Airing Out Your Vagina
Hosted by Allie Trimble-Lozano, hospital CEO turned author, speaker, and executive coach. Airing Out Your Vagina is the unfiltered conversation women in leadership have been waiting for.
This is where we unpack the messy, the meaningful, and the downright ridiculous parts of being a woman with ambition. From boardrooms to breakdowns, motherhood to mic drops, Allie brings raw truth, dark humor, and the kind of wisdom that only comes from burning out, starting over, and finally leading on her own terms.
Pull up a chair, pour a drink, and get ready to laugh, cringe, and maybe even cry a little.
It's time to air it all out!
Airing Out Your Vagina
Friendship, Purpose, and Work that Matters
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Download my free mini-ebook: It's About Damn Time: The Self Check for Women Leaders Who Work Their Ass Off, Play By the Rules, and STILL Get Passed Over.
Episode 4 is here, and my heart is doing cartwheels because I finally got to sit down with one of my forever people, Nicole Schiff.
Nicole isn’t just my bestie for life; she’s also the Executive Director of the Paso del Norte Center of Hope, where she’s out there every day doing work that quite literally changes lives.
In this episode, we went everywhere. We talked about her calling, what it really means to lead with compassion, how moving to El Paso cracked both of our worlds open in the best way, and of course… animals, because if you know us, you know we can’t resist a good furry-friend detour.
This one feels like a warm hug, a truth bomb, and a therapy session wrapped in one. Tune in, laugh with us, learn with us, and feel the power of deep friendship and purpose-driven leadership.
So, hi, welcome to our next podcast episode. I am joined today by one of my favorite people on planet Earth, and she goes by Nicole. But if you read book number one, um then you're gonna know that this is my friend Nicole who runs the human trafficking business. But I actually had her on because we're gonna clarify. So do you don't run a human trafficking business?
SPEAKER_00No, I'm only here today to clarify that I do not run a human trafficking business. Um, thanks to your son AJ for making me that, Nicole. Love it. Um no, I run an anti-human trafficking business. Key differentiation. Very key. I need him to just kind of add in anti whenever he refers to me from now on.
SPEAKER_01If you could please clarify that comment. I love it because now pretty much everybody in our friend circle, and honestly, if but beyond that at this point knows you as human trafficking, Nicole.
SPEAKER_02That's true.
SPEAKER_01Um, so you can never really change career paths, I don't think. I think you're gonna be at center of hope now for I think I've committed to life at this point.
SPEAKER_00I think you have to kind of sometimes I think a jail sentence, but uh I think I've committed, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So talk to us a little bit about center of hope. Um really kind of the mission beyond behind it. So I want to say, and I'll say it publicly here, so now it's been recorded on a podcast. Nicole knows I have committed that when I make my first million dollars, doing whatever it is that I'm doing with all of my different side hustles. We had some ideas this morning, I'll fill you in. Um once I make my first million dollars, 10% of that goes straight to Nicole and her anti-human trafficking organization, Center of Hope.
SPEAKER_00Yes, I'm holding you to that. Now I guess I'm in two to help you make your first million. That's exactly right. Step it up. Um yes, so Center of Hope started in uh May of 2013 by a couple, you know, concerned community members, our founders, Lori Patternoster, and just working with victims of human trafficking. I think it started out with um mostly adults being served. They were seeing them like in the domestic violence population and different homeless shelters, but slowly um over the past five or six years, I'd say, and definitely after COVID, it's really become a youth-based um population. Our average client age is about 14. I think that's key. Most of it.
SPEAKER_01And I think um, and then I'll shut up again and let you continue. But I think one of my favorite things, not favorite, but one of the main points that I want people to understand is you and I've talked about the fact that there's total misunderstanding about human trafficking, what it is, where it comes from, and who are most at risk. And so I just wanted to kind of stop there and say and make sure that everybody listening heard that really the average age of your patient, I won't say patient, your client population as a nurse. Yeah, exactly. Well, so do you world, but yeah. Um but the fact that they're 14 years old. I think most people don't realize that.
