.

SPEAKER_04 33:40

I did, and you saw I saw on social like the amount of work you put in is just it's honestly like admirable to a sense of like this is just what you gotta do, and you didn't like let it get you down at all. And it was just it was amazing to watch.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

This is the first time I meet Mark, and it uh obviously it's a very inspirational story. Uh the fact you're sitting here and you're at no point this the conversation, it it sounded like this is something that occurred to you. Sounds life-altering, obviously life-changing, but your demeanor stayed almost the same. Yeah, you're for at no point you're thinking, oh, this is how I go down. So this I haven't heard it at least.

SPEAKER_03 34:26

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:27

Um all I've heard was I'm thinking about other people, about my appointments, about all I hear about is um just how do I continue to get better? Uh so there's this positivity, and this is what I'm gonna say, because we talk about the running and the running community, there is a sense of purpose with running. I mean, obviously you run from one point to the next, and yeah, but it's repetition this is conversations with my brother. There is a sense that it it allows you to finish something and then start it again the next day. It's a zip, right? But at the same time, it it does give you this this sense of positivity, this sense of purpose, this sense of you know, tomorrow's another day and I'm going to absolutely.

SPEAKER_03 35:18

I mean, I think that's the biggest thing. Like, you know, when you're like I couldn't walk for you know several days and had to relearn how to walk, but it was never a thought in my head that I didn't know how to walk.

SPEAKER_04 35:28

Yeah, and as a runner, but as a runner though, like how does that thought not even cross your mind, right?

SPEAKER_03 35:34

Because I think for me, you know, the whole time you have all these people who are caring for you. You have all these amazing nurses, and you have all these amazing PTs, all these amazing doctors. So you're constantly being pampered by people who want to see you be successful. And it for me it just seems incredibly selfish to sit there and wallow, you know, when all these people are going in there trying to help you.

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Mark, can you share this story with people?

SPEAKER_03 35:59

I I have shared the story for sure, you know, of the stroke, you know, and and and you know, that's what we're all and the resilience, the recovery. Yeah, I mean, I think, you know, I try to show on social the positives of it. You know, I think it's funny when I was in rehab, every morning I would wake up and go ride the halls in my wheelchair uh and do a workout because that's what I would do normally. I'd get up and go run or use elliptical. So I'd do 30 to 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 36:26

Because, you know, I was so nervous. We were so nervous he's gonna have another stroke. They hadn't really proved that it was the PFO, and you know, they're telling me, well, we had to put an alarm on his wheelchair because he's out in the parking lot doing the wheelchair. He was a flight risk.

SPEAKER_04 36:44

You see him wheeling down. I got stuck in the body.

SPEAKER_02 36:48

This has to be the one of the toughest things for a parent to to continue. Like I'm sure that you're still there as a beautiful thing. You're still you can get over something like that.

SPEAKER_00 37:02

Yeah. And I mean, I will just share that when he was six weeks old, he was very seriously ill and um had cartussis, which is whooping cough. And uh he had contracted it before, probably at a family gathering, to tell you the truth, because he hadn't really been out before he was um vaccinated, and we almost lost him. And so to see it a second time, thank you. I that was too much. Stop messing with her, really. She's had enough.

SPEAKER_04 37:35

She's had enough worried about it.

SPEAKER_00 37:37

I always say every gray hair I have on this head is really useful.

SPEAKER_04 37:40

Let the three other boys.

SPEAKER_00 37:43

But his resilience and his um determination has existed. I had um my husband's partner's wife said to me in the hospital when he was six weeks old, she said, take a picture of him now. And I said, I can't. I don't ever want to remember this, I don't want to see it. And she said, You will want to show him one day how strong he was. And it just, I think he is the strongest person I know. I mean, he's resilient, he's positive, and as a parent, you know, you just to watch it is a beautiful thing. Uh, if you could just erase the event of you know, total vitality.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

Um this is this is an amazing story. Um I mean it just for me um because we are because we are because this podcast is called Jose and the Lou, and we didn't really know what we're doing, Alex and I. Every one of those episodes, if you listen, we have to kind of rethink about what's the purpose of this thing. And one of our things was we just wanted to talk to people in our community that have universal stories. Uh and because the idea is it doesn't matter that we're Jewish. I think our Jewishness informs us in other ways, right? But that we are in this community, that we are doing things that you know everyone can relate to. Um inspiring other people. Inspire other people. And I think this is uh this is uh the ultimate universal story. We have a a two remarkable individuals here. Happy to be related, I'm sure that there is a um and um yes, I mean I just think that it's it's such a it's such a great uh great opportunity to have you on. Um one thing I wanted to ask, and because again, Jews in the loop, I want to talk about your Jewishness. Does that inform any of this? It doesn't have to, obviously. These are not unique things to Judaism, but was there you know at any point during this episode in your day-to-day life outside of the uh episode Does this vitality, does this sense of purpose that you both have, uh and sense of like community and is informed by your Jewishness?

