1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,240 Okay, well, welcome back to the All Things Croatia podcast, everyone. 2 00:00:09,240 --> 00:00:12,280 Today we have a very special guest, Kristina Kuzmic. 3 00:00:12,280 --> 00:00:17,200 And Kristina is an amazing author, comedian, social media personality, and public speaker 4 00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,340 who was born in Croatia and immigrated to the United States. 5 00:00:20,340 --> 00:00:23,760 In this episode, we're going to hear her story, get to know her a little bit better. 6 00:00:23,760 --> 00:00:26,120 Kristina, thanks for coming on the podcast. 7 00:00:26,120 --> 00:00:27,120 Thanks for having me. 8 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:28,120 Yeah, of course. 9 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:33,660 So excited to have you on and just for context, we did meet last week, I believe, or a little 10 00:00:33,660 --> 00:00:37,680 over a week ago at the Croatian Women's Luncheon here in Los Angeles. 11 00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:39,240 So that was fun. 12 00:00:39,240 --> 00:00:40,240 Yes. 13 00:00:40,240 --> 00:00:45,920 There's something about being in a room with a bunch of Croatians that just fills my heart. 14 00:00:45,920 --> 00:00:48,760 Bunch of Croatian women and me being the only guy there. 15 00:00:48,760 --> 00:00:51,480 For some reason, they had me host, which I don't know why. 16 00:00:51,480 --> 00:00:52,840 Well, you did a great job. 17 00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:53,840 You did a great job. 18 00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:54,840 Thank you. 19 00:00:54,840 --> 00:00:55,840 So did you. 20 00:00:55,840 --> 00:00:56,840 And that was awesome. 21 00:00:56,840 --> 00:01:03,160 So we're going to take a few, I think, about 15 minutes of, you know, stand up slash performance, 22 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:07,520 telling some stories and some lessons from your book, which I do want to get into. 23 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:11,120 But before that, you know, I sort of want to ask about your, you know, usually I say 24 00:01:11,120 --> 00:01:15,240 Croatian roots, but you're actually, you know, you're born in Croatia and you grew up there. 25 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:17,560 Can you tell us a little bit about that and growing up? 26 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:22,120 Yeah, so I was born in Zagreb, which most people who are listening to you probably know 27 00:01:22,120 --> 00:01:23,560 is the capital of Croatia. 28 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:27,320 And then when I was around four years old, my family moved to Osijek. 29 00:01:27,320 --> 00:01:29,880 So that's where I spent most of my childhood. 30 00:01:29,880 --> 00:01:36,160 And then the war started and then sort of near that time, my dad got offered a job in 31 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:40,040 the U S to teach at a seminary. 32 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:44,440 And so basically the plan was always, okay, we're going to go there until things calm 33 00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:50,560 down and then we're all going to move back and things calm down and they decide to move 34 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:51,560 back. 35 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:52,720 And I was already in college at that point. 36 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:53,780 So I stayed. 37 00:01:53,780 --> 00:01:55,160 So that's the story. 38 00:01:55,160 --> 00:02:01,160 But because they're all back there, I go back regularly and it's been, I'm so, I don't like 39 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:06,640 not having them nearby, but I also love that that has forced me to go back regularly because 40 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:07,640 I don't, you know, life's busy. 41 00:02:07,640 --> 00:02:10,760 I don't know that I would go every year. 42 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:12,760 Sometimes multiple times a year if I didn't have family there. 43 00:02:12,760 --> 00:02:15,800 So it's been a good way to really stay in touch with my roots. 44 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:16,800 Yeah. 45 00:02:16,800 --> 00:02:17,800 Now you have to go back. 46 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:19,720 I know you were just there this summer as well. 47 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:24,680 Yeah, actually this next summer I'll be there for a while because I have to go for work 48 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:26,120 and family. 49 00:02:26,120 --> 00:02:27,120 So I'm really excited. 50 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:28,680 That's going to be awesome. 51 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,240 Well, tell me how was growing up in OSEAC? 52 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:32,240 What memories do you have? 53 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,600 You were what 14 when you came here? 54 00:02:34,600 --> 00:02:35,600 Yeah. 55 00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:37,600 When I moved to the States. 56 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:42,600 I mean, you know, when you're growing up, your childhood seems normal to you. 57 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:48,880 So it's interesting now as a mother seeing how different my children have been growing 58 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:54,600 up than me, but you know, life was just simple and you'd go outside and you'd play with your 59 00:02:54,600 --> 00:03:00,440 friends till dark and nobody, I feel like there was, it's weird because a lot of times 60 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:02,960 when people think of Croatia, they think of the war. 61 00:03:02,960 --> 00:03:07,120 Like this is the first thing, especially for Americans, I think that comes to mind. 62 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:10,600 But life was so, seemed so safe and simple. 63 00:03:10,600 --> 00:03:12,400 And I loved my childhood. 64 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,440 I mean, most of my childhood was just really great. 65 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:19,480 And you know, my grandmother actually lived in Serb, she's Croatian, but she lived in 66 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,120 Serbia, which was only an hour and a half. 67 00:03:22,120 --> 00:03:23,120 Novi Sad was the city. 68 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:26,920 It was only an hour and a half from OSEAC. 69 00:03:26,920 --> 00:03:32,620 And so I was there every weekend and you know, Croatia is so big on family sticking together. 70 00:03:32,620 --> 00:03:34,480 And so that was probably one of the biggest culture shocks. 71 00:03:34,480 --> 00:03:41,200 And I moved here and people are like, Oh, my grandma lives, you know, 20,000 miles away, 72 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:42,200 whatever. 73 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:43,200 Like everybody was so far away from me. 74 00:03:43,200 --> 00:03:45,600 I was like 20,000, but you know, I mean, 2000 miles away. 75 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:49,800 But yeah, I had a really fun childhood. 76 00:03:49,800 --> 00:03:55,920 When I look back now, I think, man, some of those things would be so weird to kids here. 77 00:03:55,920 --> 00:03:56,920 Yeah. 78 00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:01,200 Like I would go, like one of my regular things that I would do is my grandpa would send me 79 00:04:01,200 --> 00:04:02,920 to go get him beer. 80 00:04:02,920 --> 00:04:06,640 And I was like six years old because at the time there was no drinking age. 81 00:04:06,640 --> 00:04:11,420 And I would just walk by myself down a few blocks, go to the store and get my grandpa 82 00:04:11,420 --> 00:04:12,420 beer. 83 00:04:12,420 --> 00:04:15,560 And I'm just picturing a six year old in America. 84 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,680 First of all, walking alone, that's not going to happen. 85 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,040 Like if you see a six year old walking by themselves, you're assuming they're like lost. 86 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:25,340 They're about to get kidnapped. 87 00:04:25,340 --> 00:04:28,840 And then I'm walking back with a bunch of beer and that was just normal. 88 00:04:28,840 --> 00:04:29,840 It was great. 89 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:30,840 Yeah. 90 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:35,680 That's classic Croatian, the older generation just telling the kids, Oh, go get me a beer. 91 00:04:35,680 --> 00:04:36,680 Yeah. 92 00:04:36,680 --> 00:04:38,680 Or even walking to school by myself. 93 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:44,320 So in Croatia, I'm guessing most of your audience are Croatian, right? 94 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:45,320 So they would notice. 95 00:04:45,320 --> 00:04:49,200 But like at the time, I think it's still that way because I think my nephews and niece do 96 00:04:49,200 --> 00:04:50,200 the same thing. 97 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:54,720 They had a music school that's a separate building and that's where you take your piano 98 00:04:54,720 --> 00:04:56,200 lessons or whatever. 99 00:04:56,200 --> 00:04:57,600 And it was on the other part of town. 100 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:00,760 I had to take a tram by one of those trams to go there. 