Episode 57 – Franchesca Nor

My biggest passion that comes with my career is getting, like, a junk food eater to eat healthier. And that has become so much more apparent as my career has grown over the years. Uh- Mm-hmm. That’s got to be a, a juxtaposition there. You went from, like, horse racing family to, like, the, you know- Yeah, the high school dropout. Yeah, the high school dropout stuff. . My friend at the time was like, “Why don’t you open restaurants? “And I was like, gosh. “It just, like, became apparent to me and the light turned on. I noticed so many women in Dallas really just ordered the fish and the vegetable. And I’m like, “Man, why isn’t there a place where you can just have fish and vegetables? “My biggest, um, motto is ride the wave, and not, hey, I’m a surfer, okay? yeah. But at the same time, it’s, like, there’s gonna be low pi- parts in any business. Mm-hmm. And if you just hang on, it’s gonna pop you back up. Mm-hmm. If you just keep pivoting or looking for other ways to make it work, it’s gonna come back up. I mean, you have to believe that or you can’t get into business, you can’t be an entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. You can’t beli- you know, you can’t start that first step- Yeah. or get into that process. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to The Blueprint. Today I’m here with Francesca Noor. She is the owner-chef at DIVE Coastal Cuisine. Uh, she’s gonna tell us a little bit about, you know, what’s made her place special and, uh, how she got there. stay tuned. And also, if you guys could do us a favor, just make sure you hit that subscribe button down there. That’s really gonna help us out. Um, there’s a lot of, uh, videos that we like to put out for you guys. So if you guys could just, uh, like and share, it’s gonna get us in the algorithm. Francesca. Yes, hello. Hey, thanks for coming. I really appreciate you being here. Thank you so much for having me. This is so fun. Yeah. It was really cool, you know, how we met. You know, you came to one of my gallery shows and, uh, you were kind of looking around at some stuff and you were actually looking at my, my pieces that were there, and, um, you started talking about that guy and I was just like, “Well, that’s actually me. “You know? It was so cool, yeah. It was a, it was a fun meet-up. Yeah. I was immediately attracted to what you were doing. I thought it was, it was very understandable for me. Like, I looked right at it and I knew what you were saying. Um, so bright, I’m all into colors. So I just, I really, really liked it. I was just very impressed. And then I got to talk to you and I didn’t know it was you, and then we just kept talking and talking-and I’m like, “This is awesome. “So, anyways. That’s really cool. Now we’re here. No, it’s really cool. I mean, honestly, like, to catch the vibe of somebody that, you know how it is. When you’re putting something out there into the world that’s special and it’s your baby, you know, like the things that you do every day, um, to hear somebody come back with appreciation or understanding of things that you put your message out there and you hope people are hearing it. You know, ’cause maybe they do, maybe they don’t, you know? But- True. when you connect with people and you, and you hear what they’re, uh, hear their perspective on it, it’s, it’s really cool. So I thought, “This lady’s coming on the podcast. “Yay. That was so nice of you. I was honored, honestly. Um, I just felt like a lot of times you try to explain your creativity or you try to show your creativity, and not everybody gets it. Right. And that’s okay, right? Mm-hmm. Um, but the way that you were doing it and the way that we were conversing about it, to me, I was like, “Wow, this guy gets it. He totally understands. He’s like on my level. “Like, I felt like, really, I was so excited- Mm-hmm. actually after I met you. Yeah. And I kept thinking, like, that is, like, gives me hope, you know? Yeah. And the fact that you work with people and in marketing. And, I mean, it just showed. It showed everything that you did just in your little bit of creativity that you were expressing, and in a different way than you normally had- Yeah. in the past, right? So, um, I was just really into that, and I immediately wanted you to come do an art show at our, at our place. So- I’m down. Yeah. Let’s get it. I’m like, I’m an art enthusiast. I was actually an art major for a long time. Very cool. Um, but then moved to culinary, soWhich is also another art form, I guess, butWhat was your, your medium? Uh, mixed media painting- Okay. and photography. And I would do photography first and foremost, and then I would, like, rip it all up and make a collage or- Mm-hmm. scribble all over it and do a lot of painting mostly- Mm-hmm. on top of it. Speaker 1: Subject matter? Um, it was kind of funny. It was kind of like you. I, I saw something and kind of tried to make it make sense. Mm-hmm. Um, I would see something that I was attracted to, take a picture of that. A lot of times there was a person or it was a child or it was a fashion person- Mm-hmm. or it was like, you know, something that I saw. It started with me with actually, um, magazine clippings. Mm-hmm. And I’m, you know, a child of the ’90s, so I made a lot of collages- Mm-hmm. and things like that. We didn’t have, you know, Canva. Yep. Yeah. So, um, that, I would start with something that was, like, attractive to me, and then I would kind of pick it apart. Um, for example, I have one with, like, a key on it, and then it was like the key to this person’s soul, but it wasn’t their soul because they weren’t showing their soul. Mm-hmm. It was like a contradiction. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So tha- I guess maybe that’s why I was like, “Oh, I get it. “You know? That’s cool. Storytelling, to me, is everything when it comes to art or basically anything that you do in your life. Like, there has to be a meaning behind what you’re doing and you have to be able to express that to somebody else so they connect with it, right? I agree. Because there’s, there’s, um, surface level conversations, which really kinda drain me, quite honestly. So boring. Yeah. And then there’s, like, the people that you start to talk about the why things tick. It’s like when you ask somebody, “How’s your day? “And they go, “Cool. And you go, “O- all right. “No, go deeper. W- All right. See you. You know? Yeah, definitely. But when you, when you talk to somebody and they go- and you say, “How’s your day? “And they’re like, “Ah, you know. “And they dig down a little bit, it’s like those are the real moments, you know? Everybody doesn’t want to deal with it ’cause they’re dealing with their own crap, but at the end of the day, those are the real moments that we have to parse through, and that’s what makes us human, you know? And then you can relate to someone. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Because a lot of people that are surface to me are closed off. Mm-hmm. And they don’twanna relate. They don’t wanna look in the mirror. They don’t wanna face it. And if somebody starts to say anything, it triggers them and then immediately they’re, like, running away- Right. or becoming disassociated. Right. 100%. And, um, no I’m, I’m all about just being open. Mm-hmm. You know? And, like, I maybe talk too much sometimes. But I like that because I, I justI do, I wanna relate to people. Mm-hmm. I wanna be open. I don’t wanna beI don’t wanna be judged actually. Yeah. And that’s a real thing. Yeah. I don’tI wanna explain who I am- Mm-hmm. sometimes, maybe to my fault. But- Mm-hmm. I l- I l- I- that’s me in a nutshells. I’m very transparent. Talk to meYeah. Talk to me about the judge part about that. Like, ’cause that’s something that I think everybody feels the reason they don’t give their full self out there is because they don’t wanna be judged. But you’re saying the opposite. I tell you everything about me so you don’t get mixed messages. Yes. Exactly. Um, I think a lot ofEspecially nowadays more than ever, right, with the Instagram and the YouTube and the whole, like- Yeah. everyone’s creating an image for themselves. Mm-hmm. And I, I just wanna be me. Mm-hmm. I never wanted to have so much popularity. Mm-hmm. Like, when I opened the restaurant it becameI mean, we’ve been open 15 years now. And it’sI mean, people are like, “Oh my gosh. “You know? And I had to become the face and I didn’t- Mm-hmm. I didn’t want to become the chef. I just wanted to say I owned it. Mm-hmm. It was my recipes. My you know- Yeah. like there was a lot of me trying to not make an image for myself so that- Yeah. I could be behind the scenes. And I think learning how to be comfortable in your skin and- Mm-hmm. just be you- Mm-hmm. and tell the story like it is and- Mm-hmm. yeah. I don’t know. Just- Authentic. That, that’sThe authenticity is actually what probably drove a lot of my business. And I didn’t evenUh, it was a part I didn’t want to do, right? Uh-huh. Yeah. But if that’s that same thing. Like, if you’re closed off, people are almost forced to kind of create a judgment. Or if you’re creating a, a fake image- Mm-hmm. of yourself- Mm-hmm. and then you actually open your mouth, you’re like- Mm-hmm. “Oh, this is nothing like what they say. “You know? Like, and I don’t like any of that. Mm-hmm. I don’tI like straightforward people. Yeah. I wanna know the truth. I wanna know what’s going on with you. I think it’s cool. I’m excited to hear about your life. I would love for you to share about mine. Right. And how did we get here too? Right. Just kind of like your podcast. I think it’s, it’s great. I mean, who isn’t interested in somebody’s life? I mean-uh, you know, again back to the ’90s, we started with the, um- Mm-hmm. Big Brother or whatever thatyou know? Yeah. Yeah. And people would just watch people doing nothing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just to get to know who another human was- Yeah. I think it’s, it’s really fascinating to me. So I’m all about it. That’s cool. I don’t wanna be judged and I don’t think anybody should feel like they are gonna be judged. And I don’t feel like any should, anybody should be fake. Just be real. Yeah. But it’s- It unites people. But it’s funny, you knowI don’t say it’s funny. Uh, it’s raw that you say something that, like, um, “I don’t want to be judged,” so you put more out there because of thisAnd I guess it’swon’t say an insecurity, but I guess it kind of is. Yeah maybe. Is like, “I don’t want to be attacked. “Like, “Uh, just le- let me be. I’ll just tell you everything. I don’t wanna be attacked, so can’t we just all get along? “So, um- Well, and to each their own. Right? I’m really not a judgmental person. Mm-hmm. So I guess maybe that’s like, yeah, a little bit of something that I don’t, I don’t like that. Yeah. I think people should just be people and everybody should do what they do. And, and- Right. like, for example, your friends. If you see your friend going through something and you kind of know they shouldn’t be doing it- Yeah. and you say that, but you can’t, like, force that person. It’s like you can’t bring the horse to the water- Yeah. and make the horse drink the water. Yeah. They’re gonna have to do it in their own time. It’s their journey. It’s their lesson. Whatever they’re doing, they can’t really explain it to you, but they’re doing it because they have to do it. And I’ve had a lot of it- Yeah. things in my life like that- Yeah. that have gone on that people didn’t understand and I’m like- Yeah. “I’m sorry. It’s something I had to go through. “Yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. “Be patient. I’m fine. “You know? Yeah. Yeah, it’s crazy y- you say that. I mean, I think we can all relate to that. You know? I think so. We’ve all had somebody in our life, in our family or whatever, that’s like you want something for them so bad and they just don’t want it for themselves. And it doesn’t matter if you cry or fight or yell or scream or anything and they just don’t want that for themselves, right? Well, and we’re parents too. Yeah. Yeah, 100%. Because that’s like a whole other- But that’s different ’cause I’m putting the hands on them and they’re doing what I’m telling you. BecauseYeah, CPS. I see you. You’re doing this, okay? No. Done. Yeah. No. I don’t, I don’tI mean, I, I do, you know, play pretty strong with what my kids and, and, uh, what I want them to do. But, uh, you know, at the end of the day, likeYou’re their guide though. That’s a little different, right? That’s my best friend, man. Those are my best friends, both of them. I was like, I just, I love them to