SPEAKER_03 40:06

I think that Jewish people are resilient just in general, you know, and I think that um when you're you know in grade school and you're coming up with your friends who are also Jewish, you know, and you go to temple and things like that, you have a community with you, and I think that you don't really realize how unique it is to be Jewish until you are you know out of probably out of high school and you realize wow, there's not that many Jewish people, you know, in this community isn't you know, it is big, but it's a lot smaller. You know, at Ledou, everybody's Jewish, so it wasn't very unique.

SPEAKER_04 40:39

I talk about how I was the first Jewish people a lot, a Jewish person, a lot of people like in college met.

SPEAKER_00 40:46

Yeah, I went to school in Arizona and I had a lot of uh my uh friends would say, I've never met a Jewish person. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:54

It's a very unique thing for a lot of people. I mean, you know, I remember that for sure. I think you know that you know the thing that I remember, you know, with temple and uh, you know, and and all the high holy days and everything was it was all about the community aspect. And I'm sure that even if I'm not thinking about that every day, you know, you your habits in life are created by what you do when you're young. And that's kind of repetition. So I don't think it's any coincidence that we are the way that we are. And you know, our dad is the real you know shining Jew of them all. You know, so you know he's he's the one that leads the family, you know, and uh you know makes us all look better.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

I think that just don't you think that you no matter what you're what we're involved in, okay, you you build community, right? And when you build community, you build something strong. And so whatever careers we're in or whatever paths of lives we take, you know, as mayor, I want to build a community. I want people in Ladie to know each other, I want to build a community that's part of a greater community that feels a responsibility to the greater region as well. The running community is amazing. Look at the just the community around the restaurateurs and chefs. I I mean I used to chair the Star Chefs Committee for Marjorie Dimes, and um it morphed into other names and uh signature chefs, and but um that community is incredible. I mean, the way they support each other and the way they support others in the community is really cool. So, and even when you're in an interior design business, you know, you're building uh you know, you're you're building a community with your clients, and and we get to know them, and you want to be, you know, it's more than just a job.

SPEAKER_02 42:45

Relationships is everything.

SPEAKER_00 42:46

Yeah, it's just relationships.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

It's the only thing that endures. I had a good friend at my house on Sunday, and a very wealthy individual and accomplished person. And we kept talking and and I couldn't but sense that he is he has he has a void in his mind. Uh it's not spirituality because he's a fairly spiritual individual as well. And I spoke with him and he said, what what what is that? And he said, you know, I don't have a great relative with my children. I don't I I don't feel like I have very, very close friends. I mean he and I see each other once every six weeks, once every other month, or something like that. And he said, I have a pre I'm a man of great health, wealth, and my health other person with my health in check. He said, you know, my wealth could change, my health could change. What endures these relationships? And it it was it was very, very impactful. powerful and what I hear is that you know that what moves you and what steers you in so uh it's what moves and steers me too. This is all I strive for is yeah I agree.

SPEAKER_04 44:11

I think it's more about uh I think it's more about like the people that you know and surround yourself with. And you get to a point where you honestly start to see the people that prioritize other things over the relationships. And they're kind of the people that you don't really necessarily want to be around because they're the opposite of you. They're kind of trying to think find the things that like you can be negative about rather than basically looking at everything for what it is and just finding the positive motivation from every single just waking up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 44:44