101 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:05,080 And again, six years old is when I started taking piano lessons and I would go on the 102 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,760 tram all by myself and then go down, I don't know how long the tram ride was, like 10, 103 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:10,760 15 minutes. 104 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:15,160 And I mean, it's just when I look back and I'm like, that's crazy. 105 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:16,960 But also how lucky were my parents? 106 00:05:16,960 --> 00:05:19,320 Like they're just like, see ya. 107 00:05:19,320 --> 00:05:20,320 You know? 108 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:21,320 Yeah, that's true. 109 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:22,320 Yeah. 110 00:05:22,320 --> 00:05:25,640 Can you imagine today in LA taking like the Metro as a six year old by yourself? 111 00:05:25,640 --> 00:05:31,000 I mean, even because like even with the way I grew up, I would still be worried about 112 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:33,360 that child now because I've been so Americanized. 113 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,120 But yeah, that's all just normal. 114 00:05:36,120 --> 00:05:38,280 How was how was your English when you came over here? 115 00:05:38,280 --> 00:05:41,400 Did you already learn it growing up in school and stuff over there? 116 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:44,560 I mean, yeah, I studied in school, but you know how it is. 117 00:05:44,560 --> 00:05:47,960 It's like my kids have taken Spanish here in school and they don't speak Spanish. 118 00:05:47,960 --> 00:05:50,400 You don't learn that much in school. 119 00:05:50,400 --> 00:05:57,360 My dad did travel to the US a few times when I was a kid and there were two different times 120 00:05:57,360 --> 00:05:58,960 we got to go with him. 121 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:00,400 And so I picked up a little bit. 122 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:02,840 But I mean, I I moved at the worst time. 123 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:05,120 I was a freshman in high school. 124 00:06:05,120 --> 00:06:06,680 It's like being a 14 year old. 125 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:08,400 No, I've never heard of him being, though. 126 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:10,480 I just wish I could go back to 14 again. 127 00:06:10,480 --> 00:06:13,320 Like it is one of the worst ages. 128 00:06:13,320 --> 00:06:15,800 And I I was bullied. 129 00:06:15,800 --> 00:06:16,800 I had an accent. 130 00:06:16,800 --> 00:06:17,800 I used the wrong words. 131 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:26,440 I mean, that whole I just I felt like the biggest, you know, unlikable nerd at the time. 132 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:32,120 So it's funny to me now that what I do for a living is talk and write in English because 133 00:06:32,120 --> 00:06:34,000 that was not my strength back then. 134 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:35,840 Yeah, that's quite the change for you. 135 00:06:35,840 --> 00:06:36,840 When did you? 136 00:06:36,840 --> 00:06:40,720 Well, because I want to ask you about, you know, Oprah and being on her show and everything 137 00:06:40,720 --> 00:06:41,720 like that. 138 00:06:41,720 --> 00:06:43,740 But it was sort of what happened before that? 139 00:06:43,740 --> 00:06:48,460 Where was your life, you know, headed before it sort of took that direction into where 140 00:06:48,460 --> 00:06:49,460 it is now? 141 00:06:49,460 --> 00:06:50,460 Yeah. 142 00:06:50,460 --> 00:06:56,260 So like I said, when I was in college, my whole family moved back and then I ended up 143 00:06:56,260 --> 00:07:00,960 getting married like right out of college, like graduated from college and three weeks 144 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:02,760 later I was married. 145 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:07,920 And I look back now, I did not think this at the time, but I look back now and I wonder 146 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,280 if subconsciously part of me was like, I don't have any family here. 147 00:07:11,280 --> 00:07:12,600 I want to build my own family. 148 00:07:12,600 --> 00:07:18,320 And that maybe that's why I sort of got into a marriage and want to be married so young. 149 00:07:18,320 --> 00:07:22,840 And then five years had two kids pretty much right away. 150 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:24,440 And then five years later, left the marriage. 151 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:28,880 It was not a healthy situation for me and ended up broke. 152 00:07:28,880 --> 00:07:30,160 I was on food stamps. 153 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:31,920 I couldn't afford an apartment just for me. 154 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:36,080 So I got a two bedroom apartment where I had a roommate in one room and the kids and I 155 00:07:36,080 --> 00:07:39,240 shared the other room and I was sleeping on the floor for a while because I couldn't even 156 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:40,240 afford a bed. 157 00:07:40,240 --> 00:07:46,960 I was just like, not only financially broke, but I just sunk into this deep, like I suck. 158 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:49,680 My kids deserve better than me. 159 00:07:49,680 --> 00:07:53,120 And then too long of a story to share the full story. 160 00:07:53,120 --> 00:08:00,120 But basically I started cooking for people sort of as a way to gain my self esteem and 161 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:03,200 worth back because I felt like even when I feel like I have nothing, even when I feel 162 00:08:03,200 --> 00:08:08,800 completely worthless, the one thing I was confident in because I'm a Croatian woman 163 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:15,680 is that I could cook a great meal on like the tiniest, tiniest budget. 164 00:08:15,680 --> 00:08:19,200 And that actually goes back to my mom and my grandma who taught me how to cook. 165 00:08:19,200 --> 00:08:22,980 And I was cooking by myself by the time I was nine, 10 years old, I could cook a meal 166 00:08:22,980 --> 00:08:25,440 by myself. 167 00:08:25,440 --> 00:08:30,280 So that sort of gave me my self esteem back just being feeling like, Oh my gosh, even 168 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:34,720 when I feel like I have nothing, if I stop focusing on the long list of things I don't 169 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:39,600 have and can't do and just try to find out one little thing I actually can do right now, 170 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:44,080 even in the worst of the worst of times and focus on that, you know, that can take me 171 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:45,080 something great. 172 00:08:45,080 --> 00:08:46,080 Give me something great. 173 00:08:46,080 --> 00:08:52,880 So because of that, eventually I get remarried and my husband's in grad school at the time. 174 00:08:52,880 --> 00:08:55,360 So I did not marry for money, we're both still broke. 175 00:08:55,360 --> 00:08:59,280 So we didn't have, we didn't have money to take a honeymoon. 176 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:00,680 And he said, what do you want to do? 177 00:09:00,680 --> 00:09:05,640 Like you have been just in survival mode with kids and trying to pay bills. 178 00:09:05,640 --> 00:09:06,640 I'm here now. 179 00:09:06,640 --> 00:09:08,200 I want to like support you in your dreams. 180 00:09:08,200 --> 00:09:09,720 What do you want to do? 181 00:09:09,720 --> 00:09:11,960 And the only thing I could think of is, you know what? 182 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,680 I feel like cooking for strangers saved my life. 183 00:09:13,680 --> 00:09:15,200 I'm going to do something with cooking. 184 00:09:15,200 --> 00:09:19,120 So I post these cooking videos online, totally as a hobby. 185 00:09:19,120 --> 00:09:21,000 And I basically get discovered. 186 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:23,280 I send in a audition tape. 187 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:28,000 I find out that Oprah is doing this whole Oprah search for the next TV star competition. 188 00:09:28,000 --> 00:09:33,600 So I send in a tape by the time I sent him audition tape, there were 10,000 submissions 189 00:09:33,600 --> 00:09:35,600 and I'm thinking nothing of it. 190 00:09:35,600 --> 00:09:36,600 Literally. 191 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:40,160 I don't have even a tiny bit of hopes up because again, I'm used to just living at the lowest 192 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:41,840 of lows. 193 00:09:41,840 --> 00:09:46,080 And a week later, one of the producers calls me and then a few weeks later I'm having a 194 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:47,080 meeting with them. 195 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:52,080 And then funny enough, I was actually at the airport. 196 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:56,880 I just flew back from Croatia when I got the voicemail. 197 00:09:56,880 --> 00:10:01,520 Hey, Oprah hand picked you as one of the 10 people to compete in this thing. 198 00:10:01,520 --> 00:10:05,920 So anyway, I went to this reality competition, competed and ended up winning the whole thing, 199 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:06,920 which is just insane. 