SPEAKER_00No, I've been joking, and maybe you know, we can talk to whoever does this for you, because I need a podcast too. Um, mythbusters, if you will. Love it. Um, because yeah, the the misconception here locally is that um that it's migrants that we're serving, um, undocumented, that they're adults, that they've gotten themselves into this. Um, I've so much as heard somebody say that when I think of human trafficking, I just think of prostitutes in Vegas. Oh my gosh, you know, makes my skin crawl basically. Sure. The work that we do. But yes, the average client age right now that we're seeing um is 14 over the past two years, it's been 14. When I first took on this role in 2020, um it was average 17, 18-year-olds was was our primary uh population, and yeah, it's just significantly gone down. Um and realizing that about 92% of all of our clients are U.S. citizens, their youth going to school here locally, and they're being trafficked by U.S. citizens here locally. Um, so yeah, the media portrays it in a different light, sometimes even different law enforcement partners, and then our community as a whole just doesn't understand that it's happening here. Unbelievable. I think you know well enough to know that it's become my passion and like my drive in life to make sure people understand educate people, yeah. That no, it's not what you think, and it's children that we're talking about. So I even asked you about our upcoming donor appeal, and is at now save a child too dramatic, but it's like and I said, hell no, print it bigger. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because the reality is, I you know, when you talk too about there's all sorts of ways for children to be contacted. And so I think one of the things you and I have talked about, we talk about social media and we talk about all of those things, and we have, but you know, parents, and you touched on it maybe a tiny bit right now when you said 92% are children that are going to school here that are US citizens whose parents are US citizens. Um, and people are unaware of how this gets started. And so, you know, we you and I had had a conversation about Roblox and making sure that you're paying attention to what what's going on in the chats on gay maps. I mean, it's it's it's just crazy. But I think people don't realize that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I mean Roblox was definitely or is a target. Um, and Roblox is focused on youth like three to eight years old, and it's a predator's target. Like how how do you wrap your head around that?
SPEAKER_01And three to eight-year-olds, yeah. You would never even think about it from that perspective.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so we've had a number of cases locally with involving the recruitment that came out of Roblox, and you pick on me because I refuse to have TikTok, but there's uh obvious reasons behind it. There's actually a list of you now that bully me about not having TikTok. Is it growing? It's growing. Like I'm like, you guys, leave me alone.
SPEAKER_01Well, you could have TikTok and just watch my stuff. That would be horrifying.
SPEAKER_00The day I give in and I download just for you. Um, I guess to support the million dollars, maybe.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, for sure. But just um, yeah, these platforms are just getting it's just easier access to youth than we realize. But there's also been teachers, bus drivers, we've seen the band teacher um locally that is engaging with minors, and people don't realize that that is a form of child sex trafficking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, and so these teens, 14, 15-year-olds that are in quote unquote relationships, they think with with people in the 30s and 40s, yeah. Like and it's just how how do you wrap your brain around it? And so that is what Center Pope does every day, all day long, and um just trying to build build on that and serve more people as much as we can. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Thanks to supporters like you. Trying, yeah. So I haven't funded a table in a bit, but you just wait on coming back. I come to you for that, Kevin and Rio.
SPEAKER_02So any chance I can.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. So talk to me, let's share, and then we'll kind of move on to some other topics. But share with me, or if you wouldn't mind, like one of your you get the crisis calls, you have an incredible team. I mean, truly an incredible team. And I was so glad when Sebastian returned. So happy I haven't seen him yet, but I'm excited too. Um but we were talking, or I was talking to some people earlier about the fact that you know what it does to those providing the service. We forget that. And so talk to me a little bit about you know what that crisis call, what does that look like when you get that call, right? Maybe share one um more anonymous like um that really touched you, and then kind of what you work through with your team to try to help your team. I always say I'm trying really hard to stay sane. So that's my goal in life. It's I'm failing, it's not working, obviously. But what do you do for those team members that that are taking those crisis calls with you? Because it's a huge hit to them personally as well.