Well I think like something that's unique probably about all four of us is that you know I would imagine that you know there's a lot of people who you know you you know they know Ben because of the restaurants you know and so their angle might be I want to be Ben's friend because of the restaurants or Alex was on Y98 you know like if if I'm on uh sorry 9841 but uh you know you know uh he he's out there on social people always say it all the time like they have to say oh your mom's the mayor well you know it's almost as if like there's a like they don't realize I would say that we're all just four people that actually don't value any of those things probably to that level. Like for me it's like the success that I've had at least in the running community I never want to be viewed as this like oh this staple or whatever I want to viewed as Mark Stewart and I think about like you know community as a teammate you know and I just so happen to be the one that's the leader but not the one that's like the you know you know you're gonna get something out of me and I think that's the that's probably the like been a weird thing for me when people come up to me and they're like you know like they they have to introduce me as like mayor son or whatever the case is like you know like I'm very proud of you I think that's awesome but that's not anywhere near the top 50 things that I've been associated with myself or you or things like that. No come on and I'm very proud of you said top fit not even 50 you didn't even crack 50 I'm very proud of her for being mayor but like if that's the only reason why you're gonna talk to me or like you know my dad so that's the there's a distinction here right I mean when you accomplish something like that and then yeah but if if if people's interest in you I see what you're saying if people are interesting you are because of that because of that then they're yeah they're not saying for who you are like yeah and really really want to know the true you.

SPEAKER_04 46:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:34

Is there are there term limits in the duo?

SPEAKER_00 46:36

Are you gonna be a lesson there are not term limits but there is an election okay and um so uh uh it's every the mayor's term is up every two years okay two years up two years that's all are you in term number one right now okay no I just mayor for quite a while have you crazy how many years 2013 she's been the mayor for quite some time now for what 13 years so every two years what can you accomplish in two years I mean well it's tough I agree with you it is tough um it kind of you know I the council members are two years too so um it's somebody handed us something wow what is it my daughter in Minneapolis this was not funny you see that's funny that's organic wow that's organic thank you for sharing that she's great she's fantastic that's that's so funny in Minneapolis St.

SPEAKER_03 47:30

Louis yeah she's doing Chicago too we're gonna run it together unbelievable this is unbelievable this is what juzing loo does connections are you know I mean when you thank you for doing yeah yeah at first I was like who's what's what's we got going on here and then the note came and I was like this is great like you know like something that yeah I think we both can attest this so so my dad her husband is not a person that is gonna be like wants to be on the camera or like a show me person but he was the pediatrician to everybody in this town. I mean everywhere we go and I guess to you as well yeah so everywhere we go somebody brings up my dad but my dad is not that person yeah like I never knew I mean I never knew how successful he was until I got actually I went to Merrimack and I remember that was like my first experience hearing all these people that to the first day of class the professor the students in class three of them heard my name and they all asked and to this day it still runs that you know runs that deep and I think with I try to be like him because he was always just do the best job you possibly can treat people with respect but it was never for a motive.

SPEAKER_02 48:42

So I I I love you there's an alternative word in what you just said it's not respect it's successful because you define successful I don't even think with you actually contemplating it but you've defined successful in terms of legacy not in terms of business or in terms of success is legacy it's living a little bit of you and making an impact even the smallest impact on people in a positive way. That means the ultimate success if you touch someone and you've just used that word without even because most people say oh it's so successful how successful are your restaurants how successful is your uh term and what have you accomplished right no success is exactly what you just said yeah success could be defined simply as the legacy that you're leaving behind the the impact that you've that you've imprinted so far that was very very insightful thank you because you know I I've gave given interview people say well so what's your most successful project and I'm like it's the one that failed it's the two that failed it's the three that failed I had I had many failures yeah are they successful you know we lost a lot of money we did they were sleepless nights it was a very stressful time yeah but you know what it was successful it was successful because some of the people that were with me along the way endured it with me continued to with me business failure doesn't translate into personal failure yeah yeah that's true we had restaurants that we closed and you know I still consider them as successes because we've learned from them or we've while they were open we've contributed something and that to me is a bigger success than than than well the question that I would have is you know you obviously have you know you can hang your hat on you know you know particular businesses that you've created that everybody will forever know but I'm sure you obviously have these projects like you said that are maybe the ones that failed over the years or the ones that are you you know are you doing it to you know it doesn't sound like you are to chase almost the big success are you doing it to fulfill your heart whatever if so I will tell you a story over the last year or so um me and my guest team we met every Friday uh what some someone one of my managers came up and says you know we don't really have core values to our to our organization and we don't really have and so we sat down and started um composing what we thought were Bengelina's core values and we came up with some great things and this was over the course of six seven eight months of meeting every Friday and putting this together and we're looking at all those things and one of my managers pointed out that the word profit or financial stability or you know uh expanding for the purposes of or awards or any of that stuff is in nowhere to be found. Wow we forgot to talk about hey we also need to be you know build a sustainable business or a profitable business to continue to do those things it didn't even occur to us that that's what we need to talk about here.