200 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:14,720 I mean, completely insane and had my own cooking show and hated every second of it, not Oprah's 201 00:10:14,720 --> 00:10:18,040 fault, but they made me into somebody I wasn't. 202 00:10:18,040 --> 00:10:20,480 And yeah, that's that. 203 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:25,240 I feel like it was like the Cinderella story, except instead of like a prince and a glass 204 00:10:25,240 --> 00:10:29,240 slipper, it was Oprah and she gave me a car and a TV show, but that's literally how it 205 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,800 felt like little Christina that everybody pitted. 206 00:10:32,800 --> 00:10:36,200 Literally my friends were like so worried about my wellbeing. 207 00:10:36,200 --> 00:10:43,120 I was not somebody anybody ever looked up to is suddenly being like crowned by Oprah. 208 00:10:43,120 --> 00:10:44,120 So it was crazy. 209 00:10:44,120 --> 00:10:49,480 Wait, so were the was like the competition stage of that show like you were cooking against 210 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:53,240 other people or like you were cooking and they're doing their thing. 211 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:54,720 And how did that work? 212 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:55,720 Yeah. 213 00:10:55,720 --> 00:11:00,400 So so it was called the search for next TV star and you could pick any category you wanted. 214 00:11:00,400 --> 00:11:03,640 And again, even then, like I'm remarried at this point. 215 00:11:03,640 --> 00:11:07,880 I'm not feeling like a complete worthless loser anymore because again, cooking for strangers 216 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:10,040 kind of helped me get my self-worth back. 217 00:11:10,040 --> 00:11:12,960 But I'm still not like the most confident human being. 218 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:15,920 So I still felt like I mean, the only thing I know how to do is cook. 219 00:11:15,920 --> 00:11:17,120 So I'll just do that. 220 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:21,520 So I was competing against people who wanted to have an entertainment show or a talk show 221 00:11:21,520 --> 00:11:23,200 or whatever. 222 00:11:23,200 --> 00:11:28,840 And each week we had a different expert like Vera Wang, work with us for fashion segment. 223 00:11:28,840 --> 00:11:32,960 We had Dr. Phil and we had all kinds of different celebrities. 224 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:35,600 And each week one person got kicked off. 225 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:41,760 And I think of the 10 people, I was one of the only people that was 100% convinced I 226 00:11:41,760 --> 00:11:42,760 was not going to win. 227 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,200 Like there was not even like a glimmer of hope. 228 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,920 So I didn't even bring enough clothes because they told us if you end up being the last 229 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:51,720 one, you need to bring enough clothes for eight weeks because we were living in a hotel. 230 00:11:51,720 --> 00:11:53,080 We didn't get to see our family. 231 00:11:53,080 --> 00:11:55,560 It was like this whole thing. 232 00:11:55,560 --> 00:11:58,780 And we had to be completely sequestered. 233 00:11:58,780 --> 00:12:02,960 And I brought enough clothes for like a week or two because I thought I was going home. 234 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:03,960 So it was really nuts. 235 00:12:03,960 --> 00:12:04,960 It was nuts. 236 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:05,960 Wow. 237 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:09,920 When you won that, did you feel like, like, okay, my whole life has just changed or was 238 00:12:09,920 --> 00:12:13,160 it just kind of like, oh, like, yeah, I won this. 239 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:18,360 I mean, I was in shock and the way it all happened to well, first of all, well, it's 240 00:12:18,360 --> 00:12:19,360 this is such a long story. 241 00:12:19,360 --> 00:12:20,960 I'm trying to like shorten it all. 242 00:12:20,960 --> 00:12:27,640 But the day of the when we were shooting the last episode and Oprah is about to announce 243 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:31,440 who won, she surprised me by bringing my husband to the set. 244 00:12:31,440 --> 00:12:33,400 So I am still in that shock. 245 00:12:33,400 --> 00:12:35,400 Like he just walked in cameras are rolling. 246 00:12:35,400 --> 00:12:37,040 Like this is all on TV. 247 00:12:37,040 --> 00:12:38,040 Right. 248 00:12:38,040 --> 00:12:39,040 And he walks in. 249 00:12:39,040 --> 00:12:41,440 I'm still in shock from that because I haven't seen this man in eight weeks. 250 00:12:41,440 --> 00:12:42,440 Right. 251 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:44,120 And poor guy, by the way, we get married. 252 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,280 And then a year later, almost to the day, a year later, I'm off to be gone for eight 253 00:12:48,280 --> 00:12:53,360 weeks and he's suddenly a single dad and he's never had kids before. 254 00:12:53,360 --> 00:12:57,000 So it was great because the kids and him really bonded during that time. 255 00:12:57,000 --> 00:12:58,960 But so he walks in. 256 00:12:58,960 --> 00:13:00,320 So I'm still in shock of that. 257 00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:02,620 I don't even have time to get over that shock. 258 00:13:02,620 --> 00:13:04,640 And then she announces it. 259 00:13:04,640 --> 00:13:07,700 And I think my body, it was like completely dissociated. 260 00:13:07,700 --> 00:13:10,000 Like it all just felt like a big dream. 261 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:14,760 But one thing I remember so clearly is she grabbed me by the shoulder. 262 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:18,080 This is like after they did the whole hoop, blah, blah, blah, blah. 263 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,560 And we're just kind of hanging out and she grabbed me by the shoulders and I'm trying 264 00:13:21,560 --> 00:13:27,040 not to pee myself because Oprah is touching me, which by the way, this was 2010. 265 00:13:27,040 --> 00:13:29,280 It was the last year of her talk show. 266 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:34,760 So anybody who's my age or older knows like she was the queen of TV. 267 00:13:34,760 --> 00:13:36,840 She was the most famous celebrity at the time. 268 00:13:36,840 --> 00:13:39,560 Like she was it, right? 269 00:13:39,560 --> 00:13:41,080 Everybody knew who Oprah was. 270 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:46,980 And so I'm just like, you know, shocked that she's even touching my shoulders. 271 00:13:46,980 --> 00:13:52,200 And she looked me in the eyes and so passionately said, Christina, stay authentic. 272 00:13:52,200 --> 00:13:53,380 This is why I picked you. 273 00:13:53,380 --> 00:13:54,380 Stay authentic. 274 00:13:54,380 --> 00:13:58,600 You're goofy and you're silly and you don't care what people think and you embrace them 275 00:13:58,600 --> 00:13:59,600 perfection. 276 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:03,360 Stay that way because this world and especially TV will try to change you. 277 00:14:03,360 --> 00:14:05,040 I've been in this business for decades. 278 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:07,240 They're still trying to change me. 279 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,080 And that really stuck with me. 280 00:14:09,080 --> 00:14:13,160 And it's what I credit to what I do now and the success I've had since. 281 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:17,680 But what happened was I end up with a TV show, right? 282 00:14:17,680 --> 00:14:20,960 And I'm sitting in my first meeting with the producers that are going to produce my TV 283 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:23,280 show and Oprah is out filming a movie. 284 00:14:23,280 --> 00:14:26,720 I think it was the Butler Cameron Brought movie, but she's not involved in the production 285 00:14:26,720 --> 00:14:29,320 of my show at all, which I figured she wouldn't be. 286 00:14:29,320 --> 00:14:30,600 She's a busy woman. 287 00:14:30,600 --> 00:14:34,200 And I show up to this meeting and I'm like, okay, I know exactly what I want my cooking 288 00:14:34,200 --> 00:14:35,200 show to be like. 289 00:14:35,200 --> 00:14:36,200 This is going to be awesome. 290 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:40,480 I want to be making dinner while my little kids are throwing a tantrum in the background. 291 00:14:40,480 --> 00:14:43,960 And I'm just trying to calm them down, stop them from bickering so I can finish this stupid 292 00:14:43,960 --> 00:14:47,000 meal because it's been a long day and we got to eat. 293 00:14:47,000 --> 00:14:51,160 And I had all these ideas that were just like real life. 294 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,760 And the producers, I remember they just looked at me like I was insane. 295 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:58,500 They were like, have you ever watched a cooking show? 296 00:14:58,500 --> 00:15:00,260 That's not how cooking shows work. 297 00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:02,240 You show up, you make a lovely meal. 298 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:03,240 Everything's perfect. 299 00:15:03,240 --> 00:15:04,240 And I'm like, that's what it is. 300 00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:05,960 I was like, I know, I know, I know. 301 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:10,120 But and so I explained to them, I said, listen, I used to sleep on the floor, sharing a room 302 00:15:10,120 --> 00:15:11,120 with my kids. 303 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:13,600 I thought my kids deserve better than me. 304 00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:17,640 If I turned on the TV and I saw another perfect cooking show, it just made me feel like crap. 305 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:19,640 It would just make me feel worse about my life. 306 00:15:19,640 --> 00:15:22,960 I want to create a show where people turn it on. 307 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:26,360 And even if they've had the worst day with their kids or whatever, I want them to watch 308 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:27,840 it and go, oh my gosh, thank you. 309 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:28,840 I feel less alone. 