SPEAKER_00So it's funny you say that. We joke, number one, that it's a constant dumpster fire. Um I actually recently found them stickers that say like co-worker or dumpster fire co-worker support team. That's fantastic. Um and so we always joke that it's just constantly a dumpster fire. Yeah. And um, if you've seen the minion gif where they're just running around with like lights on, screaming, like that's also messy. Um like sometimes people think we have it all together, but it's just always pure chaos. But so the calls, um, for example, like if a crisis call comes in, it's typically from law enforcement or the hospital. Um, you know, hey, we've recovered a youth. Uh we just had one 15-year-old. Um, mom thinks she's being exploited. Well, you know, sure enough, because she was just found with a 34-year-old. Um, they were exchanging inappropriate photos, sexual content. Um, and youth was basically on runaway for um a number of days. And so we get called out to go and assess, send a case manager, and just the level of detail that sometimes they have to hear, they have to be in the interview with law enforcement, um, go and you know, do the same exam with the youth. They're not in the room tip typically unless the victim requests it. Um, but yeah, just being mindful of self-care of like what you and I talk about. Like I do the work I do because I have support systems like you, a few of our other friends in our circle that I know I can call, but I need to know that my team has those people too. Yeah. And so we do offer therapy. They can go to therapy, um, you know, paid for by the center because I never want them to go home and like take on that burden and not have somebody to discuss it with. So self-care is huge for us. You've met Jasmine, um, our our program director, and she's another amazing person. Clinician, now, you know, uh, she's um working to get her full licensure for social work. And um, so we're just constantly talking about like self-care and being trauma-informed, and um that it's not just about how we serve the clients, but how we serve each other and um just being there for each other. And sometimes that's all it is, is just staffing a case and being able to talk about it out loud, like the details that we can't share with the public or with our families, and just just being like, you know what, this really sucks, this is really hard. Um, and just talking about it. But but you you you nailed it, you said my team, they're the most passionate group of people that I've ever like had the pleasure personally. Um they go above and beyond every day, and just like whatever they're asked, they just they just do it. And yeah, so yes, Sebastian was a case manager. Um he needed to leave direct service for a little while. It just it became too much as it does for most. Yeah, it's just really heavy. And so he left us for about a year, and then um we realized we just needed a another director, a deputy director, and he was like the absolute perfect fit. And he's come back, and two days into being there, he was already writing grants, which I haven't had help with in five and a half years, yeah, my whole life. Um, so he already is like writing grants, hitting the ground running, and um just the level of passion is that's amazing. Amazing, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, I can't wait to see him again because I haven't seen him since he was.
SPEAKER_00You should crash our Thanksgiving lunch like last year when we did the tea search one and you came as my plus one.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00I'll send you the details.
SPEAKER_01Okay, that would be so fun. I love that. I think um one of the things that I wanted to talk to you a little bit about, um, and I'm I'm gonna do an episode on this, hopefully coming up about nursing specifically. But I love, and so I'm totally calling you out. But I love the fact that I'm a nurse, you know that. Um, went to UTEP, got my BSN, and then went on to get my MBA and kind of moved into the op side. But I have a lot of friends that are nurses that are no longer working in nursing or anything really healthcare related. So can you talk to me a tiny bit about how you got into nursing and then what and how you got out of it? Yeah. And I'll say out of it, you're still a caregiver because you you found another way to really give back and do something hugely important.
SPEAKER_00Right. I think we always work with people forever, regardless of our title.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, I think that's how we find people too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I think, you know, we were um, I was doing an interview recently and they were asking me about how like would I go back and do what I did over again? And I'm like, heck to the yes, because it I met amazing people. And so you're one of them. I would have never met you. Um, I would never be friends with the human trafficking business entrepreneur that I am, had it not been for my role with the hospitals. We were very involved, um, and you had reached out for some fundraising stuff, and so that's how we connected. Yeah, but I love looking at kind of how those connections work, and then in your case specifically, how you went from nursing to non-nursing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, I think you know, obviously, like my past, and that would be a whole series of episodes if we get into that. But um, just yeah, that caregiver mindset always like since I was younger, and so just the idea of um helping people was where it started, and then I went and worked at um a nursing home on the night shift doing uh work with dementia patients and became a CNA, a certified nursing aide, and um then just realized, you know what, maybe that's the direction I could go. So then I worked in the emergency room. All of this was in New York, not here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um, but within uh just a few years, I realized like it was so top heavy. Like the directors in admin and in those offices that we we joked on, like the fifth and sixth floor, they didn't care about patient care. They didn't care about satisfaction, they cared about numbers. And so even though I was working