death. I want them to succeed, I want them to do well. But I also have crossed over the stage where I’m not, I’m not parenting as much. I’m more coaching-at this point. Right? Right. And there’s a, there’s a crossover at some point to where you just, “Hey, man, I got you to this point and you’re gonna make your own decisions. “Like, “I can ground you or I can take things away. “Or, I mean, one’s 20 so I can’t really do a lot with him. But, um, “But I can take things away from you. But that’s not the stage we’re at right now. “Like, it’s not really consequence. Right now it’s like, you know, hopefully I lean on the disappointment thing and maybe they’ll feel bad about it. It’s the loss of life. It’s the loss. I mean, really. I mean, you, you can guide them and tell them everything- Yeah. and they’re gonna do what they want to do. But again, it, it’s their instinct. And whatever they’re doing, that’s gonna get them to their next path- Yeah. and that’s gonna teach them something that maybe they didn’t already know. Yeah. And we can’t control it. Yeah. just is what it is at the end of the day. Yeah. I am now at the point where I am just watching what’s happening. Did I set something up to do the right things? Of course, I’m sure. We’ll see. We’ll see. I mean, this- Push this off into the world and let’s go. It’s the example. Um- Oh, they’re good kids. Speaking of that, um, exposure I feel like is a really big deal with parenting and, um, with people in general. part of my business is exposing people to healthier food. Mm-hmm. Or exposing people toThat healthy food has a, has a judgment, right? People look at it like, “Ew, granola. Ew, it doesn’t taste good. Ew, it’s-” Right. Um, my biggest passion that comes with my career is getting like a junk food eater to eat healthier. Right. Okay. And that has become so much more apparent as my career has grown over the years. Mm-hmm. Um, I’ve been put in different places that have made that possible for people that like have never s- you know, eaten quinoa, for example. I mean, that’s kind of a far-fetched one. But- Yeah. you know, just not open to it. Don’t want to look at it, don’t want to taste it. Mm-hmm. And I’m like, “Come on, taste it. “Like, or, you know, I just want them to just kinda open their mind just a tiny bit. Yeah. Um, and I feel like with children, you have to expose them to- Mm-hmm. as much as the world has to offer in a way. Mm-hmm. So they have a more educated decision. Yeah. And not feel like they have to guard themselves. Yeah. Or sh- shut themselves off. Yeah. Or be surface level. Yeah. Or, “Oh, I only eat that. “Yeah. And, and that’s my platform actually. Mm-hmm. For opening people’s minds. Yeah. Or making them feel more comfortable- Yeah. in a setting that is maybe, you know- Mm-hmm. not comfortable to them. You know, I’ve given myAnd, and we’re kinda going off on the kid thing, but I’ve, I’ve given my kids this opportunity to say like, “Come tell me the truth. This will lessen the punishment-” Totally. ” for what you tell me. “Honesty. Totally. Um, “And if you tell me about this, we can talk it through and we can talk about what’s right and what’s wrong. If you hide anything from me, that-” Deceit. ” multiplies-” Mm-hmm. ” the punishment-” Deceit. ” from where we’re at. “So, you can pick and choose. Do you wanna have less or do you want to have more, you know, when it comes down to it? Because what I’m really trying to do is, is again, coach you through your decisions of what happened and whatever, right? And so, and I’ve had situations where I’ve told my kids in general, like, “Hey, if you go off and you make a mistake, I’m your first call. “Right. “Not the police, not your best friend. “Of course. “Not nobody. I’m your call. “Trust daddy over here. And, and yeah. “Let me come, let me come clean this thing up for you. “And, and I promise you, I got your best interest in mind, and these other people don’t. Well, my, my son is nine, and it’s like getting him to know that I lived a whole life before you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I’m at that stage, you know? Like, “Promise you, I know. “Yeah. “You know? Believe in me. “Yeah. So, I love that youI’m gonna follow your lead there. Yeah. I hope that he always entrusted in me. Because I 0 I am always exposing him to things. And like, “I created this so that you understood it. “Yeah. You know? Yeah. But he- Well, the cool thing is, is you being transparent with him too of like, “I did X. I’m not perfect either. “No, for sure. So if you, if you let them know that, they understand that it’s okay for them not to be perfect, you know? For sure. You wanna go through all of these things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. “I want you to drink the water hose in the front yard, and I want you to go fall in the street and skin your knee up, and I want you to go-” Well, and if you don’t believe me, go try. Yeah. “Yeah, give it a run,” you know? well, that’s cool. Um, let’s, let’s go back to the beginning for a minute. Mm-hmm. Um, where is Francesca from? Um, born in Los Angeles, actually. Okay. Uh, lived there until I was about 14. Mm-hmm. Then we moved to San Diego. Mm-hmm. Uh, my family went to San Diego every summer, so San Diego is still part of my upbringing. Mm-hmm. my parents were in the thoroughbred race horsing- race horse business. Okay. Can I say that again? Thoroughbred race, racing business? Okay. Horse race business? I don’t know how to say that. Yeah. Um, theyMy, my mother was a breeder, my father was the trainer. My father’s from Brazil, my mother’s from Dallas actually. Okay. And, um, they met at a horse show, and so we h- would do the horse racing circuit. So, it was LA during the year and San Diego during the summers. Um, the Northridge earthquake, that was like a- Mm-hmm. almost 7 point earthquake. Um, we moved to San Diego after that. It was-less shaky. Yeah. Also, um, when about, I was about 15, my parents got divorced. Okay. Um, it was because they werein multiple businesses together and built a whole life about 15 years together. Mm. Um, it was a very strenuous, long divorce, um, about 10 years. Long. It was the first divorcecan’t believe I’m gonna say this online. It was the first divorce to, in Los Angeles County to go to the Supreme Court. Really? I was deposed 5 times in high school. man. And that’s kind of a raw thing, right? Yeah, surely. Yeah, that’s very raw. Um, I have 2 sisters, an older and a younger. I’m the middle child. Mm. My mom would always give me those, those books, like, “Oh, middle child. “And I was like, “Yeah, I’m the best one. “No, I’m just kidding. My sisters and I are all very close. My family and I are- Mm-hmm. All of us are very close. Yeah. Um, but during high school, being in San Diego, my, I think my father stayed in LA most of the time. Mm-hmm. So the kids and my mom, we moved to San Diego. Mm-hmm. that was a whole different world for us. Mm-hmm. Um, I went on a tangent. I feel like I’m really talking about my family right now. No, it’s great. That’s perfect. Um, you know, I was the blonde girl that had a Brazilian father. Nobody knew where Brazil was in LA. Mm-hmm. Like, that, really, like, everyone was Persian and Asian and, you know- Yeah. very multicultural in Los Angeles. Um, you go to San Diego, everybody’s blonde. And I was the brunette. Mm-hmm. And everyone knew where Brazil was because it surf- they surfed. Yeah. You know? Mm-hmm. Like, it’s a little surf town. I, I moved to Del Mar, California. um, Del Mar, Encinitas, Cardiff, it’s, like, big time surfers and skateboarders. Yeah. And, and funny, um, my dad moved down. I used to have a lot of parties because my parents were inThis is high school now, right? Mm-hmm. I used to have a lot of parties, and my parents were doing their divorce in LA so they weren’t around. Uh-huh. Right? They were doing, separating their businesses and everything. And, um, uh, where was I going with that? You’re gonna cut that, right? No, it was great. Um, during that time period, um, I had gotten in a fight with my mom or something and moved in with my dad. Mm-hmm. And I was the only one w- living with my dad at the time. And my dad and my mother, they were very different. Um, but my- H- how so? UmMy dad, can I, I don’t know if I can say this on mic. My dad’s just, like, a laid-back, really cool guy, like, kind of a machismo. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, you know, not machismo, but, like, just very masculine Latin culture. Mm-hmm. I don’t know if I want to say some of this stuff because I don’t want them to hear it. Um, they, um, my dad was very charismatic. My phone keeps goingMm-hmm. Let’s just get over there. Um, very charismatic, very funny, very personable, very cool. My mom didn’t want to talk to any of my mom friends, didn’t really, wasn’t social with us. Yeah. Um, very into her work though. Yeah. She was the one who really got me into the health food side of things. Mm-hmm. My dad was more my friend. Mm-hmm. My mom I would fight with more, right? Mm-hmm. She had 3 w- girls, right? Mm-hmm. So we all kinda- Yeah. be like, “Mom. “Yeah. “Such a bitch. “But I, so many things that she had offered me is really, like, what formed me. Yeah. And then I have my dad’s, like, personable personality. Mm-hmm. Um, he was more of the boots on the ground running, you know, managing the people in their businesses. Yeah. And he showed me about, um, really hiring good people, keeping those good people, treating them like family. Mm-hmm. Caring about them. Mm-hmm. Um, I really attribute a lot of my staffing to how my father ran the business. Mm-hmm. And, um, so I saw a lot of w- their work mostly growing up. They weren’t, they weren’t the kind of parents, like, we lived their life. They weren’t the kind of parents that would, like, take us to Disneyland, like, no way. Mm-hmm. Like, you know what I mean? They weren’t- Yeah. that kind of parent. They would, they, we would be on the beach in the summers and we would travel a lot, which I loved- Mm-hmm. and all of our vacations. But I kind of admire them for that now as a parent. Mm-hmm. Because they weren’t always spoiling us. They weren’t always giving us stuff. Like, we, we were really hard in sports. Mm-hmm. Um, so my father was actually an Olympic, um, horseback rider. Okay. So- His legs. Horses are run deep in our family. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Um, I actually painted a lot of horses. I have a lot of horse art in my house because it’s a comfort thing for me. Yeah. Um, and they had a farm in Kentucky that was 400 acres, so- Mm-hmm. uh, we had a hundred head of broodmares. Mm-hmm. And it was like a baby factory. Yeah. And we would worLike in high school, I would work the horse sales. Mm-hmm. And my first lemonade stand was at the Keeneland horse sales. I mean, it was, like, interesting. Yeah. Um, my parents, uh, they worked really hard. They had a lot of drive and they were doing what they loved. Mm-hmm. And that’s exactly what formed me for that. Yeah. I’m doing what I love. Yeah, and that’s the thing that drew them together, was they both had a love for the, for something together. Yeah, they were fun people for the most part. They were both really interesting. Mm-hmm. And they were a hot couple. They were hot rods, you know? Mm-hmm. To me, they were like power couple. Yeah. You know, and when you look up to your family and they own the business- Yeah. and they created the business. Mm-hmm. And after they had done the whole, um, horse racing thing, they added, they kept adding to it. Mm-hmm. Funny, I’m doing the same thing now, looking at it now, just talking to you thinking, “Oh my gosh, okay. I’ve already seen this. “Yeah. And I’m just reenacting it in my way. Um, they ha- my mother was really into health. Mm-hmm. She never let us have any sugar growing up. Mm. Like, she would take our Halloween bag after we would go trick-or-treating- Uh-huh. and literally not even let us have one piece, turn around and give it out to the other trick-or-treaters. Yeah. “Look, Mom, you got a lot of candy? “”Great. “Good, I don’t have to buy any. What? You know, it was just the act of trick-or-treating was allowed, but you can’t have anything. You know? I mean, I remember- Here’s some grapes. Yeah. w- w- seriously she would pop popcorn and pass that out. Yeah. Carob. Ugh. You know what I mean? We would be, umI remember too, like, uh, we would go to the beach and my parents were friends with all the jockeys. I mean, famous jockeys. Yeah. You would know these people. Yeah. Um, and all the other trainers, and we would all rent beach houses. And so I would literally from age 6 to 14, I