SPEAKER_03 51:58

This is how unfocused I am which is it's not a good thing when you run business you know but this is how unfocused I am we don't we we know you're unfocused you're pretty passionate about we're passionate about people we're passionate about hospitality it's not about just having the number one restaurant and a million followers on social and that's fine too I like when I get recognition of course it's a boost to the morale yeah it's there's you know a little bit of an ego ego boost is not is not a bad thing it's you know you want to make people feel proud of of their workplace and all that yeah but it's not what we're about it's not what I'm trying to to get to you know well I think if your character is inconsistent when you're at the grocery store or you're at the park you know with the person that you are in your career you're doing it wrong because you should be and I think that's what we learned probably you know from my mom and from my dad is that you are that same person wherever you are to whoever it is to the janitor to to whatever and if it's different in my opinion you know that's when you've gotten in for the wrong reasons.

SPEAKER_04 53:03

I think that's great. You are you authentically you you just authentically you are yours given the situation no matter what the situation is like the camera turns on the camera turns off you're gonna get the same right regardless.

SPEAKER_00 53:16

I think it's just that the reason I am mayor of Ladoux other than besides the fact that people have elected me is because um I just feel like I'm leaving it a better place that I'm improving it. And that so just like adding sidewalks, adding a trail um you know adding flock cameras to make sure that we're safe whether it's community policing or training fire and EMS or having the very best public works staff that is taking care of your residents. They're all people and they've all got their own individual problems and and goals and good things and bad things. I just feel like that um it's just I'm making an impact not only on the residents but on the people who work for us and we appreciate them so greatly as the residents of Woo that it's just a it's a great thing to be able to affect that.

SPEAKER_04 54:13

Well honestly you guys are two of the best like just overall people I think that like in general no I know we gotta wrap here in a couple minutes but I want to we'll do like a couple fun things just to kind of end it because you talked about like your goal like what you what you strive for as mayor like you just want to leave it better than it was before um but it's kind of like relative to this but I want to know like okay you're running you get to choose the most ideal dreamy scenic running course that's there in the whole world you get to create it for you what is the race that you're gonna organize to like do that.

SPEAKER_03 54:52

Yeah well the first and foremost it has to be a if I have unlimited reign there has to be a charitable tie. So let's go with see it's the first thing he goes all let's go with a an event that's gonna solve world peace and hunger you know so that's where we're starting you know like we're gonna bring all these people together because we're gonna have millions that show up for this event and then we're gonna need a massive amount of land for parking and for accessibility for lodging so we got to think about probably somewhere you know somewhere in the world that I don't know that specific place but that can accommodate for that you know I'm almost thinking Ireland with like kilco like with the ocean front things like that and being able to run on those beautiful long hills things like that. And then you have to be able to finish with a huge party because whatever you do in your life you have to have a celebration. Sure. And that it that gets buy-in because that's where I can pull a guy like Ben or Alex who does not like running but still likes the idea of supporting people that are there whether you know and one thing I do like just want to mention is like Alex you know I knew nothing about Alex's you know background and personality before the dog would run. Right. You know Jody just told me my friend Alex is going to play the music.

SPEAKER_01 56:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 56:00

And then I found out afterwards I was like this guy's oh my God I mean knew you were legit from person to person of how you treated me and your cousin and everything else like that. They're great people but I'm saying like that's who you were and so but you you do that for free. He plays in professionally but you lend your hand for us and the dog would run. And so all that to be said when you I feel like when you have something that makes people feel really fulfilled then people like Alex and those other folks will step up and if we're trying to solve you know hunger and world peace we're gonna need some big players and I think that's where we start with. What's your beer? What beer are you getting well? So Kevin, Chris and Liz, you know we're gonna have to get a lot of beers ready. They just got this new beer actually I've just sort of advertised it's called the stride beer and it's gonna be their big fitness beer of the adventurers by the stride beer we just amazing beer check it out.

SPEAKER_00 56:57

Amazing guy oh my god this was uh this was amazing yeah this was great you all you both are making a difference in this community as well and it's um it's just yeah I don't think any of us wake up in the morning and think I want to make a difference but I think that it drives us um in our intentions of what we do every day.

SPEAKER_04 57:17

Whatever we can do to share stories we we like to do it.

SPEAKER_03 57:19

That's what's so special about St. Louis is that you are passionate about it. You want to it is your home you want to make the best of it and that's what you can do. Instead of being in the negative narrative you can be the one that's trying to change that.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:30

Bingo it's a perfect uh note to end on wow so thank you Mandy and Mark Spiwal