310 00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:31,560 And they're like, that's cute, but not on TV. 311 00:15:31,560 --> 00:15:34,040 So they made me the perfect mom in the perfect kitchen. 312 00:15:34,040 --> 00:15:36,520 I had a stylist who picked up the best outfits. 313 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:39,640 They rented this kitchen that was like a million dollar kitchen. 314 00:15:39,640 --> 00:15:43,640 And every time I like made a little mistake or something, I would make a joke about it. 315 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:45,240 And they'd be like, no, cut, cut, cut, cut, cut. 316 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:46,880 You can't make any mistakes. 317 00:15:46,880 --> 00:15:49,640 And I felt awful. 318 00:15:49,640 --> 00:15:55,080 I mean, here was this moment after I went through this poverty and depression and stress. 319 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:59,800 Here was this thing happening in my life that should have made me so happy and just like 320 00:15:59,800 --> 00:16:02,160 it should have been the highest high of my life. 321 00:16:02,160 --> 00:16:03,160 Right. 322 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,080 And instead I just felt like a fraud. 323 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:11,600 I felt like I was betraying that girl who was sleeping on the floor, feeling like crap, 324 00:16:11,600 --> 00:16:12,600 you know? 325 00:16:12,600 --> 00:16:16,640 And so after one season we parted ways, Oprah apologized. 326 00:16:16,640 --> 00:16:17,840 She hated the way everything turned out. 327 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:20,120 So I don't, I have, I hold nothing against her. 328 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:24,280 I know that if she had been involved, it wouldn't have been that way, but that's basically what 329 00:16:24,280 --> 00:16:26,440 eventually fueled what I do now. 330 00:16:26,440 --> 00:16:30,120 Like after that, I had meetings with food network and all these different, you know, 331 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:34,360 TV networks and they all wanted me to be the perfect woman. 332 00:16:34,360 --> 00:16:38,520 You know, whether it was cooking or something else, just I had to be the perfect woman. 333 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:39,520 And I was like, screw that. 334 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:40,600 I'm not doing that. 335 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,040 So took some years off and then eventually I was like, you know, a lot of fun with those 336 00:16:45,040 --> 00:16:46,520 stupid little cooking shows I posted. 337 00:16:46,520 --> 00:16:49,560 I'm going to start posting videos again, but they're not going to be about cooking. 338 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:54,320 Those will be about motherhood and I'll show off my stretch marks and I'll talk about exhausting 339 00:16:54,320 --> 00:16:56,640 motherhood is and how messy it is. 340 00:16:56,640 --> 00:16:59,040 And that's really when things blew up. 341 00:16:59,040 --> 00:17:03,600 Like you would think that Oprah crowning me would have been the thing, but it was really 342 00:17:03,600 --> 00:17:05,920 me just being authentic. 343 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:07,200 And that's what led to my success. 344 00:17:07,200 --> 00:17:11,200 So yeah, I still think that cooking show is a great idea. 345 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:14,440 Would you ever, would you ever try and revive that? 346 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,440 I mean, I know you do a lot of similar stuff now, you know, not always cooking oriented, 347 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:19,440 like you said, or not. 348 00:17:19,440 --> 00:17:23,300 I mean, not even usually cooking oriented, but I do see you do a lot of like cooking 349 00:17:23,300 --> 00:17:25,840 things as well, recipes and stuff on your social media. 350 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,600 I mean, that'd be great as like a long form show. 351 00:17:29,600 --> 00:17:30,600 I know. 352 00:17:30,600 --> 00:17:34,160 I mean, seriously, if anybody called me and was like, you still want to do it? 353 00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:39,800 I'd be like, yes, I'm in because that was the fact that that hasn't been done yet, by 354 00:17:39,800 --> 00:17:45,120 the way, because since 2010 things have changed and things have become a lot. 355 00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:48,720 It's become a lot more acceptable to show yourself as not perfect. 356 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:55,240 Even on social media, when I started posting, you know, the honesty about motherhood and 357 00:17:55,240 --> 00:17:59,480 saying, listen, I love my children a hundred percent of the time, but I do not love motherhood 358 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:01,120 a hundred percent of the time. 359 00:18:01,120 --> 00:18:02,120 People were shocked. 360 00:18:02,120 --> 00:18:03,600 I remember I got called by people magazine. 361 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:06,080 I forget what other media outlets called me. 362 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:12,200 If CNN called me to interview me about this statement that I made and about the fact that 363 00:18:12,200 --> 00:18:14,960 I'm admitting that motherhood is hard and it's exact. 364 00:18:14,960 --> 00:18:15,960 What? 365 00:18:15,960 --> 00:18:20,720 You're showing your sink full of dishes and how messy your house is and your dirty laundry 366 00:18:20,720 --> 00:18:22,680 and like what? 367 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:28,000 So thankfully there's been progress on social media where I'm now not the only one doing 368 00:18:28,000 --> 00:18:32,040 that, but on TV it's still pretty fake. 369 00:18:32,040 --> 00:18:34,880 I mean, and social media is fake too, but I do think there's two sides, right? 370 00:18:34,880 --> 00:18:38,840 There's the fake stuff and then there's people like me who are like, screw that. 371 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:39,840 Here's my crap. 372 00:18:39,840 --> 00:18:40,840 That's true. 373 00:18:40,840 --> 00:18:45,880 But I mean, you do have more freedom and creativity running your own social media and you know, 374 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,320 whatever you want to post. 375 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:50,080 No one tells me what to post. 376 00:18:50,080 --> 00:18:54,080 No one tells me what to wear or I mean, it's great. 377 00:18:54,080 --> 00:18:56,720 I love being my own boss. 378 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,960 Well talk to me about, about what you post on there. 379 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:00,000 Cause I know you've got what? 380 00:19:00,000 --> 00:19:03,040 Over like 800,000 followers on Instagram. 381 00:19:03,040 --> 00:19:06,840 I'm not really on Facebook anymore, but I'm sure you've got a lot of followers on there. 382 00:19:06,840 --> 00:19:10,320 Yeah, on Facebook is actually where it first took off. 383 00:19:10,320 --> 00:19:13,080 I didn't even have Instagram until later on. 384 00:19:13,080 --> 00:19:15,600 So on Facebook it's close to 3 million now. 385 00:19:15,600 --> 00:19:23,600 And what's interesting is the thing that whenever I saw a spike in numbers, it was always the 386 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:28,880 types of videos that most professionals quote unquote in the industry would be like, you 387 00:19:28,880 --> 00:19:29,880 can't post that. 388 00:19:29,880 --> 00:19:30,880 Nope. 389 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:31,880 Don't post that. 390 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:36,120 I remember I was, I first started posting just funny videos. 391 00:19:36,120 --> 00:19:39,540 Like I said, the stretch marks for my first parenting video I ever made was for reasons 392 00:19:39,540 --> 00:19:41,480 stretch marks are sexy. 393 00:19:41,480 --> 00:19:45,080 And I just started showing off my stretch marks and talking about them and making funny 394 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:46,520 points about them. 395 00:19:46,520 --> 00:19:51,160 And then by like the fourth video, my phone was buzzing one morning. 396 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:52,960 Like I was just like on and on and on. 397 00:19:52,960 --> 00:19:55,500 I was like, what is how that someone die? 398 00:19:55,500 --> 00:20:00,000 And I look at my phone and all these people that knew me were texting me, telling me that 399 00:20:00,000 --> 00:20:03,460 Ashton Kutcher shared one of my videos and he had just become a father. 400 00:20:03,460 --> 00:20:07,320 So I think I don't remember what video was, but it was obviously relatable to him. 401 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:14,000 And what I noticed is every time there's a spike in my following, it already said that 402 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,960 it was because mom brain, but it was because it was like really honest and, you know, just 403 00:20:18,960 --> 00:20:20,880 really raw. 404 00:20:20,880 --> 00:20:23,040 Like we're not pretending anything. 