the night shift, it was still you had a certain amount of time to get patients in and out. You you know, had to make sure they had these tests or didn't have these tests, and it wasn't about what was going on with them or their family or why they came in. It was just numbers, yeah. Like, and it was census and it was this and that. And so I realized, you know what, I think I'll go back to school for healthcare administration because I want to be up there knowing what I know from down here. Part of the change, yeah. Yeah, and then that quickly changed into never mind, I don't want to be involved at all um to public health. And um, so when I moved here to El Paso, I got obviously involved in the nonprofit sector, but like you said, it's still the same level of like helping people, trying to figure out what I wanted to do. Um, and so yeah, I finished, I ended up finishing my master's in public health, but which human trafficking is a public health. I was gonna say for anyone who doesn't know that since 2017. Yeah, um, and that's kind of where it tied in my passion was oh my gosh, like I actually could help this population based on what I went to school for. But yeah, I wouldn't ever take back working in the ER or anything that I saw because it was still a lot of trauma. It was a lot of substance use, it was a lot of You see it all. We were on the night, like we worked 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. Like you became friends with the cops and all the people they brought in, and and then that population transitions in some ways to like who we work with now, like the clients that we serve now. It's so true. And just some people be like, Oh my gosh, I can't believe you dealt with that. And I'm like, Oh, I saw way worse than the ER, or you know, right, whatever. So, but yeah, for me it was the administration just didn't understand that it wasn't about making money, it wasn't about your census numbers. Like, I wanted to truly care for people and there's humans here, yeah. Like, and that just wasn't ever acknowledged. So I was like, you know what, I'm out. Yeah, and you found another way. And there was, I would always joke, there was like women that were, you know, I was in my early 20s, and there was women that had been nurses for 30 or 40 years, that was their career their whole life, they're ready soon for retirement, and they hated life, they hated their job, they hated all of us, like they were not nice, and I just remember thinking, like, I don't ever want to be that jaded. I don't want to hate everyone and everything because I stuck it out in a career that that ruined me or that I can't stand, or that yeah, I just stayed in it because I needed the money, like I didn't want to be like that. So luckily I was young enough at the time to change paths a little bit, but yeah, I would say I still very much um feel like I still can care about people and and help people, but just in a different setting.
SPEAKER_01I love that. And I think you know, when you talk about you got into healthcare to and I I like to say you get into healthcare to be health caring. And then whether it's you know, you mentioned older unhappy nurses. I mean, we as a nurse, nurses eat their young. They do. You're the new nurse, they're gonna give you the crummy assignment, they're gonna make sure you get the crappy doctor, they're gonna get I mean, nurses are known, and I don't know if it's because it's so heavily feminine, female, or not, um, but nurses are known for that. And I think what I like about what you're sharing is kind of similar to what I've said is you you figured out a different path or a different way to still have a positive impact, to still be able to take care of people, to still be a caregiver. Um, I think the most disappointing thing for me was I did think if I rose through the ranks, you know, I'll have the power and influence to change things. And I did have the power and influence and opportunity and blessing to change things in the facilities I ran. But that's where that influence stopped. And so um then looking for how do I have a bigger sphere of influence? How do I have, and that's part of kind of where this mission has grown, you know, using my voice, getting other people on to talk about their experiences and their things. Um, but I think, you know, I was telling somebody the other day it's really disappointing when you look at healthcare, is supposed to be about health caring. And we have beat the care out of the care providers. And so um it's disheartening. But I think when when more people talk about it and we start kind of comparing stories and how come you got out of it and why are you doing something different? That's something thematic that I kind of keep seeing resonate.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely. And I think once in a while it's sad, but like you'll be just now at the doctor's office, and I'm like, oh, like that nurse is so kind and compassionate. Oh, well, the system hasn't gotten to her yet. Like, you just wonder, there's you know, it should be more so that than not. And it's the opposite. Like you're like, oh, I found a nurse who actually went above and beyond, or because so many now are so jaded and they're just like going through the motions and checking the boxes, and it's not any fault of their own. It's just they're surviving. They're surviving, yeah. They're in survival mode. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, and you're right, it was like going through a sorority. Um, what is it where they like oh, like hazing. Hazing, yeah. But when I was a young nurse and there was nurses and they had been in it forever, I was like, Am I being hazed? And when does this stop? Like at what and then a new nurse would come in and be like, oh good, she's their brain. Like, yeah, I got to move up. I'm no longer the newbie. Because it really was like you got the crappiest end of the stick because they were like, Well, like, if this if we're gonna hate all of this, we might as well at least give the newbie the worst part. If I had to do it, you have to do it.
SPEAKER_01It doesn't matter. Yeah, so it's crazy.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think that's that sums it up for sure.