was just on the beach the entire summer. Mm-hmm. And we would just run to each an- each houses ’cause all the other parents were also working. They all had their kids. Right. And I can’t tell you now, even to this day, these parents will come to me like, “I remember you. You would come in our house and just look in our fridge and steal our Oreos. “Because I never could have sugar, you know? Yeah, yeah. But again, I attribute my life and my health, consciousness and my foundation of health from that. Yeah. Um, I would say after the divorce and all of that, let’s like circle back here, right? Yeah, yeah. Um, my sister was the one who took on the talent of the horses, my little sister. Mm-hmm. Yeah. She, um, followed in my father’s footsteps. We, I showed, um, jumpers- Mm-hmm. my whole life, so, um, hunters and jumpers. Mm-hmm. Equestrian, which is like English riding. Yep. And, um, my little sister was always better than me. Mm-hmm. She, um, and she had the God-given talent, you know? Mm-hmm. It ran in her blood. Mm-hmm. And so she continued that on, became, um, you know, Grand Prix Horse of the Year, uh, went to go ride with the Brazilian Olympic team ’cause we have dual citizenship. Mm-hmm. Um, my, um- You say that with a little attitude. Yeah. You know? Like, she was like the one. She was the star of the show. I was the black sheep. Uh, when I moved out, when my parents were fight- Seriously. Go ahead. When my parents were fighting, um, I, I’m k- I guess I’m kind of an empath. Like, I take on- Mm-hmm. I’m like a mediator. Mm-hmm. I want everyone to be happy all the time. Mm-hmm. That’s also to a fault. It’s also a little insecurity of mine. But it’s something that is part of my personality. And, um, so I rebelled, I guess. Mm-hmm. I didn’t really know I rebelled, but I did. Everybody was worried about me. I mean, I dropped out of high school when I was a junior. Mm-hmm. Went to the continuation school with, you know, the gang members and the pregnant women. Mm-hmm. Girls, I should say. Yeah, yeah. Um, the teachers would, uh- That’s got to be a, a juxtaposition there. You went from like horse racing family to like the, you know- Yeah, the high school dropout. Yeah, high school dropout stuff. Um, again, all these things built me, right? This is the journey. Um, I tend to hang out with the wrong kids. Mm-hmm. actually- Or the right ones. Whatever, you know? Yeah. I don’t like to label, right? Again, I’m not a judger. Yeah. Um, but people were worried. Mm-hmm. And this goes back to our comment earlier about, you know, don’t worry about me, I got it. Mm-hmm. Like, this is part of my journey, right? Yeah. Um, my mom gave me a card at graduation that was like, “There is a God. “Like, you made it. I can’t believe it. Um, I, so in the continuation school I finished 14 classes in one semester because- Yeah. even the teachers were like, “What are you doing here? “Mm-hmm. “Whatever. “”I’m smoking pot. “You don’t know me. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, but again, I like want to be friends with everyone. I think everyone has a purpose and a direction. And who cares where you come from? That’s cool. I agree with that. What about, uh, you still very close with your, your pops? Oh, yeah. Nice. We talk every day. I talked on the way here. That’s awesome. Yeah, um- Yeah. very close. And also with my mother. My mother has dementia now. She’s- Mm-hmm. She’s back here in Dallas in a home. Mm-hmm. So I get to see her. Um, she’s probably happier because she, you know, she was anti-medicine too. Like, no antibiotics, nothing. And now she’s on dementia, you know, meds. Meds. She’s like, “Everything’s great. “Like, “Wow, Mom, you should’ve taken these a long time ago. “I mean, um, you know, dementia is kind of a thing where you’rehappy in your present moment- Mm-hmm. um, because you don’t remember your past. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. My father is very sharp, though. Very witty. Mm-hmm. Very still him- himself. Yeah. Always guiding me. That’s cool. Even though he thinks I never listen to him, I always listen to you, dad. Always. Yeah. Just takes me a minute. Um, and part of that journey was, like, he was the one always encouraging me to do what you love, but do it seriously. Yeah. And the sports, like my son is a, a big time athlete too. Mm-hmm. He definitely got the gene. Mm-hmm. Um, heI always tell him, like, it’s r- sports are h- huge in our family and it’s not, like, just little sports for fun. Mm-hmm. It is, like, you commit to a sport. You are dedicated to the sport. Mm-hmm. You believe in yourself. It teaches you resilience. Yeah. It teaches you how to get back up. It teaches you teamwork. It teaches you, um, not to be a poor sport. How to be humble. Yeah. Um, it also teaches you agility. It teaches you how to recognize your body. It teaches you how to be healthy. I mean- Mm-hmm. all of these things, allWith my parents, that’s probably why they connected. Yeah. And also, with parenting, I feel like it’s huge. Mm-hmm. It- it’s, it’s a law of life, right? Yeah. Um, or lessons of life. I feel like with me, I had to ride horses. Mm-hmm. And even though I wasn’t the best and I wasn’t winning everything and my sister was, I still went to every horse show every weekend, right? Mm-hmm. I remember one time I beat her on her birthday. Ooh, she was so pissed . Um, and that whole consistency, always showing up, it’s taught me everything in my business. Yeah. I look at my business now and I’m like, man, if I didn’t commit to sports like I did- Mm-hmm. I would never be able to just keep going. Mm-hmm. I mean, I know so many people that’ll just throw– talk about all the reasons why they can’t do it and then just throw their hands up and quit. I’m like, “Quit? You’re gonna go out of business right now? “Yeah. Like, my biggest, um, motto is ride the wave. And not, hey, I’m a surfer, okay? Yeah. But at the same time, it’s, there’s gonna be low p- parts in any business. Mm-hmm. And if you just hang on, it’s gonna pop you back up. Mm-hmm. If you just keep pivoting or looking for other ways to make it work, it’s gonna come back up. I mean, you have to believe that or you can’t get into business. You can’t be an entrepreneur. Mm-hmm. You can’t beli- you know, you can’t start that first step- Yeah. or get into that process. Yeah. ‘Cause you’ll talk yourself out of it. Yeah, I always say you gotta learn to win and you gotta learn to lose. Right? And, and it’s okay for both. Yeah. It’s, again, part of the journey. They’re both, they are both creative parts of you. Totally. Right? And so, everybody goes through those. And, and just so many people get knocked down once and they feel like, “I’m not made that way. “Um, but that’s not- No. That’s not, that’s not the goal. Like, everyone got– has gotten knocked down. Everyone who’s sat in that chair has told me how many times they got beat down until they won. Nobody won the first time or the second time. Shit, I dropped out of high school . Right? I mean, and then- Yeah. just to come back on that. Mm-hmm. I went to art school for a little bit. Mm-hmm. Decided I don’t thinkReally, I started snowboarding, okay? Mm-hmm. And I snowboarded and I’m like, “I’ll go to art. “Like-I fell asleep on my SATs, you know? So, I didn’t apply to any colleges. I started- Yeah. community college. And then, my dad keep hammering the, “Do what you love. Do what you love. “Okay, I guess I’ll do some art ’cause I’ll, you know, take pictures and then I’ll snowboard and work- Mm-hmm. whatever. Um, and he gave me, he made me have my first job. Mm-hmm. Which was a, um, pizza brewery place- Okay. in Solana Beach called Pizza Port. Mm-hmm. Shout out, still open. I love it. Um, Pizza Port was run by a bunch of skateboarders- Okay. okay? And we’re gonna fast-forward. I’m gonna come back to that because it’s an important part of my life. Yeah. Um, theWhat was I talking about? Your first job? My first job, but then about going into h- Oh, so after I went to community college- Mm-hmm. I started f- figuring out, like, what I really wanted to do. Mm-hmm. So, I went to art school in Italy- Mm-hmm. for an abroad program. After I decided, you know, to snowboard for 2 years. Mm-hmm. I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna go to Italy. I’m really serious about my art now. “Mm-hmm. I go to this art school called Santa Reparata. Mm-hmm. It’s the U- University of Texas in San Antonio. Mm-hmm. And I realize, I become the TA of the class and a lot of the other kids are just picking up a camera for the first time. Mm-hmm. And I would spend hours in the dark room. Mm-hmm. And hours painting and things. Mm-hmm. So, I was like, “Ugh, boring. “So I started looking for different places to eat in Italy. Mm-hmm. because I was so sick of eating Italian food f- Yeah. for 6 months or whatever. Um, I took a workshop at Cordon Bleu, which is a culinary place. Yeah, yep. Um, I started really, like, searching for local places and different ethnicities of food and, which is hard to find actually in Italy. It’s very Italian food-driven, but once you find it, it is awesome. There is the coolest little places. Mm-hmm. And then my, my friend at the time was like, “Why don’t you open restaurants? “And I was like,It just, like, became apparent to me and the light turned on. And I remember as a little kid, my parents would have parties, you know, for the race trackers or- Mm-hmm. they would take us to really fancy restaurants. We lived in LA, right? Mm-hmm. Like, Wolfang Puck had just become famous and- Yeah. the whole Spago and- Mm-hmm. you know, all those really nice places. And so I knew some really expensive food at a really young age, but I always had an exotic taste for food since I was little. And I, it didn’t really dawn on me till I was in- Yeah. art school in Italy- Mm-hmm. that this sounds perfect for me. Mm-hmm. So then I applied to, um, Johnson & Wales University. Mm-hmm. Which is the number 2 culinary school, because they have a business school and, like, basically a vocational school attached to it. And you can do multiple things there. But they’re really known for the, the culinary and, and their, um, hospitality business school. And I went there and I became summa cum laude, um, I was the leadership committee, I was, you know, I just flourished like crazy. Mm-hmm. So just ’cause you drop out of high school doesn’t mean you can’t do well in, in college. Right. Get after it. Yeah. You know? And, and then that just formed me and I just kept going. And every trick of the trade I could learn in the culinary world or- Mm-hmm. hospitality world, I’ve done. UmDid you, um, I’m saying this because I h- I see your excitement level when you say- Yeah. summa cum laude or something like that, right? I’m proud of myself. I was resilient . I agree. So what I’m getting at is, did you question yourself when you dropped out of high school? No. Did you question yourself-when you were aft- when, in the- I mean-alternate schools? I would say my self-esteem is a little different in high school than it is as an adult, for sure. Yeah. I think you have to find your self-esteem. Mm-hmm. Um, there’s some kids that get it young and good for you. Took me a little bit. Mm-hmm. I think actually the chaos of divorce and high school and pressures and life as a young child, you don’t really know how to process that. Mm-hmm. So I kind of tried to escape a lot. Mm-hmm. And, um, as I got older, I found what made me feel good about me. Mm-hmm. I think also I was really, you realize you have a good head on your shoulders when you can move away by yourself. Like, I moved to- Mm-hmm. Colorado right off, like, the minute I could – Yeah. when I was, like, 18. Mm-hmm. And, um, I was like, “I’m just gonna work at a snowboard shop and go to school. “And- Mm-hmm. that first check you write to pay your bill- Mm-hmm. and after you’ve earned the money yourself- Mm-hmm. that’s like, I’ll never forget the, that day, right? Yeah, yeah. The day you first write your own check and you’re an adult. Mm-hmm. And y- you know? Yeah, yeah. That stuff to me, I think, “Okay, I got this. “And then- Mm-hmm. I happened to sell a lot of snowboards that year, so I had a blast . I mean- That was a good one. and, and, you know, just learning that you, you’ve got it. Mm-hmm. I do- I don’t know, some kids know that already, but-took me till adulthood, like mid 20s, maybe 30 I started kind of feeling like an adult when I opened the restaurant- Mm-hmm. ’cause then I owned a business, oh my God. Mm-hmm. But I think I’m gonna be 45 on Sunday actually. Mm-hmm. And happy to say that, I don’t, you know, transparency over here . Hey, I’m 48. That’s