405 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:25,460 So I'm posting these funny, funny videos. 406 00:20:25,460 --> 00:20:30,460 And then I start seeing comments from people that are saying, Oh my gosh, I needed this 407 00:20:30,460 --> 00:20:35,400 laugh because I'm sharing a bedroom with my kid and I'm really embarrassed about it. 408 00:20:35,400 --> 00:20:40,280 Or I'm on food stamps because I got a divorce and my ex won't pay child, whatever. 409 00:20:40,280 --> 00:20:41,280 I'm going through a depression. 410 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:44,040 I start, these people are opening up to me on these funny videos. 411 00:20:44,040 --> 00:20:46,520 And I thought, man, they don't even know. 412 00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:47,680 Like they don't even know my story. 413 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:49,720 They don't even know what I've been through. 414 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:55,200 So I go in my car because my kids were being loud and it was the only place that was quiet. 415 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,120 And I shoot this video, no editing. 416 00:20:57,120 --> 00:21:01,420 I just talk straight to the camera and I talk about that time in my life and a certain thing 417 00:21:01,420 --> 00:21:05,640 that a therapist said to me that really, really helped me. 418 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:08,120 And I send this to a friend of mine who's a producer. 419 00:21:08,120 --> 00:21:11,320 Cause by this point I was like friends with people in TV and all that. 420 00:21:11,320 --> 00:21:12,600 Cause my Oprah experience. 421 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:16,920 So I sent it to a guy who had been a TV producer for years, very successful. 422 00:21:16,920 --> 00:21:19,200 I sent him this and I go, what do you think about me posting this? 423 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:21,200 I mean, I've only posted funny things. 424 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:23,140 And he said, absolutely not Christina. 425 00:21:23,140 --> 00:21:24,560 You are known as a funny mom. 426 00:21:24,560 --> 00:21:27,360 You have now started to build a following as a funny mom. 427 00:21:27,360 --> 00:21:28,360 Do not go there. 428 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:31,720 Like you gotta stand your lane, staying what you know works. 429 00:21:31,720 --> 00:21:34,120 And I was like, okay. 430 00:21:34,120 --> 00:21:35,840 And a few days, it took only a few days. 431 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:36,840 And I was like, screw that. 432 00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:37,840 That doesn't feel right to me. 433 00:21:37,840 --> 00:21:39,360 I just, I'm going to follow my instinct. 434 00:21:39,360 --> 00:21:40,480 It doesn't feel right to me. 435 00:21:40,480 --> 00:21:42,480 I posted that. 436 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:46,080 And from then on, it was crazy. 437 00:21:46,080 --> 00:21:47,080 Everything blew up. 438 00:21:47,080 --> 00:21:51,720 I mean, I was getting like outside job offers and interview offers and brand deals and everything. 439 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:56,400 And it made me realize that's, that's what every human being wants. 440 00:21:56,400 --> 00:22:01,760 Every human being wants to know that they're not the only one, whatever they're going through. 441 00:22:01,760 --> 00:22:03,200 They're not the only one. 442 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,180 Someone else has been through it and someone else has gotten through it. 443 00:22:06,180 --> 00:22:09,400 You know, someone else has cried it, screamed it, fought it. 444 00:22:09,400 --> 00:22:10,720 And someone else has made it. 445 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:11,720 That's all that. 446 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:12,720 That's all we want. 447 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:16,840 We all want to know that all the crazy thoughts we have in our head, all the insecurities, 448 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:21,680 all the fears that somebody else has them that were normal. 449 00:22:21,680 --> 00:22:25,480 And yeah, I mean, this is why I encourage everybody. 450 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:26,720 Like I get it. 451 00:22:26,720 --> 00:22:30,360 I get that you want to show your perfect marriage and your perfect pretty kitchen. 452 00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:31,560 I get it. 453 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:34,380 But being perfect is not what's going to make you lovable. 454 00:22:34,380 --> 00:22:37,640 And that's really why people are posting their perfect stuff because they want to be liked. 455 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:39,120 They want the love. 456 00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:40,960 That's not what's going to make you lovable. 457 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:45,600 It's not what's going to make you lovable is being a flawed human and being really honest 458 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:46,600 about it. 459 00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:47,600 Yeah. 460 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:49,640 Well, yeah, it sounds like you've had a lot of these moments, these like big moments in 461 00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:54,240 your life that have showed you that you need to be true to yourself and be authentic. 462 00:22:54,240 --> 00:22:55,240 Yeah. 463 00:22:55,240 --> 00:22:56,740 I think that's great. 464 00:22:56,740 --> 00:23:02,520 Every time I have quote unquote failed at something career wise, it was because I wasn't 465 00:23:02,520 --> 00:23:03,520 authentic. 466 00:23:03,520 --> 00:23:07,960 It was because I listened to those outside voices that were trying to make me quote unquote 467 00:23:07,960 --> 00:23:12,720 professional, you know, and every time I've had like the greatest successes, the things 468 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:17,360 that really worked out for me, it was because I was a hundred percent me and a hundred percent 469 00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:20,760 me is the furthest things from perfection. 470 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:26,560 So yeah, just like, and there's also such a freedom in it because if you're authentic, 471 00:23:26,560 --> 00:23:32,680 if you're not worrying what other people think, then you're not hiding anything because think 472 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:38,280 about it every time we post that perfect picture or we present ourselves in a perfect way, 473 00:23:38,280 --> 00:23:39,280 we can't be confident. 474 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:42,760 You cannot be a hundred percent confident if you're not a hundred percent authentic, 475 00:23:42,760 --> 00:23:46,400 because if you're not a hundred percent authentic, you are carrying in yourself, you're carrying 476 00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:48,320 a secret, right? 477 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:50,080 What if people knew their truth? 478 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:51,720 What if people knew what my house really looked like? 479 00:23:51,720 --> 00:23:53,620 What do people knew what motherhood was really like? 480 00:23:53,620 --> 00:23:57,440 What if they knew what my kid was really struggling with if they only knew? 481 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:03,240 And if you are living with that hiding yourself, then you can't be confident and you're never 482 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:04,240 going to feel free. 483 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:05,240 You are trapped. 484 00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:06,240 Yeah, that makes sense. 485 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:11,140 I mean, I want to ask and sort of it intertwines with this because talking about being your 486 00:24:11,140 --> 00:24:15,440 true self and, you know, putting that out there for people to see how do you deal with 487 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:18,240 hate online and like trolls and things like that? 488 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:20,640 Because I mean, I get my fair share of it. 489 00:24:20,640 --> 00:24:24,240 Most of my stuff is not too controversial anyway, so I don't get a lot, but I have been 490 00:24:24,240 --> 00:24:27,680 doing it for a while, so I get, you know, stuff and I deal with that fine. 491 00:24:27,680 --> 00:24:32,160 But I have a lot of friends who some of them just like blew up overnight on, you know, 492 00:24:32,160 --> 00:24:33,320 TikTok or whatever. 493 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:37,340 And so they're not, you know, they haven't been in the game a long time, I guess. 494 00:24:37,340 --> 00:24:40,760 And they really don't know how to deal with the like the hate. 495 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,080 And I could see that they're really struggling with that. 496 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:48,480 And so you've been doing this for forever and have so many followers on all these outlets. 497 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:51,280 So I'm sure just inevitably, you know, there's trolls everywhere. 498 00:24:51,280 --> 00:24:54,000 How do you deal with that personally? 499 00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:59,520 I mean, one thing I wish I don't think I started doing this till I was in my 40s. 500 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:00,520 I wish I'd start earlier. 