SPEAKER_01It's not fun. Well, one of my I I joke that our lives kind of run parallel in many different ways. Check all the boxes. Um, yeah, literally. And I think, you know, when we talk about um, or I talk about my tribe, right? And I think the idea of women supporting women. And so um, you know, you and I've had that conversation, and you know um kind of how one of my frustrations and one of the things that I'm trying to talk about more and more um on here and in other platforms to try to get women to kind of open their eyes to it. Um, but I ask really one of each. So an example of a time where a woman really kind of helped lift you or helped get you somewhere or move you into, you know, whether it's a position, a relationship, whatever it is. And then the example or an idea of the opposite when a woman could have and didn't, or really went, I guess, to the point of preventing you or stopping you. Does that make sense?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So I would say um I actually I'm so grateful, just like you. I have so many women in my life that have supported me and lifted me up, and I say all the time I wouldn't be here. You've got an amazing tribe, too. Yeah, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing now at Center of Hope if it had not been for women that helped lift me up. Yeah, one of my mentors probably would be Kathy Gaitan with the Child Guidance Center that you know. And um, I tell her all the time, like, so I worked with her for five and a half years at the Child Guidance Center, really just grew up underneath her, like got into the nonprofit world. She's totally different worlds. Yeah, totally different.
SPEAKER_01So I went from corporate America to entrepreneurship. And you went from kind of corporate America to nonprofit, which in and of itself is and moved 3,000 miles from New York to Texas. So that's a little thing.
SPEAKER_00That was no big thing. So I'm navigating, moving from New York to here, and she culture shock a bit. She hired me on the spot, which she said she's never done, and then it was kind of like the rest is history. Like she just would mentor me, take me into the boardroom with her, and just helped me grow in a field that I never expected to be in. And then now I'm at the center of hope as a result. And we continue to partner, like we continue to write grants together, and she just continues to say like how proud she is, and not in that like condescending. No, like she means it's like she means it and and and I'm like, no, but I'm grateful for you. And she's like, Well, I'm so proud of where you are now, and and so we've become colleagues, but it's it's just amazing to see that level of like like lifting each other up, and when she's having a rough day, she calls me or she has a question, and vice versa, and like we just always know. So we joke like you and I that um we're due for lunch, but really it's like a therapy session. Yeah, for sure. And so I'm all like, How much can I pay you for therapy today?
SPEAKER_01It's chip salsa and margarita time. Exactly. That's what I text you. I'm like, when are we meeting at Carlos and Mickey's? I need a session.
SPEAKER_00The funny part is her and I at Sukasa. So we both know it's like a crisis call if we're like, Can you have lunch at Tsukasa? Yeah, like it's our thing. And unfortunately they don't have margaritas there. And we go at lunch. So but yeah, no, that's like our if she's like, I need Tsukasa, and I'm like, Oh, I got you, and and vice versa. So I love it. So we meet, we try to meet, you know, as often as the schedules allow. But yeah, it's funny that yours and I is there's a Mexican food theme here. There is. Ours is Sukasa and and Kathy's and I's a succasa, and yours and I is Carlos and Mickey's.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so we've been doing relatively well. We haven't needed as many crisis sessions recently.
SPEAKER_00I thought you were gonna say an Uber home because we drank too many of them. Oh, well, also that. But yeah, we didn't need that.
SPEAKER_01There's also that. Or you're hanging out with the last time we went is when you like were trying to adopt all the cats in the parking lot. I had all the stuff, so I had all the stuff in the back of my car to donate to you for a rummage sale or something you guys were hosting. And so I said, Well, meet me at my car, and I'm standing in my car waiting forever to the point that I thought you left. And then you show up and we're like, sorry, I was feeding the cats.
SPEAKER_00Well, I had leftover chicken tacos and the cats in the parking lot were hungry. And for anyone who knows me, they know that's spot on. Like leave alley on the other side and feed the stray cats. It was perfect. If it was a raccoon, you wouldn't have even seen me again because I would have been driving.
SPEAKER_01And then I would have been pissed if you took the raccoon because I want the raccoon.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's why we're gonna end up sharing it's gonna be like Golden Girls eventually, where we have our house and we have a raccoon and three or four raccoons. Probably yeah, all sorts of animals.
SPEAKER_01They're gonna be dressed in like maybe the pigeon from where were you?
SPEAKER_00But the pigeon. Oh, a seagull. Sorry, sorry. For a conference for work, and we figured out that on our 20 21st floor uh uh hotel that we could open the window and feed a seagull that kept coming back, and yeah, nobody was surprised. But wasn't he didn't he have like a beak issue or something? So you were hiding him. If you could fit him in my suitcase, I would have brought him home.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, that's what we do. We take care of people and animals and animals, yeah. Or whatever else.
SPEAKER_00I think I prefer animals because they don't talk back in this is true.
SPEAKER_01I had a really rough weekend this weekend, and I was so grateful for two dogs and a cat.