it. And, um- Yeah, been the best years of my life. I’m like- Yeah. “Okay, now I’m really an adult. “Yeah. Because I think I’ve been a kid until now. So- You know, it’s really cool, like, you, you start to think about, um, your journey and the way that you lose and win, right? And sometimes we lose and we don’t tell anybody, right? Yep. And sometimes we win and we tell everybody. Yeah. Right? Um, and that can be perceived as, uh, a falseness as well, right? And a lot of, you know, a lot of people throw those away and then put the good ones out front and do those parts of it. Isn’t it really nice when you have a friend that celebrates your wins with you? Sure. And it’s no, “I’m not bragging, I’m not doing this,” but you can literally go to that one person and go, “Man, this r- this happened to me and I, I can’t say this to the world because they’re gonna think I’m bragging or fake or doing whatever, but I just want to have some true, genuine joy about something that was a great accomplishment in my life. “Yeah. “And I want to tell you about it because I know you’ll be happy with me and not judging me over the situation or trying to put me in my place. “Totally. Like, I keep a lot of those friends . Yeah. That’s a h- that’s a hard one to go against because it seems like, for the most part, when you, uh, when you do succeed, it’s hard to say how you succeeded, right? Y- it’s hard to explain. Yeah. I mean, cons- it’s a sequence of a lot of steps and a lot of trial and error-and a lot of- A lot of punches in the face. experiments-and we used to have this joke like, “Put it on the list. “Okay. You know, like, “How are we gonna do this? Oh, we need to fix this. “I mean, there’s just so many- Mm-hmm. So it’s hard to say, I don’t know, I don’t know howOne day you just wake up and you look back- Mm-hmm. and you’re like, “Oh, I’ve been a success for how lo- what? “Yeah. You don’t even really- Mm-hmm. you’re just in it. At least that’s how I feel. Yeah, so you went to these schools, you, you-You got all the awards at the schools, and you- I mean, it-you came through and then- Okay. crushed it. You crushed it at the schools. I mean, I had a couple- Which, a juxtaposition. classes I had to repeat. Don’t think-I was, like, perfect. Okay. Um- There it is. Yeah. It was like- There it is. took me away from, like, no structure to, like, military world, so- Yeah. you know? Yeah, yeah. Um, um, if you missed 2 classes, you had to drop out and start over. So you missed a few, you missed 2 classes? You couldn’t ditch, right? Like, that was my thing in high school, I just ditched a lot of classes and you can’t do that in college. Yeah. Or at least my, my school that I went to. Yeah. Um, okay, carry on. What were you asking me? I’m likeReally? But, but, you know, as you start to go through those things, like, after you got out of college and, and did well, like, what was the first step? Like, you thought, “I want to open a restaurant,” but how did you get to the concept? What was itHow did you know what foods you liked to cook? Oh. How did you know where you were at? Like, there’s so much there, it’s like, “Okay, you graduated. What next? “Right? That’s what everybody steps out of. Yeah, that’s true. Okay. So I tend to talk about things a lot. I’m obviously a talker. I tend to talk about ideas, and I like to bounce things off people, but I also just see something that is cool, I talk about it, I think about it. Mm-hmm. I mean, I think I talked about a concept for 10 years before I actually created the concept. Mm-hmm. I didn’t know where it was gonna be, but I knew I wanted to do kind of aThere was a direction I felt- Mm-hmm. like, in my intuition a little bit where I was going, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and I’m still doing that. I’m still doing that with, with other ways of how I want to expand the business. Mm-hmm. I mean, a lot of people that start a restaurant, especially nowadays, it’s like, “Oh, you don’t have 5 restaurants? You don’t have 10? “You know? “You don’t have a chain? “Mm-hmm. And I thought that’s what I wanted right off the bat. I actually built the restaurant to be a chain. Mm-hmm. Um, and then I got into it. 15 years later here, I still don’t have my second restaurant. Mm-hmm. But that’s mostly because of I saw what I actually liked in my business that I was more proud of. And the chain, to me, was all about the bottom dollar. It was not about the soul of the business. And I decided to really just grow the soul of the business- Mm-hmm. more than grow the brick and mortar, right? Mm-hmm. Um, and I’m doing that again- Mm-hmm. with I’m, I’m bouncing off ideas on how I’m gonna grow. I’m finallySave this for later. I’m finally, um, scaling, trying to scale my business. Nice. But it’s not gonna be exactly- Mm-hmm. what my platform is. Like, DIVE is my platform. DIVE is my artistic place where I can create recipes and see what people go for, right? I’m really happy to say that I have had the same core recipes on the menu since the very first day. So- Mm-hmm. And it took me some trial and error- Mm-hmm. and some, like, thinking about it and rethinking and writing the menu again- Mm-hmm. and writing the menu again. Doing things in my kitchen that I was gonna throw some food away and decided to make something out of the food- Mm-hmm. so I wouldn’t waste the food. It’s called left- Oh, it’s going- It’s called-on the menu. That’s called leftover meatloaf right there. Oh, man. Going on the menu. I can’t tell you how many recipes like that. Like, put me on Chopped, dude. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Give me anything, I’ll make it. Make it good. You know? That, that’s exciting to me. Mm-hmm. Um, and the response I got in Dallas. Thank you, Dallas. Mm-hmm. You guys have been great. Really. It was a void, I think. There was a, there was a missing piece. Um, a lot of people travel to the coastal areas, um, you know, especially in the summer when it’s so hot- Mm-hmm. or the mountain areas or whatever, and that’s pretty b- much been my life. Mm-hmm. It’s been farm, mountain, coastal. Mm-hmm. I never lived in Dallas. I neverI m- besides LA, I didn’t- Mm-hmm. really live in a big city, and LA’s a coastal city, right? Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So, um, that was really a demand- Mm-hmm. and I’m really glad that I could, to give that to the demand, right? Mm-hmm. So let’s say you got out of, you got out of school. You picked Dallas off the map? Like, how did you, how did you find Dallas? No, my mom’s from here. Okay. Um, my older sister, she, she grew up in Highland Park- Okay. actually. She went to Hockaday her whole life. Okay. Yeah. Um, I was- All girls’ p- uh, private school. When I dropped out ofYeah. When I dropped out of high school- Yeah. she’s like, “Oh, we’re going on a trip. “Yeah. She was trying to sneak me into Hockaday. Uh-huh. How are they gonna let me in? I don’t have good grades. I was likeUm, no, um, so anyways, we, um, my sister went to SMU. My grandparents are still alive, at the time my older sister- Mm-hmm. she is also a big person that I follow in life, she helps guide me. Mm-hmm. Uh, she lives here still. She married a guy from Highland Park. Mm-hmm. Um, she had 2 kids and I wanted to be the cool aunt. Mm-hmm. So a lot of times I would escape Miami and come to Dallas and be like, “Oh, I still live in the United States. “You know? And I would, um, hang out with them and they didn’t really know us. I think when I moved here they were six and eight. Mm-hmm. And I put a kids’ corner in my restaurant just for them. Mm-hmm. Like, come and hang out, but have fun. Yeah. Like, make your parents come here too, so you can have fun. That’s great. Yeah. You know? Yeah. Um, uh, that’s really how I got here. It was a transition. I was actually breaking up with a boyfriend. Mm-hmm. And I had finished school, I worked in all the trades, like, I say trades ’cause I did everything from like being a vodka rep to- Mm-hmm. doing mainstream catering for like the Super Bowl parties- Mm-hmm. and like big catering, right? Mm-hmm. Or I would do the backstage concessions of- Mm-hmm. of concerts and huge music festivals. Yeah. Um, I would, I worked as a, in the kitchen for a few years for a chef named Alan Susser. Mm-hmm. Um, he was part of the Mango Gang, he was the guy who brought Caribbean cuisine into contemporary cuisine. Mm-hmm. So bringing fruit into French- Where was that at? That was in Miami. Okay. That was in Aventura. Mm-hmm. Okay. And, and then after that I was like a manager of a, um, of another restaurant called Talula, um, the Randazzo family. Mm-hmm. They’re still in business today. Not Talula but they have a catering company and they’re a really, really cool couple to work for so I was really inspired by them. Mm-hmm. Um, they were like, “Don’t do it. Don’t do the restaurant. “‘Cause they work so hard, you know? Yeah. And they had multiple kids, and they were just really an inspiration. I really loved them. Um, and then I just knew it. I’m like, “That’s it. I’m gonna have a restaurant. This is what I’m training for. This is all the little things I’m doing. “Mm-hmm. Funny enough, right when I finally got the opportunity to open a restaurant here in Dallas- Mm-hmm. I was working for Nick Bonavenas, which is, um, Neighborhood Services- Mm-hmm. Restaurants in Dallas and he has multiple now. Town Hearth is another big one. Mm-hmm. Um, he was our neighbor when we were a baby. Hmm. Uh, and not in LA. W- we lived in Arizona for the first couple, like, 2, I was like 3. Yeah. Okay? But my older sister was friends with his sister. Mm-hmm. So she’s like, “Oh, I’ll get you a job in Dallas. This guy, we, we used to live next door to him. “Blah, blah, blah. And I was like, “Oh, wow, that’s a small world. “Uh-huh. And now we’re both in Dallas in the restaurant business? Weird. Uh-huh. So he would do these wonderful, when he f- opened his first restaurant, I was a waiter there. Mm-hmm. And he would do these wonderful, like, pre-shift meetings about, you know, just, he was just so inspiring and so passionate- Mm-hmm. about what he was doing and about the small footprint model and having the restaurant look full and giving the, the clients really what they were after, you know? Mm-hmm. And so working there, I noticed so many women in Dallas really just ordered the fish and the vegetable. Mm-hmm. And the men all ordered kind of the heavier food. Yeah. And the women, they were like, “Oh, I just want a salad,” da, da, da. And I’m like, “Man, why isn’t there a place where you can just have fish and vegetables? “Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so I pitched it to him and he’s like, “Looks good. “Mm-hmm. And the very next year I opened the restaurant. Mm-hmm. And, um, my dad was like, “Every restaurant fails in the first 3 years. “I’m like, “Dad, you have been telling me to do what I love, I have been working on this for 10 years- Mm-hmm. all different facets so that I could work every position in the restaurant if I needed to. “Right. So I knew where everybody was coming from. Mm-hmm. So, and all my friends were, you know, people that were hard workers and people that people would think that they didn’t have opportunity. Mm-hmm. So I felt like I gave opportunity to people- Mm-hmm. and it became a family environment, like, “I got you, you scratch my back, I scratch yours. “Mm-hmm. You know? “I’m gonna take care of you, you take care of me and we’re- Yeah. we’re in good harmony. “Mm-hmm. That is still a big time culture in my restaurant. Mm-hmm. You have somebody come in here with an attitude, you’re outta here, man. Yeah. Like, we don’t, we don’t take ego here. Mm-hmm. Yeah, 100%. Um, and shoot, 15 years later, thanks to Dallas. Locked me in here. It’s been great for my family too, honestly. Yeah. Great family place. Well, I mean, Texas is a great place to be and, and those that don’t live here and it takes them a while to get here, as soon as they get here, you know, it’s like, took you a while, but once you feel it, you feel it, you know? The gr- it’s called the great state of Texas. I mean- I mean, it’s- You know? I left for a minute and came back actually. Boomerang. I meanGets your claws into you. I think I- most of my friends have actually. We all like, “Maybe we’re gonna move to Calbo- nevermind. “So we came back. That’s awesome. Um, when you started your restaurant and you showed him this list of fish and vegetables- My dad or, or Nick? The, the guy that you were concepting this thing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Um, did you show him like all the recipes that you’d come up with? No. Or you just said, “I, here’s