501 00:25:00,520 --> 00:25:05,440 But I literally every morning, I don't even have to do it because now it comes naturally. 502 00:25:05,440 --> 00:25:09,380 But at first, when I decided I would, I would make myself ask myself this question every 503 00:25:09,380 --> 00:25:11,100 single morning when I woke up. 504 00:25:11,100 --> 00:25:14,880 Do I want to be genuinely happy today or do I want to live for other people's approval? 505 00:25:14,880 --> 00:25:16,320 Because you can't have both. 506 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:17,320 I tested it out. 507 00:25:17,320 --> 00:25:18,320 You're welcome. 508 00:25:18,320 --> 00:25:19,320 You cannot have both. 509 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:20,960 You have to choose one. 510 00:25:20,960 --> 00:25:27,360 And I may have even shared this analogy that I came up with when I spoke on when we saw 511 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:28,360 each other last. 512 00:25:28,360 --> 00:25:29,360 I can't remember. 513 00:25:29,360 --> 00:25:30,760 But I live for analogies. 514 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:37,920 I need analogies in order to like fix myself and or fix my insecurities or trauma or whatever. 515 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:39,640 So this is how I started picturing it. 516 00:25:39,640 --> 00:25:42,520 It's kind of like we're all carrying around suitcases right in life. 517 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:46,840 And we got our to do list suitcase and we got our marriage suitcase and we got our financial 518 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:50,440 stress suitcase, our parenting suitcase, our career stuff. 519 00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:52,640 We got all these suitcases. 520 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:56,220 And when someone is judging you, whether it's in person or whether they're leaving a nasty 521 00:25:56,220 --> 00:25:59,800 comment online, what they're basically saying is here's my suitcase. 522 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:00,920 Take it. 523 00:26:00,920 --> 00:26:02,520 Because most of the time it's not actually about you. 524 00:26:02,520 --> 00:26:03,640 It's about them. 525 00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,320 They are miserable about their own stuff and they don't know how to deal with it. 526 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,080 They think that pain is like dodgeball. 527 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:10,920 They're going to take that ball of pain. 528 00:26:10,920 --> 00:26:12,600 They're going to throw it at somebody else and who? 529 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:13,600 Okay. 530 00:26:13,600 --> 00:26:14,600 Now it's out of my hands. 531 00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:16,200 But that's not how it works. 532 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:21,640 And so I literally start picturing whenever I got a negative comment, I've gotten, I've 533 00:26:21,640 --> 00:26:26,320 gotten the, you wouldn't even believe the comments I've gotten. 534 00:26:26,320 --> 00:26:30,440 I literally picture someone handing me their suitcase of everything they're miserable about 535 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:35,120 their choices, their circumstances, whatever, and going here, carry it. 536 00:26:35,120 --> 00:26:37,480 And I decided, no, no, thank you. 537 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:38,840 It's not my suitcase. 538 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:39,840 And we've all picked up suitcases. 539 00:26:39,840 --> 00:26:42,560 You know, some of us have suitcases for my childhood. 540 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,120 Maybe some of us have suitcases that our parent handed us and we're carrying these suitcases 541 00:26:46,120 --> 00:26:49,960 full of lies about who we are and what we're worth. 542 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:51,400 And I'm done. 543 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:55,680 So I, sometimes people will leave a negative comment and I'll literally reply with no, 544 00:26:55,680 --> 00:26:57,400 thank you as a no, thank you. 545 00:26:57,400 --> 00:26:58,560 I don't want your suitcase. 546 00:26:58,560 --> 00:26:59,560 They get completely confused. 547 00:26:59,560 --> 00:27:03,640 They're like, I just called you a bleep and bleep and told you to go kill yourself. 548 00:27:03,640 --> 00:27:04,640 What do you mean? 549 00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:05,640 No, thank you. 550 00:27:05,640 --> 00:27:09,640 But, but it's just my way of going, I'm not picking that up. 551 00:27:09,640 --> 00:27:15,440 And I remember it was recently somebody commented and said, I really don't like you. 552 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:20,560 And a lot of times I ignore the haters, but I replied, well, what made you think I needed 553 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,400 you to like me? 554 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:24,440 And I guess that's the bottom line, right? 555 00:27:24,440 --> 00:27:30,640 Like you have to decide that at the end of the day, you are going to make yourself proud 556 00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:34,700 because otherwise, and sometimes you're going to have to disappoint other people in order 557 00:27:34,700 --> 00:27:36,040 not to disappoint yourself. 558 00:27:36,040 --> 00:27:42,000 Otherwise, what's going to happen is you are going to live for everybody else's approval. 559 00:27:42,000 --> 00:27:45,240 And the problem is where it gets complicated is that different people will need you to 560 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:47,220 be a different person, right? 561 00:27:47,220 --> 00:27:48,480 This person is going to need to be funnier. 562 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,240 And this person is going to need to have this opinion. 563 00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,960 This person is going to think you're boring, but this person is going to think you're too 564 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:54,240 crazy. 565 00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:58,760 And you're going to need a spreadsheet to keep track of who am I supposed to be in front 566 00:27:58,760 --> 00:28:02,600 of who and it, and it's just not worth it. 567 00:28:02,600 --> 00:28:06,520 I don't know if it's like the Eastern European thing or what, but like, I tend to be a really 568 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:07,520 morbid person. 569 00:28:07,520 --> 00:28:13,680 Not in like a, not in like a scary creepy way, but like I think about death a lot. 570 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:18,880 And again, not in a fear filled way, but more in a way of I get this one life. 571 00:28:18,880 --> 00:28:20,680 I get this one life. 572 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:26,920 Why in the world would I waste it worrying about what so-and-so thinks when bottom line, 573 00:28:26,920 --> 00:28:30,840 if I actually sat down and talked to so-and-so, I probably don't even like them. 574 00:28:30,840 --> 00:28:32,400 I probably don't even respect them. 575 00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:33,960 I probably don't even want to be friends with them. 576 00:28:33,960 --> 00:28:36,280 I don't want to raise my kids the way they raise their kids. 577 00:28:36,280 --> 00:28:39,880 I don't look up to why, why would I care? 578 00:28:39,880 --> 00:28:41,960 So I think you have to adopt that attitude. 579 00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:48,160 A of it's my life and I'm going to post and I'm going to believe what I believe. 580 00:28:48,160 --> 00:28:51,200 And I'm going to, you know, I, at the end of the day, I want to know that I made myself 581 00:28:51,200 --> 00:28:56,200 proud and two, this is their baggage because anybody who's going to take the time to write 582 00:28:56,200 --> 00:29:01,000 hateful comments on your social media, that is not a happy human being. 583 00:29:01,000 --> 00:29:04,560 There's, there's zero chance that they are genuinely happy human being. 584 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,320 There are plenty of things I've seen on social media. 585 00:29:07,320 --> 00:29:14,120 There are plenty of politicians that I can't stand and I've seen posts and I've never actually 586 00:29:14,120 --> 00:29:15,440 gone, you know what? 587 00:29:15,440 --> 00:29:19,400 I could be pursuing a dream right now or spending time with my family, but instead I'm going 588 00:29:19,400 --> 00:29:23,240 to spend these next few minutes telling them how much I hate them. 589 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,240 No, I got better things to focus on in life. 590 00:29:26,240 --> 00:29:29,040 So I mean, it's, I don't think it's something that happens overnight. 591 00:29:29,040 --> 00:29:32,480 It took me a long time, but I can tell you, honestly, I'm at a point in my life right 592 00:29:32,480 --> 00:29:39,240 now, you could write the worst possible thing to me and it just doesn't get to me. 593 00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,400 I aspire to be like you, Christina. 594 00:29:41,400 --> 00:29:44,400 Yeah, that's, you definitely easier said than done. 595 00:29:44,400 --> 00:29:49,720 I mean, at least for my, in my, for me, maybe for some people it's easier to do that than 596 00:29:49,720 --> 00:29:50,720 others. 597 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:51,720 Can I give you another analogy though? 598 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:53,360 Yeah, go for it. 599 00:29:53,360 --> 00:29:55,280 Just because different analogies work for different people. 