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Because you know, they lick the tears and they hug away the ick and they make you realize that tomorrow's another day. It's gonna be okay.
SPEAKER_00Your big guy, he doesn't really have boundaries with space.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, noble doesn't understand understand space. So for those that are listening, I have literally a hundred pounds at this point, a hundred pound white albino boxer who thinks that my lap is like a normal place for him to hang out. He's the lap dog.
SPEAKER_00I don't know why you're questioning that he's not.
SPEAKER_01I don't really know either.
SPEAKER_00But um he's like holding your your 14-year-old son on your lap.
SPEAKER_01Uh he's almost 14, right? He just turned 14. Can you believe it? That's right. Yeah. I was like, what day was it? He just turned 14. I still can't believe that.
SPEAKER_00So it's who's now taller than me. It's between the boxer and AJ of who's gonna sit on your lap. This is true. And yeah, it's it's a weight to carry, but it's worth it, right?
SPEAKER_01We went to we went on a trip recently, and I was using my clear pass, and I have AJ assigned as a minor. So we're standing there, and the lady was like, It says you have a minor with you. And I pointed at him and she was like, Oh, so your minor is taller than you. And I was like, Yes, yes, he is. And he loved that. Yeah. I'm like, thanks a lot, lady.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, hopefully he can, you know, drive at 16 so we have a DD and uh I'm in. Take him wherever we need to.
SPEAKER_01Well, he'll have to start joining Carlos and Mickey's, and then we don't have to Uber. That's true. It'll be perfect. That's true. Awesome. So, what what do you have coming up? Um as far as I guess maybe goals for next year with Center of Hope. What's your do you have like a main focus, something that you're really working towards? Give me something.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I mean, we always have, especially now with Sebastian on board. He's like, he's got more ideas than my brain can keep up with. And I was like, listen, buddy, I have too many tabs open in this brain, and please don't open any more. But I'm gonna have to control alt delete if you don't stop talking. It's gonna crash for sure. Like in this time. I love it. Yeah. So, no, we have so many things that um we did schedule our masquerade, which you've been in attendance and helped out with. Um, and so this coming year in May will be our fourth annual masquerade, and it's um Phantom of the Opera themed. Awesome. And um, hopefully having the El Paso Orchestra coming and assisting and playing and very cool. Yeah, so so same at Tuscany, and again, a mother and daughter couple, like just they're amazing females that really just boost us up and elevate us. And yeah, you saw this year's like it was insane. Incredible, yeah. So um, and then our biggest thing I think is working towards housing, more housing for we know there's a housing crisis um for everyone, for our whole nation, but um specifically working on housing for our victims and then also a residential treatment center for youth, got it, which would be huge. Um so yeah, just trying to bring more awareness to El Paso about it, and and we just we haven't had a youth residential treatment center in 30 years, and and we need one desperately. We're sending youth to like other states at this point, so um, that's one of my big focus points. Huge. Yeah, okay. So so I really need you to make that million quickly. Um, is um I already like I'm I'm penciling it in the budget. Okay, I'm gonna no pressure, no pressure for you. None.
SPEAKER_01I don't feel pressure. I didn't think you would. Very good. Okay. Well, I mean, I'm always willing to volunteer, it's not worth a million dollars, but I have done. I said I would never again do it, but I did do and will obviously go back. But next time, she tricked me, you tricked me and said I was gonna be volunteering, and you had my shirt and whatever, but you had me at a bridal expo and a quince and neta expo. And so I said I would do it again, but I'm gonna have a sign behind me that says, Don't do it. And like with an arrow out the building, exit. Don't get married. I wouldn't highly not recommend.
SPEAKER_00We can just promote the quinceys, but not the the Okay, that's fine. Yes, I'm good with it. Yes, so um I I apologize. Um next year I might also add you to the air show volunteer list. Got it.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I was ready to go. I was gonna fly home early from a trip. I had a read story too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but hopefully the air show next year. So I have you on my list for all the things, even though I tell you, yes, I'll stay with you the whole time, I won't abandon you, and then I abandon you. So that's it. But I'm used to being I, you know, thanks for my abandonment issues.