the concept. “Yeah. No, I didn’t. I didn’t show anybody the details right off the bat. So, how long did- My sister. I d- uh, it was me and my sister. Okay. At the time, nautical stuff was really fam- like, really popular in like Pier One Imports and stuff. Yeah. So it’s like, “Oh, I’ll buy this for the restaurant. Oh. “You know? Yeah. Everything was like, “Yes, yes, yes. “Mm-hmm. Um, uh, again, I would make food in my kitchen and I would s- give it to my neighbors. Mm-hmm. “Do you like it? “”Oh my God, that’s so good. “”Okay. “Cool. That’s a good one. And they were from Texas, like- Yeah. my 2 neighbors that lived across the street from me, they, umI keep name dropping here, but why not? Um, Lindsay Billingsley- Mm-hmm. Yeah. is her name, and she’s an amazing woman. Um, she was from Tyler, Texas. Mm-hmm. She was also in the events business. Mm-hmm. And she was very, like, “Tyler, you know. “Like, that’s Texas, you know? Mm-hmm. Yeah. It’s East Texas, but real- Yeah. that’s the South. And- Mm-hmm. she would try some of my California food, and I’m like, “What is this? “Yeah. And then she would eat it, it’s like, “Oh, my gosh. “And I’m like, “Okay, great. “She was like my test kitchen, you know? Yeah. On the, on the demographic. Mm-hmm. ‘Cause I was, that was normal food to me. Mm-hmm. The California, kind of, lots of colors in your food, tons of vegetables. Right. Um, some exotic stuff I brought in, stuff from, obviously living in Miami, I had a lot of Latin influence. Mm-hmm. My dad being br- from Brazil- Mm-hmm. I had a lot of, like, different cultures that I grew up with eating. Like- Mm-hmm. we’d always have a feijoada dinner every Saturday, or feijoada lunch, which is, that’s a typical Brazilian meal. Hmm. Uh, very traditional. Um, my father would introduce me to this plant called, uh, molokheyah, which it’s an ArabIt’s, like, the, in the, it’s like the leaves of an okra plant. Mm-hmm. It’s kind of in the 0 Jute mallow is the proper term for it. Mm-hmm. Um, it’s kind of a slimy leaf when it cooks down. Very interesting, very weird. We would have it every, um, every weekend. Mm-hmm. And his grandfather taught his, you know, great-grandfather taught his grandfather. It was generational in our family. Yeah. Uh, my father is, uh, Portuguese, Italian, Lebanese, and Syrian. Okay. So it came from that side. But his best friend was Egyptian, so actually, this is an Egyptian delicacy. We didn’t know. Uh-huh. Really traditional Egyptian. Um, I now grow it in my farm that serves the restaurant, and I’ve introduced it to Texas. And can you believe it? It sells. Like, I, I can’t say molokheyah. I call it Egyptian spinach soup. Uh-huh. Um, it’s basically a green soup that you put over rice- Mm-hmm. with, uh, chicken, and it’s a broth with a lot of cilantro in it. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. So it’s, um, and then you put lemon juice, raw onions on top, and you eat it with some crispy pita. And it’s really good for your gut health. It’s really good for your joints. It’s like f- the same effect as, like, flax seed, something like that. So, nutrition is a really big thing for me. Mm-hmm. And introducing, coming back to what I said, exposing people to things that they would- Right. normally feel uncomfortable doing. Right. But who knew, you know? Yeah. Well, the cool thing about it is, like, I, I guess th- the center of Dallas and, and, and Highland Park specifically, um, is more eclectic. Like, those are people from all over the world. It’s n- I wouldn’t say it’s mainly Texas guys, Texas people. Well, there’s a lot- Right. of people born and raised- Right. a lot- Yeah. But, uh, yes. There’s a lot of- Right. business people that move in. And of course. I mean, we’re the number one business headquarters in the world, right? And so- Sure. a lot of people go to those, me know, CEOs go to that- To the high net worth neighborhood. Yeah. They go to those- Yeah, of course. they go to those places, right? So, um, it’s a mix. And so- And they travel. Yeah. Right? So. And so they’re used to coastal foods and things like that, right? Sure. You enter, inter- uh, uh, introducing a coastal menu to a heart of beef Texas. Yeah. Right? Uh-huh. It’s very cool. It’s just unusual. And it’s gotta be the thing that people are like, “Yeah, I like a steak, but there’s also this thing that goes in the mix,” right? And so you now become part of, um, a week’s, uh, schedule, because everyone’s not gonna eat the same thing all the time. Now you have put a differentiator in there, and that’s, first off, it’s bold to do that, you know? But secondly, it’s like, if it hits, it’s a staple. Yeah. Well, I put different things on the menu that cater to different taste buds a little bit. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I can’t tell you how many people walked in the restaurantWe used to be a Ball’s Hamburgers. That was a really, uh, a staple for a lot of years across from SMU- Mm-hmm. um, in Dallas. And- What was the name of it? Ball’s. Interesting. Uh, I tried to buyThey had 2 locations. Yeah. And I tried to get both, ’cause, you know, I couldn’t just live with one Ball. I needed both. Um, I’m just kidding. Okay. Uh- Uh, no, I really did try actually. Yeah. Yeah. I liked both those er- lo- both of their locations. Yeah. Um, uh, but they would think I was Southern, so immediately, they’re like, “Where’s the po’ boy? “Uh-huh. You know, “Where’s the fried shrimp? Where’s your, where’s your fish and chips? “Yeah. And I’m like, “Nope, we don’t even really have a fryer. We are-” Yeah. ” all about like, you know, pan-seared fish and-” Mm-hmm. ” salads and, you know. “It’s a little lighter. Yeah. Fish tacos, ceviche, right? Yeah. Um, and that’s what happened. And people started coming in, they started trying it. Mm-hmm. My first hit was this ahi tuna wrap, which looks like a giant sushi, but it’s like a burrito. Mm-hmm. So it’s a seared piece of ahi tuna- Mm-hmm. with coconut rice, avocado, cucumbers- Mm-hmm. um, all in a big spinach wrap, and I serve it with sweet chili and a ponzu. Mm-hmm. Woo, that made me famous, that wrap. That’s awesome. I mean, literally so many people became obsessed with it. They would come every week. I wou- to the point where I’m like, “I don’t want you to get mercury poisoning. Can you put chicken-” “in your,” you know, really. Yeah, yeah. And, um, there were so many families that came in, and they would come, like, 4 times a week. They would walk in and cover up their eyes and be like, “I’m embarrassed I’m here again. “And I’m like- Yeah, come on. ” don’t be embarrassed. “You know? Yeah. It was like- Thank you. somehow I put crack in the food. Not really. I mean, really, it was, like, so cool to see how many people just really got into what I was offering. Mm-hmm. And how they kind of considered it so approachable. Mm-hmm. I was one of the first fast casuals in the neighborhood, or just in Dallas before fast casuals were cool. Mm-hmm. Right? Like, um, now we have all these cool taco places, you know, but really, I was so sick of seeing a short rib and a pizza and a mac and cheese on every single menu. Mm-hmm. And every single menu was the same- Mm-hmm. at so many of the restaurants when I first moved here. Mm-hmm. So it kind of gave another version of, I think, people were lacking that. And, and really- Yeah. they embraced me. I couldn’t be more fortunate and really just, I have so much gratitude- Mm-hmm. for the city for that reason. Mm-hmm. And, and it’s still going, still going strong. I’m getting to see these kids that came in when we first opened- Yeah. and they’re all in college now. Yeah. And they’re like telling their mom like, “Mom,” like, “go get me a wrap and send it to school. “Mm-hmm. You know? Mm-hmm. Like, they, it’s like their institution, they have to come back and have it. Mm-hmm. And I do that in San Diego. I go, I go home and I want to go to the old places that I went to growing up- Mm-hmm. because you just want to have that, that one dish that you miss, right? Yeah, yeah. And I actually brought some of those into my menu, so- That’s cool. I would actually take, like, my ode to fish tacos is definitely from San Diego. Mm-hmm. Um, I love the Brigantine, if everybody goes there. Mm-hmm. Um, my, the wrap came from a place called, I think it was called Rocket Wraps. Mm-hmm. Um, and then I just made all different kinds of gourmet burritos basically. Mm-hmm. Um, and what else? We have tons of sandwiches. We have a codfish sandwich, so if you want fish and chips, I got one fried fish thing. No, now we have fish and chips, you know? After a while you want to give the, the demographic what they want to eat, right? Mm-hmm. Um, but I want it to be my version. We were right next to a burger place with fries- Mm-hmm. so we never had french fries. Yeah. We used plantain chips. Mm-hmm. And if somebody comes in and wants fries, I’m like, “You can go next door. “Get a good fry. I didn’t care. But I always don’t, like, I, peop- people are creatures of habit-and I don’t want them to always eat the same thing over and over. So I constantly make different specials, and I’ve always done that. Mm-hmm. Um, I’m proud of that, because again, that’s my platform. That’s my platform to paint, right? Yeah. That’s my, “Oh, I’m, I’m into this,” and so I put it out there. Who knew everybody wants to eat this right now? Right. I am the consumer. Mm-hmm. Right? And when you think about your artwork, I think it’s the same. Mm-hmm. You’re looking at the person or- Yeah. the consumer or the image- Yeah. and painting that image. Mm-hmm. You know, the cool thing about it is, like, I, I put stuff out there that, umAnd, and I’m hearing the same story from you. It’s just what I want, right? Totally. I put it out there and it’s like, “Uh, I hope you guys like this. “You know? It’s not like, “I need a one of these and put some of this in there and a little bit of that,” and whatever. And it’s like, uh, no, I mean, I’m, I’m creating what I want. Right. Um, if you enjoy it, I would love to talk to you about it. If you enjoy it a lot, you can own it. But outside of that, like, I’m not, I’m not directed, you know? No. I just- Well, you’re directed by- Yeah. if, if you ask me, by spirit. Yeah. Oh, 100%. Yeah. And I’m, uh, I have a lot of faith and- Yeah. I’m very much led that way. Yeah, 100%. I, I, it’s that whole thing coming back to, like, I just kind of go through. I don’t even know why I’m doing it. But I’m doing it- Yeah. and just let me get through it. Yeah. You know? Ye- Just trust in me that I trust in God enough, or I- Yeah. and whatever you believe in- Yeah. believe in it. Yeah. Because that is, like, the fuel of everything to me. Yeah. I think it’s weird sometimes when you sayIt’s not weird. People perceive it as weird, or you as weird, when you say something like, “I was created. I believe I was created. “For sure. Um, “I was built this way. “If you think about it, I’m just a person that is experiencing the same version of me the same way somebody else is perceiving it. Like, I amThe tools I was given, I didn’t pick those. You know, those weren’t, I didn’t go to the shelf and go, “I want one of those, and I want to be some of this. I’m gonna do a little of that. “Like, the aptitude that I have is because that was what I was given too. Sure. The desire, desire and drive I was given too, right? Like, I’m not always- Well, you saw it. You saw it- Yeah. and it, and, and it resonated. Yeah. And you didn’t even know. Yeah. So at some point, like, I’m a, I’m a passenger in this too. Sure. You know? And I’m just happy about being a passenger in the vehicle I was given, you know? So being thankful about those things is, is kind of who I am in, in, in my spirit, and who I, uh, and what I decide to be, right? So, um- Uh, right here, same. Yeah. Same. Um, so it’s cool. Like, I get that. I understand that totally, uh, and I appreciate what you’re saying when it comes to that, and, know, and I don’t always put that out to people but, at the end of the day, like, that’s, that’s how I feel. Like, even my, my art display up there is like, um, it’s all of these things are painted against the wall and, like, I have a head that’s in the middle of it that has an in- infinity mirror through the middle of it. That was the one. Yeah, yeah. That’s the piece I went up to. Yeah. And it’s like, forever, like, I just feel like these ideas are just coming out. Like, I don’t get, I didn’t make the brain that creates those. Right. Like, I’m experiencing the brain that creates those, so these ideas are just coming out and I’m trying to catch them one at a time. Right. And it’s like a tornado that’s coming out of my head