600 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:56,280 Okay. 601 00:29:56,280 --> 00:29:59,560 So a few years back, my daughter, she's in college now, but she was in high school and 602 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:04,880 she had Matea, like the most popular girl named in Croatia, by the way, she was working 603 00:30:04,880 --> 00:30:09,440 in a restaurant and every night she would come back from her work shift. 604 00:30:09,440 --> 00:30:10,440 I go, how was it? 605 00:30:10,440 --> 00:30:11,480 And she goes awful. 606 00:30:11,480 --> 00:30:15,520 This customer was really annoying to me or, you know, my fellow coworker did this about, 607 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:17,920 it was just always negative. 608 00:30:17,920 --> 00:30:18,920 So one day I sat her down. 609 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:24,600 I said, okay, listen, Matea, I'm worried that you're picking up every little annoyance, 610 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:29,120 every little thing people say or do, whatever, every little annoyance is a brick. 611 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:30,520 And here's the problem. 612 00:30:30,520 --> 00:30:34,240 Life will already hand you a bunch of bricks that are out of your control. 613 00:30:34,240 --> 00:30:37,520 Like you're going to be forced to carry these heavy things in life. 614 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,080 That's part of being a human. 615 00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:40,080 You're not going to have a choice. 616 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:41,080 Okay. 617 00:30:41,080 --> 00:30:42,080 You're going to have to carry them. 618 00:30:42,080 --> 00:30:46,720 So if you decide to pick up every little negative comment or a plan, you made that failed or 619 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,280 a new stress as a brick, man, life will be so heavy. 620 00:30:51,280 --> 00:30:54,280 You're just going to be carrying a bunch of bricks every single day. 621 00:30:54,280 --> 00:30:58,740 No wonder you're going to feel exhausted and inadequate and stressed out and miserable. 622 00:30:58,740 --> 00:30:59,960 So this is what I need you to do. 623 00:30:59,960 --> 00:31:04,440 Try this next time you're at work and somebody says something annoying, some customers root 624 00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:05,440 to whatever it is. 625 00:31:05,440 --> 00:31:10,720 Why don't you think of it as a feather, acknowledge it, see it, and then literally just watch it, 626 00:31:10,720 --> 00:31:12,480 you know, fly off. 627 00:31:12,480 --> 00:31:13,960 And she was a teenager at the time. 628 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:17,440 Something and she's just like annoyed with me and whatever, mom, you're being cheesy. 629 00:31:17,440 --> 00:31:19,360 Next day she comes back from work and I go, how was it? 630 00:31:19,360 --> 00:31:20,360 And she's like, good. 631 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:21,360 I said, good. 632 00:31:21,360 --> 00:31:22,360 What do you mean? 633 00:31:22,360 --> 00:31:23,360 Good. 634 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:24,360 You never say good. 635 00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:27,400 And she just kind of smiles and he goes feathers and runs off to her. 636 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:28,400 Okay. 637 00:31:28,400 --> 00:31:33,280 And then finally here later, I'm flying to Croatia and again, love being in Croatia. 638 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:34,600 Love, love, love, love. 639 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:39,200 Actually cry every time I have to leave Croatia, even though I've lived here for so long now. 640 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:42,760 And I'm flying to Croatia and I'm thinking about how I love being there, but there's 641 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:48,920 this one person and I'm sure we all have this one person in our life who always just says 642 00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:53,620 something like just pushes my button, just literally ruins it for me. 643 00:31:53,620 --> 00:31:57,560 And then what I do, they say something and then I think about it all day and I'm miserable 644 00:31:57,560 --> 00:31:58,560 and I replay it. 645 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:01,000 And I, as we all, we get in the shower and what do we do? 646 00:32:01,000 --> 00:32:02,960 We play all the things we're going to say back next time. 647 00:32:02,960 --> 00:32:05,040 And we wish we had said, or we're going to tell them off. 648 00:32:05,040 --> 00:32:10,560 Are we going to, I mean, literally like every trip had like this little dark cloud on it 649 00:32:10,560 --> 00:32:11,980 because this one person. 650 00:32:11,980 --> 00:32:15,540 So I'm on my flight and I remember this analogy that I'd made up for my daughter. 651 00:32:15,540 --> 00:32:18,840 And I was like, okay, you know what? 652 00:32:18,840 --> 00:32:22,560 For this whole summer when I'm in Croatia, I'm going to picture everything annoying. 653 00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:24,520 They say as a feather. 654 00:32:24,520 --> 00:32:25,520 And I'm not kidding you. 655 00:32:25,520 --> 00:32:30,560 I'm having a family dinner and this person says something directed at me. 656 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:37,120 And I literally just go, I picture a feather in my head and I'm moving my head, watching 657 00:32:37,120 --> 00:32:38,800 this feather fly off. 658 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,120 And everybody's just looking at me like, what drugs is she on? 659 00:32:42,120 --> 00:32:45,400 My mother afterwards actually, she actually like took me. 660 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:47,400 I thought she's like, are you okay? 661 00:32:47,400 --> 00:32:51,280 And I was like, never better, never better, but it worked. 662 00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:52,840 So I don't know. 663 00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,440 Sometimes maybe when you see a negative comment or something, be like, this is a feather and 664 00:32:56,440 --> 00:32:58,400 I'm literally going to picture myself. 665 00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:02,800 If flying away, I am not picking it up as a brick. 666 00:33:02,800 --> 00:33:06,320 You don't have to every time literally imagine it in real time. 667 00:33:06,320 --> 00:33:11,040 It's kind of fun because then people just stare at you and think you're a weirdo. 668 00:33:11,040 --> 00:33:12,360 And I'm all about that. 669 00:33:12,360 --> 00:33:13,360 Yeah. 670 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:15,920 They may get off your back just from that alone. 671 00:33:15,920 --> 00:33:16,920 Yeah. 672 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:18,800 I don't want to keep you too long, Christina. 673 00:33:18,800 --> 00:33:21,960 We've got about five minutes left here, but I want to, you know, I want you to talk about 674 00:33:21,960 --> 00:33:23,160 your books a little bit. 675 00:33:23,160 --> 00:33:24,160 You're an author. 676 00:33:24,160 --> 00:33:25,160 You became an author. 677 00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:26,160 You wrote, is it two books now? 678 00:33:26,160 --> 00:33:28,320 You just came out with another one recently. 679 00:33:28,320 --> 00:33:30,760 Where did the inspiration for the first one come from? 680 00:33:30,760 --> 00:33:33,320 And then, you know, tell us about the new one as well. 681 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:37,760 So the first one came from the following that I had built on social media. 682 00:33:37,760 --> 00:33:42,000 And a lot of times I'd share a little thing about my past, whether it was a funny motherhood 683 00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:46,600 story, whether it was, you know, something really hard I'd been through and people, the 684 00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:48,040 comment I saw was tell me more. 685 00:33:48,040 --> 00:33:49,640 I want to know more. 686 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:51,880 You know, what led to that or what happened after? 687 00:33:51,880 --> 00:33:58,160 And so it's basically me sharing about everything from my divorce to, you know, dating again 688 00:33:58,160 --> 00:34:01,040 and how do you trust again after a divorce and getting married. 689 00:34:01,040 --> 00:34:03,120 And I share about the Oprah experience. 690 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:06,520 I share about immigrating from Croatia. 691 00:34:06,520 --> 00:34:10,200 And then there's a lot of funny motherhood stuff in there. 692 00:34:10,200 --> 00:34:12,160 And it's called Hold On, But Don't Hold Still. 693 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:13,560 I thought that would be my only book. 694 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,120 Croatians, by the way, translated it. 695 00:34:15,120 --> 00:34:16,120 It was awesome. 696 00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:18,280 I did a book tour there a few years ago. 697 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:22,600 And then my son, my oldest son had been struggling with serious mental health struggles. 698 00:34:22,600 --> 00:34:25,880 And I have a rule with my kids where I won't share anything about them publicly without 699 00:34:25,880 --> 00:34:27,020 their full permission. 700 00:34:27,020 --> 00:34:28,800 So I thought we would never talk about it. 701 00:34:28,800 --> 00:34:32,520 And then he decided to talk about it publicly because he wanted to end the stigma and the 702 00:34:32,520 --> 00:34:34,200 shame on mental health. 