SPEAKER_01I do have some trauma. Yeah. Um, but you're helping me work through that. So there you go. Awesome. I think that's one of those that we kind of share too. I laugh that when I think about when we talk about some of the parallels with family, with you know, relationship history, with all of those things. And I think having those friendships, um, you touched on it where you have those, but making sure your team does too. Yeah. Um, but I think as women, it is so incredibly important to have those friendships where you get to just show up as you. Yeah. And that's my favorite thing about you from the very first time I met you, was the fact that there was no mask on you or me.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01We were able to both just show up as ourselves. Um, and we laugh hysterically, we cry together. Um it's kind of all the things, but I I can't imagine. That's why I always tell you, like it it better be center of hope or something else here, because you can never move away. Um, but I'm very grateful that New York brought you to here. Yes. Um, and that you have no intention of ever leaving me to go back to New York. So that's a good thing. I just broke the news to your family in case they were curious if you'd ever moved back.
SPEAKER_00I said no. I think they she won't. Yeah. I think my staff too, they're like, we will duct tape you to your chair. Um You're not going anywhere. I think at least once a week, I'm like, I'm done, I quit. And they're like, ha, kidding. No, you're funny. Like, yeah. And they're like, and I'm like, no, no one said I was kidding. And they're like, no, you're coming back. Um you must, you must. So it'd be you, it'd be you and them, the whole gang, like just tying me to my chair. Yeah. Um, no, I'm so grateful, and I I don't want to leave. I consider El Paso home now. I I love this city, and um, I really have made some amazing friendships. Yours obviously is like top of the list, but um just like that tribe, like you said, of women just supporting women and there's definitely some mean girls that we still encounter every day, but um I think we do pretty well with them though. Yeah, we just keep going. Yeah, we just keep going. Yeah, we they can stand in the corner and and talk whatever they want to talk. What's the thing? Like we fart glitter or something like that?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. So we totally do. It's fine. Yeah, and I get pictures of them. In fact, I'm gonna if some can you hand me my phone? So this is funny. So we're sitting at this event last week and somebody was taking pictures. It's okay. Somebody was taking pictures, and we were laughing because, well, you were laughing because I made the comment. I said, Oh my gosh, thank God Denise is here to take pictures. She takes the most amazing pictures. I know where this is going now. Oh God, I don't have to, you know, I don't have to do it. And you went, oh hell no. Basically calling me out as a terrible photographer. So I wanted to do this live on camera so that you could see how right you were. Oh, but this is the picture that I took when I needed to do that.
SPEAKER_00Why hasn't that already been deleted? Oh my gosh, please don't show that in the same camera so that I could show you.
SPEAKER_01I will not, I promise. Well, we might. I might be able to do that.
SPEAKER_00You can flash it to the camera really quick so that they know how embarrassing you are to me. Um that's great. So yeah, you're uh fired in terms of taking photos. I'm done. Because that is right after you'll make the millions.
SPEAKER_01I took that one. And I I didn't see it because I didn't pay any attention to it until later. And then I saw that picture and I'm like, okay, I was rightfully terminated.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, thank God Denise goes to those meetings and takes photos for us because you are fired.
SPEAKER_01I'm in debt to Denise forever because yeah, I'm not a photog.
SPEAKER_00I think even you were at another event for me and I was like, get my photos. It was really good.
SPEAKER_01And you were pissed, it was horrible.
SPEAKER_00And I'm like, you got every moment where my mouth is wide open.
SPEAKER_01And I took like 40 different pictures. Like I was snapping, snapping, snapping, and they were still terrible. Yeah, yeah. It's just not your thing. You're really good at a lot of things, not that, but not that. And you know what? I'm accepting that. I'm just we we all have our photog. Denise is the photog. I'm not the photog.
SPEAKER_00We all have our our successes and our challenges.
SPEAKER_01We know what your challenge is.
SPEAKER_00The things that we're good at and the things that we're not. Exactly. Awesome. Yeah, please don't share any photos you've ever taken of me on social media ever.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, Fernanda always tells me don't share pictures ever. Oh, so I think you guys have that in common. Yeah, I'm terrible at it. That's hilarious. So the last thing um really is our for our shared love of fur babies. And so um, you know, you mentioned Noble, and I've got Dolly, and I've got marshmallow. So tell me about your two, and especially um kind of what you're navigating right now with the vet and having to make sure he's okay and you know, all of the things.