with these thoughts, and ideas that are coming out. And I catch them as soon as I can and I throw them against the wall on the end, I ch- ch- right? It’s your canvas. But the outside of this thing is, like, labels, you know? It’s the judgment. Yeah, it’s the labels, right? You come back to that. So- Like, it’s what everybody’s looking at, or it’s what you’re supposed to be. Yeah, yeah. It’s what society wants from you. Yeah. But then you’re like, “But really, I’m just this. “Then I, I, I am witnessing this just like you are. Yeah. Like, I’m just, I’m just as surprised when something comes out that I created. Every single time I’m like, “Wow, that was, that was cool. “Yeah. “That was an experience. I really enjoyed that. “Then it’s like, “Crap, now I gotta do it again. What’s next? Here we go. “Yeah. You know? And then, like, you go through it again and it’s like, “I didn’t know I had that in me. “Like, I didn’t know that was there, right? And so, the same thing with you when you’re, you’re putting these things out. Sometimes you put together a combination and why you had that combination together? I don’t know. Right? And then you put it together and somebody goes, “Pow, that’s amazing,” right? And you’re like, “Ugh, I’m glad you did that because it makes me feel like the things that I’m doing are meant to be, like they are here for, you know? “For sure, you’re affirmed. Yeah. You’re immediately affirmed. Yeah. I, um, I constantly think of that. Like, I’m constantly throwing things out there and, and trying to create so- like, like with Dive. I basically was like, “Well if it doesn’t, if it doesn’t work, like, I’ll just move and do something else. “Yeah. You know? And you just have to gamble that a little bit. Yeah. You just, it, it comes down to that feeling of, “I’m just gonna try it and see what happens, and whatever happens is gonna lead me to the next thing anyway. “Right. And I’m really happy that I’m not fearful, or I’m really happy that I look at the positives of things in that sense. Mm-hmm. I’m fearful, don’t get me wrong. There’s definitely scary parts of it. Mm-hmm. But there’s something inside me that’s just says, “Who cares? “Yeah, exactly. Like, just do it. Yeah. I mean, go Nike for what a great slogan. Just do it. Um- Do you, do you, umAll right, so let’s, let’s, let’s hit the restaurant at the very beginning again. You picked the location based upon family, or you thought- No. this is where some of the mostI didn’t want to go to Snider Plaza at first. Get me, tell me, tell me why. Um, well, you know, I was new to the city. Mm-hmm. So I didn’t really know the city. My sister did, and so I based a lot of things off of her and her network. Mm-hmm. Um, they kept saying, people would say, “Oh, Snider Bl- Plaza would be great. “Well, it’s one of the oldest malls. It’s kind of interesting when you drive, drive in. They’re all individually owned- Mm-hmm. places and, um, first it was a little, I don’t know, just didn’t have my vibe I didn’t think. Mm-hmm. Um, and plus I lived on the west side of Dallas, so it was to go down Lovers Lane 2 miles. 2 miles takes 20 minutes, like it’s- Mm-hmm. Ridiculous, right? Mm-hmm. Um, so I wasn’t, that wasn’t my place, right? Mm-hmm. But the college was there. Mm-hmm. The demographic made sense. Mm-hmm. Um, it wasn’t untilI looked at a lot of spots, but it wasn’t until, um, my landlord that I went to go, and he’s also a real estate agent. Mm-hmm. A really well known one, Rodgers Healy. Mm-hmm. He always wanted me to put a sandwich on there with his name on it. Mm-hmm. He, um, was like, “Oh my gosh, Dunkin’ Donuts went in across from SMU. Nobody wants them. They took over the Balls first. “Uh-huh. And it was a free s- Yeah, so funny. Yeah. But yeah, it was a freestanding building. Okay. Um, I really liked, I didn’t want to be part of a plaza. Yeah. I would’ve loved to be in, like, an old house. Mm-hmm. And I wanted it to be all eclectic and vintage and shabby chic or whatever. Mm-hmm. It turned out to be modern. Yeah, yeah. Like, um, but I loved that it was a freestanding building- Mm-hmm. and it wasn’t directly in the center of Snider Plaza, it’s on a side street. Mm-hmm. Um, and I went and looked at it and I was like, “That’s it. That’s the one. “Right? And it, and it had a Dunkin’ Donuts and a, um, and a, like, uh, I think they own Baskin-Robbins too or something. And so they had them kind of next to each other. But if anybody goes to SMU, they know that Mustang Donuts- Mm-hmm. has been there for years and they’re very loyal. Mm-hmm. I mean, Dallas is a very loyal city to- Yeah. when they love something, they love it and they keep it. Mm-hmm. Um, so nobody wanted Dunkin’ Donuts there. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Right? And I f- so I just got lucky there with the timing. That’s cool. Um, they went out of business and- Uh-huh. so I, I went for the building and I got it. And I had to compete against a couple other restaurants- Yeah. that were already known in the neighborhood. Uh-huh. So somehow, again, I just pitched it. Yeah, yeah. And they were like, “All right, who is this new girl? Okay. “Oh, so you pitched, they, they had 3 concepts or so that were- Wanting that building, mm-hmm. And the owners of the building were like, they were leasing it out? Mm-hmm. Or are you trying to buy this building? They were leasing it out. Okay. It was during a recession, this was in 2010. And, um, I went for it. And you told them, “Hey, this is my idea,” and they said, “Okay, there’s 3 other ideas out there, we’re gonna pick your idea”? They, they didn’t really tell me until after they picked me. Okay. Very cool. They made it seem like I was getting it the whole time. Made a little stress? Um, and then soon after that, they were selling the building and they asked- Mm-hmm. they offered it to me, but I didn’t have the money at the time. And I would’ve loved to. Yeah. Now I’m like, “Shoot. “I should’ve done it. I just, I didn’t have enough credit back then, right? I didn’t have enough- Yeah. credibility for that matter to even get a loan. Like- Mm-hmm. it wasn’t gonna work. But, um, now I ask my landlords all the time, “Can I buy it? “Never. Yeah. You know? It’s like, great piece of real estate. Yeah. Um, can I talk about what I’m going into now? Hit me. Let’s go. Okay, so, so again, a lot of people want to scale and they want to see chains. And I built it as a chain, but I didn’t do that right off the bat. Mm-hmm. Um, I have 7 of the same team members, so the same- Mm-hmm. core kitchen guys- Mm-hmm. from the very first day that I opened, so 15 years strong- Wow. these guys have worked for me. That’s crazy. They keep the consistency of my restaurant, which I’m so obsessed with, right? Mm-hmm. They, there’s, I love them like they’re my family, right? Mm-hmm. And I, they feel the same about me, I think. Mm-hmm, I hope. I think so. Um, and so we, um, instead of doing that, I got into this whole tangent of where your food comes from, supporting the local farmers, making sure that things that go into your body are organic. Again, my parents never let me have sugar. Hm. My mom was super organic at a young age. Mm-hmm. Like, it, like, she was ahead of her time. Mm-hmm. Like big time. And I started seeing that so many people ate so much junk food that I was like, “I think my food is amazing. Why isn’t anybody catching on to this,” you know? So I decided to really source from farmers, really be particular about what oils I got. I found out that the distributing companies are just like any other business, right? And you have to really push for what you want. Mm-hmm. They’re gonna sell you what they want you to buy. Yep, yep. Right? Mm-hmm. But I really had to go deeper and taste everything and, and really be thoughtful. Like, with my shrimp for example, I like a shrimp that is from the Sea of Cortez, Mexico. It’s the only region where they don’t treat it with a formaldehyde bleach component, believe it or not. Hm. I’m so sensitive- Mm-hmm. to that chemical- Mm-hmm. that I can smell when the wrong shrimp comes in the kitchen. Hmm. Like, I can smell it when it’s in the door. Yeah. Like, “Uh, who ordered the wrong shrimp? “Yeah. You know? So that kind of thing is really very important to me. So I always wanted to make a real sustainable food concept. A lot of people talk about, “Oh, we have the garden on the roo- on the roof and it, it, per- you know, serves the whole restaurant. “Mm-hmm. And I’m like, “I serve 300 people a day. You’re lying, bro. “You’re lying, yeah. You know? And that becomes just marketing. Yeah. And I’m not doing it for marketing. Mm-hmm. I want to actually do it. Mm-hmm. And it’s, I’ve gone through so many roadblocks to get there. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. I can’t tell you. It’s, they make it kind of impossible. Mm-hmm. Right? Just to even get the oil that I want. Mm-hmm. “Nope, sorry, you gotta buy the, the one with propane in it. “Yeah. That’s made from, you know- Mm-hmm. p- petroleum or whatever. Um, I might be saying this wrong, don’t quote me if I do, with those little details. Yeah. But you know where I’m going with this. Um, so I decided to 0 uh, during COVID, okay? Mm-hmm. I’m gonna take a couple steps, because these are like steps, right? Mm-hmm. They, I was gonna open another concept and I was gonna do a grow house within the restaurant so you could sit there and see your salad growing behind you. Hm. And I got the building, it was right next to my restaurant, so I could do another version of myself and make it easy to get to and keep my same crowd- Yeah. of people that were already coming. Um, I had cold feet. Something happened, some- I just saw something and I worked really hard to get the building. And I walked the deal and everybody was so mad at me. Uh-huh. Well, a week later, the world shut down and it was COVID. Oh. Saved you. And wow. Yeah. That was another thing. I just listened to spirit. Yeah. I don’t know why. Mm-hmm. I don’t know why I decided, but I decided. Mm-hmm. And I also, um, got pregnant. Hm. Back to back. Again, yeah. Okay. So with that, having a child, only being healthy in your body, right? Mm-hmm. Um, only looking at what you want your kid to grow up like- Mm-hmm. and how, what you want him to eat, that just fueled me even more. Mm-hmm. So long story short, I moved to Colorado. I, I, uh, with my boyfriend at the time that, you know, we were pregnant. Mm-hmm. Um, and we got our milk from the cow down, down the street, you know? Mm-hmm. Like, we had a big vegetable farm. I mean, I did it. Mm-hmm. They did what I wanted to do, like really- Yeah. live off the land and- Mm-hmm. live off the grid a little bit. And, um, it was great. We kinda fought a lot, so we ended up breaking up and I, and I moved back to Dallas. So I was there for 2 years. But it was a long, um, pregnancy leave. So, but at that time, I empowered my sous chef at that time. Yeah. And made him a, a profit share and also now my business partner- Mm-hmm. through and through, he is like my right-hand man for everything. Mm-hmm. We’ve worked together for 14 years. His name is Victor Corral. I love you, Victor. You know everything. What up, Victor? I trust you like crazy. You know everything about me. Don’t tell anybody. Um- Even though I tell everybody. Yeah. Um, no, but he is just my trusting rock and he’s become the operating director of the restaurant because- Mm-hmm. he has m- the more boots on the ground. Yeah. Um, and we’ve grown together and it’s been great to have, like you said, that friend that- Yeah. that celebrates your wins and your losses with you. Mm-hmm. He’s that friend to me. Yeah. And my business partner and my confidant and my, my, you know, protector, like in a way. Mm-hmm. It’s really cool. But we’re not anything intimate, okay? Mm-hmm. It’s very platonic. Right. Yeah. Um, and so we decided to kind of take matters into our own, own hands and control the product. Mm-hmm. The distributors didn’t give us what we wanted. Yeah. We had to source in so many different ways and I mean, Victor is driving all over the city. Mm-hmm. Right? So, we’ve decided to grow our own vegetables. I found a guy who does these huge, um, vertical farms in Europe and in Thailand and, um, for HEB and- Mm-hmm. you know, he’s, I was small potatoes to him, but he believed in me. He was so c- so cool. Mm-hmm. Um, and we made these, they are growtainers is the name of his r- of his company, if you wanna check him out. Mm-hmm. Um, and he basically, Glen Blenheim is his name, he basically believed in my concept of putting the grow house in the restaurant. Mm-hmm. And then just made me 2, um, containers, fabricated them in Montreal. They were shipped down to me. I originally was gonna have a farm in East Texas with my dad. Mm-hmm. Okay? My dad came out here for a minute and then he was like, “I can’t live here. “He was a fish out of water. Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah. He was from East Texas. He was a Brazilian guy. Yeah. He was just like, “What am I doing here? “Yeah. Um, he turned around and, and moved. H- his port of entry was Houston, so- Mm-hmm. he had a thing about full circle and like- Mm-hmm. “Oh, I’m going back to Texas. What’s going on? “Yeah. Anyways, he moved back to, um, California and I was like, “Great, I just built these containers and signed this contract. What am I gonna do? “Yeah. “Where am I gonna put it? “Yeah. So we, we, we bought a little piece of land in East Texas. We sold it really fast. UmWher- where in East Texas? Do you know where theTalco? Do you know where that is? I have no idea. Uh, do you know where Mount Vernon is? Yeah, 100%. Okay, right next to Mount Vernon. Okay. Mm-hmm. Um, I have a lake house in Cypress Springs. Yep, know where that’s at. It’s beautiful. That’s what I did with the money- Yeah. that I loaned for the restaurant. Okay. That I bailed on. And stayed in. I was like, “Oh, you, this is Texas, this beautiful lake, sold. “Yeah. It is beautiful. Oh, and that was my fix for losing Colorado for my son too. Mm-hmm. He got out in nature a little spot that we can escape to. Mm-hmm. Very important in our life. We’re big nature people. Yeah. Um, and I put these, I, I somehow, full circle, okay, this is how it really comes back to my original story of my first job in a restaurant was run by skateboarders. Mm-hmm. I grew up, dropped out of high school with all the skateboarders and surfers- Mm-hmm. and I would go- Yeah. you know, ditch school with them. Um, have parties at them. You know, my parents were real worried. Um, either way, who knew that these people are the people who were gonna end up changing the world with me? Yeah. Okay? Like, making, really following your purpose in life. Mm-hmm. I really have found that in the last couple years. Mm-hmm. So, um, I originally was finding places to put the containers and one of the girls that worked at one of the places ends up quitting her job and is like, “My boyfriend owns this skate park. He’ll take your containers. “I’m like, “What? “And I really liked her when I met her- Uh-huh. anyway and so I was like, “I knew you were cool. “Yeah. You know? And, um, it turns out Mike Crum, who is a professional skater- Mm-hmm. very well known vert ramp skater. Mm-hmm. He’s in the Skateboarding Hall of Fame. Yeah. Um, he’s the only other vert ramp skater other than Tony Hawk. The 2 of them are the vert ramp Hall of Famers. Yep. Um, and M- Rob Cahill- Mm-hmm. um, both of also a skateboarder from, from Texas, pro skater, they created this skate park in The Cedars, just south of Deavallum- Yep. Mm-hmm. um, Hickory and Latimer to be exact. Mm-hmm. And they, uh, found that a lot of people couldn’t skateboard, like, and pay for it, right? Mm-hmm. And a lot of the kids that were coming to skateboard were from a family that like couldn’t really afford to eat even. Mm-hmm. And they created this amazing con- concept, 4Down, 4DWN. org. Please check it out. We have volunteer times on Wednesdays and Sundays. Um, we have a food hub that we fight food insecurity. We feed over 300 families a week. And they created partnerships with different grocery stores and every 3 days, the grocery store is supposed to throw away their food. I’m talking perfectly good produce, perfectly good deli food, perfectly good- Hmm. bread. You know, things that have just been there for 3 days, literally. And they have to throw it away, by law. Mm-hmm. We throw so much of our food away. Mm-hmm. It’s insane. Um, we have a hunger problem. We shouldn’t. Yeah. We really shouldn’t. Absolutely. It’s, it’s a, it’s a, a dispersal problem. Like it’s a place where you’re s- you know, they have a hard time putting it where it needs to be. Mm-hmm. Um, so these 2 pro skaters decided to create a food hub within their skate park. So, these kids come to a place that’s really cool to hang out- Mm-hmm. really cool to, um, you know, chill with their buddies and skateboard. It’s free. Plus, they can get some food to take home to their families. And then, we had partnerships with A- uh, Amazon, well Whole Foods, Central Market, H-E-B, Kroger, um, Dallas Mavericks started getting involved. It became this craze, right? And this is like organic food. Mm-hmm. This is like healthy food. This is like way up my alley, right? I’m like, I’m- I used to volunteer in the juvenile detention center because I dropped out of high school, because I believe that everybody has, uh, chances, second chances. Mm-hmm. And nothing is gonna define you, except for you. Right. And I would go in and teach cooking classes with this guy named Charles Plummer and Youth With Faces was another program I worked with. Mm-hmm. And I was amazed that they even were into it. Yeah. I- I would get them field trips where they could come and I would introduce them to a zucchini they’d never seen before. Mm-hmm. I mean, I saw one girl eat a orange like an apple. I mean, i- it blew my mind. Yeah. And that’s where the whole exposure thing comes to me. That was bitter. Yeah. Well, you know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Just like, whoa, man. Yeah. Is that really for real? Yeah. And that’s a big part of what really has been fueling how I’m growing my business now. Mm-hmm. It’s not about my ego. It’s not about rich neighborhoods. I can only fit so many, feed so many rich people. It doesn’t really serve your soul. You know what I mean? Yeah. Mm-hmm. It, it becomes more about, how come everybody doesn’t get to eat this food? Yeah. How come we are so separated by socioeconomic class? Mm-hmm. I, I, that to me bothers me. Yeah, 100%. So, that is a huge part of my drive and how I wanna present my business. And it took me a good 10 years to figure that out, right? Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Um, so I talked about this farm to table restaurant. Yeah, mm-hmm. But very seed to plate, more like. And, um, I partnered with these skateboarders and I put in my grow houses and it became an education hub. And I put in an event center and we can have huge, we can have huge, uh, events there now. We just had- Tony Hawk was just in my skateboard park inside my containers. When was this? Just a couple weeks ago. Oh, I’m sorry. Um, uh, no, over the, i- in May- Yeah. we had, um, a anniversary, ten year anniversary of 4Down. Yeah. And we had Bam Margera. Yeah. We had, I mean all the big skateboarders come in- Yeah. um, and did a performance and we had different bands. We’re, I think we’re aPlease look on the website, but we’re having a band, a big rock band come in and I’ve always wanted to do a big concert there. Like, my whole thing is I wanna bring Ben Harper. He’s so on brand for us. Uh-huh. Um , if you know Ben Harper, shout out to you ’cause not a ton of people in Texas do it seems like. But he’s definitely a really cool guy. Um, anyways, I’m, this has been the catalyst to my change. The catalyst to my growth. Mm-hmm. The catalyst to what I wanna see my next 10 years of growth look like. So, the scaling of my business is now gonna come down to actually being sustainable, but also being a nonprofit with a for-profit involved. Mm-hmm. And the for-profit does the educational part of learning, teaching the kids how to grow the food and also taking that food and selling it to restaurants, right? Then we have a composting section which is Hema Soil, which is a future of compost, which i- it, uh, it takes half the time to make this compost. And not only is the waste in the food that’s not perishable that you come on volunteer days and you go through that food and you pick the piece that looks good, you put that in the grocery box. The piece that doesn’t look good, it goes to compost. So it’s a full closed loop sustainable system that we’re working here. We have people come in and when they volunteer, they have fun. We feed them some of the food that we’re getting as well. Mm-hmm. And they skateboard and we have a band come sometimes and, and then they get to see the, the lettuce growing and 4Down’s now growing mushrooms. And we’re doing all different kinds of growth that we- we have herbs and flowers and we have like a bee pollinator, you know? Mm-hmm. Where people are coming to. And Dive couldn’t have partnered with a more perfect person because it just, this is everything I love. Yeah. And who knew? Me and the skateboarders, man. Yeah. It all started, and it was like I really had a full circle moment, man. I was like-Oh my gosh. Dad, “Don’t worry. “He’s like, “Come back from San Diego. You’re not from Texas. You need to come home. “Like when he left- Yeah, yeah, yeah. you know? He really wanted me to come home. And I’m like, “Dad, don’t worry. My whole career is here, but San Diego found me. “I’m good, you know? So that’s where I’m at right now. We’re looking to make actually modular units that are sustainable little dives and with a commissary that also educates and helps fight food insecurity and helps the environment. Good for the planet, good for the people, good for all the neighborhoods. That’s awesome. Yeah, I definitely want to be involved in that. I’ve got a few people that I can, uh, connect you guys with as well and- Right on. Resources are great. Yeah, it’s, it’s crazy, you know, small world, you know, at the end of the day, soI’ve never asked for anything, you know. I, I funded everything myself. Mm-hmm. I worked really hard to just make it about me and not- Mm-hmm. try to, ums, don’t know. I had a hard time asking. Mm-hmm. I’m a giver. I’m not so- Mm-hmm. good at receiving actually. And when all of these things start to happen to you because you’re giving so much and things just fall from the sky or fall from your lap- Right. if that’s not an affirmation of spirit or an affirmation of gratitude, I don’t know what it is because- Yeah. that’s, I could cry right now because I’m s- I’m so full of gratitude that God’s given me these opportunities to help other people. Yeah, yeah. Or given me a platform to help other people and have people, like, have, have real food in their life and actually, like, get healthier and notice things in their body and, and have a cool place to live and feel accepted. And I mean, that’s what the world’s about. It’s about uniting. Mm-hmm. Sorry. Well, that’s, that’s one of those things where it’s, um, sometimes it’s not where you’re from, it’s where you end up. Yeah. And, uh, you know, we’re, we’re happy to have you here. Thank you so much. So, yeah. Like, thank you, thank you so much. So my farm is called Dive Down, D-I-V-E D-W-N. com. Um, Dive Coastal Cuisine is in Snyder Plaza. Please come see us. It’s a walkup order. Yeah. Anybody can come. Dress however you want. Whoopsie. Um- And that’s divecoastal. com. Instagram, dive_dallas. Mm-hmm. Um, Instagram, divedown, D-W-N again. Mm-hmm. Um, and then 4 Down is that program that I was just talking about. Mm-hmm. So, please, we’d love to have any of the Rockwall people or anybody that listens to come over to Dallas if you’re in the area. It’s a really cool place. We’re, uh, you know, me to let you off the hook just yet. Cool. I thought I was like getting off here and now I’m like, I got to dry my tears. Just, just because you, just because you got a little water eye there doesn’t mean- I love it. it doesn’t mean there’s no more story to tell. I mean, honestly, um, you know, when it comes down to, uh, give back part of it like that, you know- Mm-hmm. um, and you see connectivity of people who have, who are just wanting to help, you know. You’d be surprised how many people come out. It’s amazing. Yeah. Right? That’s when you know you’re doing something right. Right. You know. Um, started out with a, a dream. Yep. You know, pops in your ear the entire time, talking about do what you love, do what you love, do what you love. And, um, to me, so far, what I’m hearing from you is, like, doing what you love is, is, is food, but at the end of the day, doing what you love is making people whole, you know? Nurturing. You know? Yes. You know, doing, paying attention to what people’s needs are and, and trying to fulfill those, whether it be with a meal or whether it be with a kind word or, um, or just a little bit of help, you know? Just feeling comforted, feeling accepted. Yeah. Feeling held. Feeling believed in. Yeah. I’m into it. Did you ever have, uh, questions of yourself about that growing up? Uh, I mean, isn’t that