SPEAKER_00Yes, so I have two fur babies, little ones. Um, noble would probably like think that they're two toys. He might eat them. Yeah, yeah. Um, so Pepper's the mini schnauzer. Um, she's the president of the Mean Girls Club. Um, like she's a straight up bully. She is. And so it's like I get bullied at work by adults, and then I get bullied at home by the dog, but she's in charge. Um, and then I have Stark, who's the little Chihuahua guy, the mixed Chihuahua. They're both rescues, but Stark um is now seven and has diabetes, which we found out in June. So, yes, um, work is crazy, and then now like my life with the dogs is a little crazy as well. So he gets um two shots a day. Everyone joked, Thank God you were a nurse prior, because now you can give him an injection, no problem. Like, I was like, Yeah, it's not the same thing, but okay, fine. Yeah, like I was like, Thanks, let me hold down the fur ball. I don't think it's the same, but we didn't train, I didn't go to vet school, I went to nursing school.
SPEAKER_01Very different.
SPEAKER_00But he now figured out that if he goes through with his shot and he's good, then he gets chicken as a reward, like a piece of chicken. So he actually loves the shot. Like he stands there and waits for it. And I'm like, wow, like if only So maybe we should have gone to vet school. Yeah, I'm like, if only it was this easy with everyone else. So um, but yeah, he's he's losing his hair. Um, he just he looks like a little bit of a hot mess. Like I'm like, you look homeless and everyone's gonna think I neglect you, but yeah, but you don't. No, not mm-mm, vet bills, yeah. No, I have to stay at center of hope forever because I'm in debt at the vet. But yeah. So no, they're my fur babies. That's another piece of what keeps me going, what keeps me grounded, and when I have a really hard day at work, just cuddling with them is you know, that is key. So it's huge.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's really kind of the reason that I I wanted to end with that piece is the fact that we all have something different, right? You and I have a lot of them in common as far as what we do for self-care. Yeah, but I think it was important with what we talked about as far as what your job is, what your role is, and the people that work with you and what they do, what are those self-care things? And so I loved the fact that the fur baby piece um it adds to your load as far as what you have to carry and what you have to do, and especially now with Stark and making sure that he's good. Um, but figuring out what works for you. And I think I love the fact that we have that in common with the fur babies, they get their own stockings, we're getting ready for that time of year.
SPEAKER_00I think if if we had more money and a bigger house, we'd also collect fur babies. So it's probably good that my landlord says I can only have two because I'm a little restricted. Yeah, otherwise I'd have a farm at my house. So yeah, I think they're a huge part of self-care. If for anyone who's an animal lover, which I joke that I wouldn't be friends with somebody who's not, so I don't have friends that aren't animal lovers.
SPEAKER_01I really don't because the vibe isn't there. Yeah. It's like if they don't like animals, then we're probably not gonna get along great anyway. It's kind of like if they don't like alcohol or coffee or there's a few things.
SPEAKER_00Or they don't use cuss words. Also that, yeah. Yeah, no, we can't be friends.
SPEAKER_01If you can't say airing out your vagina with a straight face, we can't be friends.
SPEAKER_00I laugh because I know I I know what you mean. Um then no, at work, we also bring the fur babies to work a lot, and so it's a huge self-care piece for my team, too, to just whoever wants to bring their dog to work day. Like it's fair game.
SPEAKER_01Well, and even there y'all have to deal with stuff. I remember you guys had the dog there the one time that had the seizure at work for the first time and had to race that dog to a vet. So I mean it's like that was its own crisis.
SPEAKER_00We also care for people and animals at work, but no, I it's just a huge self-care piece for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Well, here's to uh a very bright future for our friendship, yes, for center of hope, um, and for all of our fur babies and those that we love.
SPEAKER_00And here's to your first million. Yes, not not being a good thing. No pressure for anything, no pressure, but just um yeah, because I know that it will happen soon, and I'm so excited for you.
SPEAKER_01Well, you've been incredibly supportive, always have. Um, and you've hung in there when some other people haven't. And the fall off has been healthy for me. Yeah, but it doesn't mean it didn't come without pain. And so I'm very grateful uh for the friendship and the relationship that you and I have foraged because you are that person um in my tribe, and I'm so grateful for that because I can. I can call you with anything and you're there, even if it's groundhog's day and it's the same conversation that I've called you about 37 times, you're gonna pick up the phone.
SPEAKER_00And when it's not you, then it's me calling for the same groundhog thing. Yeah. Um I think it's just yeah, we basically take terms for being in crisis. Um that's very true. As long as the crisis calls don't coincide. No, that'd be like we can't crisis call each other at the same time. Or are we gonna three-way in if we're both in crisis? Yeah, that'd be really bad. I don't know. We need that third person.
SPEAKER_01Very good. Well, here's to the tribe. Love you, sister. Love you. Thank you for coming on. Yes, of course. All right, very good. Thank you guys. We'll see you soon.