what kind of fuels you to kind of find it in life? It’s kind of what I’m asking. Yeah. Uh, you know, I came from a great family. Like- Mm-hmm. it’s not that I didn’t feel held or seen for that matter. Um, maybe not understood really because I was a black sheep. Yeah. I was a wild one. Yeah. But, uh, maybe I had to prove that some way with myself. That I want other people to feel seen, I want other people to feel accepted and, and understood. Be eccentric and as crazy and as wild and fuck up as much as you want. Mm-hmm. There’s always a new day. Mm-hmm. And perspective of life. If you look at everything wrong, everything wrong’s gonna happen. Mm-hmm. If you see the good in people and you see that one little tiny spark, try to grow that spark. I’m a firm believer in that. Yeah. I mean, I might’ve dated some guys too that may be questionable. Yeah. Uh, but ’cause I saw right through all that shit. Yeah. ‘Cause I loved that little spark inside. Mm-hmm. And, I mean, if that’s not a theme in my life, then- Yeah. Mm-hmm. makes sense for me. Yeah. Mm-hmm. When you say a spark, are you just saying people that are feeling their, um, their genuine search for life? Or are you feeling- No. experiential or are you feeling like- I’m feeling like they’ve been covering up that spark for a really long time. I’m thinking that they’re so bogged down with overwhelm of what life can be and that they forgot who they were inside a little bit. Hmm. It’s like that, like that Christmas movie with the, with the train where the kid can’t hear the bell anymore. Exactly. Mm-hmm. So stuck on, like, oh, you’re not real. Hmm. I mean, that’s what you’re talking about, right? That movie. The, um- Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I loved that book when I was little. Yeah. Um, what’s it called? I forget. Polar Express. Thank you, August. Yeah, August in the house. Um, that movie was kind of scary for my kid. A little bit. Um, I mean, he was young. You know, I think we all have to do a better job, and again, we’re coming back to the beginning of our conversation. I think we all have to do a better job of not judging somebody by their cover. Mm-hmm. Now with the Instagram and- Mm-hmm. how cute am I and how many selfies can I take? Mm-hmm. And how many dating apps can I be on? Mm-hmm. I mean, gross. I don’t know. Mm-hmm. That’s become about ego and image and not about the core of the person. Mm-hmm. And even with my Instagram page, not my personal but the restaurant one, I don’t want it to look too commercial. Recently i- it’s been kind of commercial for me, a little too produced. Mm-hmm. Um, and I’m more into just being raw and, like, my, Victor and I would do like one take and that’s all you’re getting, I’m not repeating myself. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, like, um, I just feel like, and I think Instagram does this, like, right? Where they kind of pick whatever the authen- something’s a little more authentic or they go in and out of- Mm-hmm. because people want to curate, curate, curate, curate, curate. And I understand that can also be somebody’s artist pro- platform, and more power to you. Mm-hmm. I think that’s amazing. Mm-hmm. I’m talking about just this constant wanting to look good. Mm-hmm. But let’s, like, look good from, from in here, you know? Like, let’s look good on what we’re, how we’re treating people. Mm-hmm. Like, all the bullying stuff that you hear about and- Mm-hmm. wha- wh- does that make you feel more powerful? Mm-hmm. To talk down to somebody. Mm-hmm. Does it make you feel more powerful to, you think you’re sticking up for yourself? Mm-hmm. Like, you know what I mean? Like, and again, there’s so many stories to so many people that you can’t make a judgment. You can’t make an assumption. Yeah. That’s their story. Yeah. And so I guess when I meet people and I see certain stories, I, I want to just say, hey, you know what? Whatever you’ve gone through, it doesn’t matter. Mm-hmm. You’re safe here. Yeah. You know, I was, I’ve told my kids that, um, approaching bullies or people that bully, people in general, like, sometimes give them a little bit of a break. Yeah. Because you don’t know what they’re going through in their life. Exactly. And you don’t know what their family’s like when the door shuts. Exactly. You know? There has to be a little bit of, you know, punching out of that, you know? Totally. So- And, and sometimes they don’t even mean to be that way. Mm-hmm. They’re just processing it- Hm. in their own way. And again- And they’re raging inside at different points, yeah. their journeys are there, that’s, that’s- Mm-hmm. I have this belief that you’re here to evolve, and when you come here, your hardships are what you’re trying to evolve through. Mm-hmm. Right? Mm-hmm. Like, if you can’t get through this, then you’re stuck here and that kills you. And I’m, not physically, but like- Mm-hmm. Or physically, who knows? I feel like you have to, I believe in reincarnation, okay? I’m just gonna put it out there. Mm-hmm. But, like, I believe you’re just gonna be stuck there until you, you’re gonna continue to do the same thing over and over, and I feel like that in life too. Mm-hmm. Like, you continue to meet the same boyfriend or the same girlfriend over and over until you realize that relationship, those habits aren’t gonna change until you change your habits. Mm-hmm. And t- and then you change your frequency- Mm-hmm. and then you change who you attract and what you’re interested in, and, and, and that’s an evolution, right? Um, you’re lucky in your marriage where you’ve had a w- a partner to do that with- Mm-hmm. for the entire time, right? 28 years, yeah. I have never been married, at 45. So I’ve had to go through, like, the hitting my head on the wall- Mm-hmm. over and over. Yeah. Um, trying again, right? Um, and I kind of look at that as life lessons and trying to evolve yourself and your relationships with people. Maybe that’s why I flourished so much in my career, ’cause that’s more where I want to evolve now. Mm-hmm. But your struggles are where you really have to evolve. Yeah. And that’s hard. That’s- Yeah. Life is hard. Yeah. It’s not easy. There’s a lot of people that make it look easy. Mm-hmm. I don’t care what kind of problems you have. Everybody has them. Everybody has them,And it’s a different relevance, and you could like, “Oh, it’s so easy for you. Oh, you live in a rich neighborhood. “Mm-hmm. No, no, no, no. More money, more problems, that’s for real. Yeah. Sorry, P. Diddy. Sorry what you’re going through, P. Diddy. But I don’t know. Yeah. It’s your journey. Ask Biggie. Let’s go with Biggie on that one. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Okay, there we go. Yeah. Oh, was it Biggie? Yeah. Oh, I thought it was P. Diddy. Whoops. Well, that’s funny that you bring that up ’cause that was going to be my next question. Acceptance. When you say, “Man, I just didn’t want to be judged. “You know, a lot of people think as, from a world view, that someone is judged for having less, someone is judged for not making it, someone is judged for mistakes. It’s both ways. It’s both ways. They judge, they judge both, you know? And so when you’re on top, you get judged for not having worked hard for it, or not being given anything, or not having the spirit to fight, because you have a family that is well-to-do, right? Yeah. And so I see often a crossing of, like, people stepping into other circles. Someone very well-to-do steps into a group of skaters, right? Yeah, here I am. You know what I mean? Yeah. Uh, someone, you know, m- not with a lot trying to prove themselves to have a lot by going to spend all their money on a watch, or the best shoes, or a nice car, and then going back to somewhere where they can barely make the rent. Yeah. You know? These people try to step on the other side to feel accepted by something that they’re not, you know? Is that kinda the thing that happened- Yeah, actually-Okay, I have another story. Okay. When I was, umIt’s embarrassing, okay? I’m from Beverly Hills. 90210. Mm-hmm. Remember that show? Yep. I couldn’t tell anybody I was from Beverly Hills ’cause everybody would be like, “Oh, 90210? “Yeah, yeah. And I’d be like, “Yeah, West L. A. “You know? Okay, then my mom and dad worked so hard- Mm-hmm. that they didn’t have time to pick us up after school. Mm-hmm. We had a guy, this is the land before Ubers, right? We had a guy that was an ex-police officer. Mm-hmm. His name was Hubert Banks. What up, Hubie? Hubie!Um, my mom would like to say he was a 6foot Black man- Mm-hmm. that was going to protect you, right? He was an ex-police officer- Mm-hmm. a- of Los Angeles, and he had a limousine company, and he would come pick us up from school. For a while, he only had a limousine. He did not have another car. Hmm. And I, in grade school, I was in elementary school- Mm-hmm. people would all be like, “Oh my gosh, you go home in a limo? “Little do they know, it was just a protective man for us- Mm-hmm. to pick us up and take us to ride horses or whatever. Mm-hmm. And, um, yeah, we looked like such little privileged kids. Mm-hmm. But my mom- my dad was an immigrant, okay? Mm-hmm. My dad came here with nothing- Mm-hmm. and worked his way up- Yeah. and worked very hard for it. Mm-hmm. My mom, um, my mom was from Highland Park, so she was a little well-to-do. Mm-hmm. But she also tried to give us every opportunity and was a way judged, like, ahead of her time. Like, she would say to us all the time, like, “I tried to get out of Dallas. Everybody was so behind there. And now all my daughters live in Dallas. What the hell? “You know? Like, no, she would say it, and I love the Southern, like, “She on fire. “Yeah. You know? I love that. Um, we, uh, I really didn’t like that. Immediately in, in like junior high or whatever, I just wanted to kit- hang out with the kids from the other side of the tracks, okay? Yeah. I felt better in the kitchen and not in the dining room. Mm-hmm. Um, we have this joke in our family, like, we go to the ball and we go home with the waiter. You know what I mean? Like, it’s justWe’re, we’re down-to-earth people. Yeah. We’re real people. Mm-hmm. It’s not about the money that defines you either. Mm-mm. It’s not about where you come from when it comes, likeIt’s about kinda like who you are in your essence. Yeah. Right? And I did not like being judged for being rich. Mm-hmm. I hated that. Yeah. ‘Cause I was just born here, man. I didn’t know. I couldn’t control it. I just- Yeah. was born into it. Yeah. Right? Yeah. And, but my parents are amazing people. And they did amazing things for a lot of people and for horses- Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. and, you know, for their industry. So that’s really what- Mm-hmm. formed me. So, I’m just doing what they did for horses, doing it with people. If there was something you could say to somebody who’s on the other side of the glass, looking- Mm-hmm. what, what would you say to that person who is seeing you without seeing you? tough. Umfeel like everyone sees me. Mm-hmm. It’s hard, very hard to not, because again, I just, I over-explain or- Mm-hmm. I wanna tell my story. ButI think back about those people that have judged me for, for being, for having money, and all I wanna do is hang out with them- Mm-hmm. and be accepted by them- Mm-hmm. and tell them, “I’m just as normal as you. “Mm-hmm. Um, because poor people definitely have, I wouldn’t say in general, but I’ve met a lot of people that are l- less privileged that have a real bad taste in their mouth for how a privileged person has treated them. Mm-hmm. And I understand that completely. Mm-hmm. I, I think it’s really important that, uh, for my restaurant motto, a- another one, this was actually a Marriott, um, thing that I learned in college, “We are ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen. “We are humans. We look at each other. We have the same heartbeat, you know? We have a molding brain. And if that other person is looking at me in a certain way, I’m gonna look back at them and be like, “Hey, human, what’s up? I don’t mind what you think, but I’m smiling at you. “You know? That’s it. I love that. And that’s how we’re gonna close this show. Nice. Uh- I laugh, I cry. Wow, you got all the emotions out of me. Hm. Well, you almost got it out of me too, so, uh- Awesome. Uh, well, everybody, until next time, I hope you liked it. Thank you for having me. Thanks for coming on. Thanks for just being a great person to talk to and, like, moving my soul and reminding me what’s important. Yeah. Thank you. 100%. Thank you, thank you, uh, for what you do. Until next time, that’s the blueprint.