703 00:34:34,200 --> 00:34:36,520 So we ended up writing a book about that. 704 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:37,520 And that's the new book. 705 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:40,880 I can fix this and otherwise I told myself. 706 00:34:40,880 --> 00:34:44,320 And I wrote the first 10 chapters and then actually my son wrote the last one. 707 00:34:44,320 --> 00:34:50,520 So you hear from a mom and then you hear directly from a teenager who, you know, what depression, 708 00:34:50,520 --> 00:34:53,840 anxiety, ADHD, what it all felt like for him having suicidal ideations. 709 00:34:53,840 --> 00:34:55,080 I mean, he goes there. 710 00:34:55,080 --> 00:34:57,960 He did not hold back. 711 00:34:57,960 --> 00:35:02,020 And what I did that helped as a parent and what I did that did not help as a parent, 712 00:35:02,020 --> 00:35:03,360 we put it all out there. 713 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:06,920 And I'm actually really excited because Croatians are translating it. 714 00:35:06,920 --> 00:35:09,160 It should be out in the spring. 715 00:35:09,160 --> 00:35:14,040 And it's a really big deal because if we're in Croatia, because mental health is not talked 716 00:35:14,040 --> 00:35:17,740 about openly there, there's still so much stigma and shame. 717 00:35:17,740 --> 00:35:20,040 And so I'll be going there in May for a book tour. 718 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,960 And I think I'm going to shock a lot of people because I'm not going to hold back. 719 00:35:23,960 --> 00:35:24,960 But you know what? 720 00:35:24,960 --> 00:35:26,560 Hopefully we can save some lives. 721 00:35:26,560 --> 00:35:28,640 Yeah, it's definitely different over there. 722 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:33,960 The sort of perception of on mental health and dealing with that, especially publicly. 723 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,000 So yeah, I can imagine that that's going to create some waves over there. 724 00:35:37,000 --> 00:35:40,800 And that's why I think you had told me this summer, this coming summer, next summer, however 725 00:35:40,800 --> 00:35:42,000 you want to say it. 726 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:44,240 You'll be there and you'll be doing the book tour. 727 00:35:44,240 --> 00:35:46,160 It's going to be translated and everything. 728 00:35:46,160 --> 00:35:47,160 Yeah. 729 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:48,160 Yeah. 730 00:35:48,160 --> 00:35:51,040 So it's a profile, which is one of the publishing houses there. 731 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:52,040 Translated my first one. 732 00:35:52,040 --> 00:35:53,400 They're translated this one. 733 00:35:53,400 --> 00:35:58,960 And I think they're a little nervous because again, this topic is not talked about openly, 734 00:35:58,960 --> 00:36:02,000 but it's the whole what will people think? 735 00:36:02,000 --> 00:36:03,000 Right. 736 00:36:03,000 --> 00:36:07,560 I mean, it's big in America, but shtacj ljudi misliti was probably the most common phrase 737 00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:10,160 I heard as a child. 738 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:17,800 And my goal is to eliminate that phrase from our lovely Croatian culture. 739 00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:18,800 I like it. 740 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:19,800 Yeah. 741 00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:23,280 That'll definitely be an experience, not only for you, but for everyone else as well over 742 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:24,280 there. 743 00:36:24,280 --> 00:36:25,280 Looking forward to it. 744 00:36:25,280 --> 00:36:27,360 You're going to be like, oh, good part she's talking about. 745 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:30,840 Or people will just start walking out of my book events. 746 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:32,640 I'll be banned from the country. 747 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:38,280 Yeah, maybe I'll have to, I'll probably be over there at some point during the time, 748 00:36:38,280 --> 00:36:40,280 because you're going to be spending a few months there. 749 00:36:40,280 --> 00:36:42,080 I'm sure we'll cross eventually over there. 750 00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:44,480 I'll have to make it out to one of the signings. 751 00:36:44,480 --> 00:36:45,760 I promise I won't walk out. 752 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:47,960 I was going to say, don't walk out, dude. 753 00:36:47,960 --> 00:36:48,960 Stick around. 754 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:49,960 I'll stick around. 755 00:36:49,960 --> 00:36:50,960 I'll stick around. 756 00:36:50,960 --> 00:36:52,160 No, that should be great. 757 00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,680 I'm excited for you for that. 758 00:36:54,680 --> 00:36:57,080 I've got a few more minutes here. 759 00:36:57,080 --> 00:37:01,160 I want to get to a couple other, I got a couple of fun questions at the end, but sort of last 760 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:05,560 thing, I know you're just coming off of your tour, your standup performance. 761 00:37:05,560 --> 00:37:10,680 Can you talk a little bit quickly about that and sort of the themes that you talk about 762 00:37:10,680 --> 00:37:13,280 on stage and where you're headed next? 763 00:37:13,280 --> 00:37:16,800 I know you're kind of taking a break, but do you have other plans for another tour or 764 00:37:16,800 --> 00:37:17,800 what? 765 00:37:17,800 --> 00:37:18,800 Yeah. 766 00:37:18,800 --> 00:37:20,160 So I've got two different tours. 767 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:24,560 And the first one was, again, a lot about motherhood and all that. 768 00:37:24,560 --> 00:37:28,680 And then the second one was about mental health, but I still add a lot of humor because in 769 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,880 my opinion, going through life without humor is like eating soup with a fork. 770 00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:36,480 You're going to miss out on so much deliciousness in life. 771 00:37:36,480 --> 00:37:40,200 If you can't find the funny, you have to be able to find the funny. 772 00:37:40,200 --> 00:37:45,200 So it's really an extension of my videos and I never planned on touring. 773 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:49,960 I don't consider myself a standup comedian, but suddenly I have been to, I think over 774 00:37:49,960 --> 00:37:51,560 80 cities doing standup comedy. 775 00:37:51,560 --> 00:37:52,560 So it's very weird. 776 00:37:52,560 --> 00:37:57,080 I am taking a break now because I just, I need to be home. 777 00:37:57,080 --> 00:38:00,360 So I'll be doing a lot of speaking engagements, but I won't be touring for a while. 778 00:38:00,360 --> 00:38:04,600 And then if I do write another show, you can't relate to this, but you should still go because 779 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:05,880 all men should go to the show. 780 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,160 I think it's going to be about menopause. 781 00:38:08,160 --> 00:38:12,920 And I think I want to call it cougar puberty because that's basically what menopause is. 782 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:14,360 So haven't written it yet. 783 00:38:14,360 --> 00:38:17,480 This is just an idea in my head, but if I reach for another one, that's going to be 784 00:38:17,480 --> 00:38:18,480 it. 785 00:38:18,480 --> 00:38:19,480 Yeah. 786 00:38:19,480 --> 00:38:20,480 I cannot relate, but that would be interesting to hear. 787 00:38:20,480 --> 00:38:21,480 Yeah. 788 00:38:21,480 --> 00:38:22,480 I'm going to force you to go. 789 00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:26,320 I think men need to see, need to know what women go through. 790 00:38:26,320 --> 00:38:27,320 That's fair. 791 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:28,320 That's fair. 792 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:29,320 All right. 793 00:38:29,320 --> 00:38:30,320 Real quick questions here, Christina. 794 00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:31,320 What do you eat when you're in Croatia? 795 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:36,320 It's a toss up between budak, sasirom and cebapi. 796 00:38:36,320 --> 00:38:37,320 Okay, fair. 797 00:38:37,320 --> 00:38:43,640 But it has to be cebapi with the lepina that's soft and the onions and ivy and kind of like 798 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:44,640 the whole thing. 799 00:38:44,640 --> 00:38:48,040 I like when they grill the lepina in like the juice of the, Ooh, that's so good. 800 00:38:48,040 --> 00:38:49,040 Yes. 801 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:50,040 It's got to be greasy. 802 00:38:50,040 --> 00:38:51,040 It all has to be greasy. 803 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:52,040 Yeah. 804 00:38:52,040 --> 00:38:53,040 Yeah. 805 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:55,800 It's got to feel like a cheat meal, you know, as they say, like fast food. 806 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:57,400 It's not, it's not supposed to be fancy. 807 00:38:57,400 --> 00:39:00,440 Christina, last question for you here. 808 00:39:00,440 --> 00:39:04,360 What makes Croatia or Croatia special? 809 00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:07,120 Oh, the people. 810 00:39:07,120 --> 00:39:11,880 I mean, really, I know that sounds cheesy, but the people, one of the first times I brought 811 00:39:11,880 --> 00:39:16,560 my husband to Croatia, we're walking down the street in Osijek and there's this beautiful 812 00:39:16,560 --> 00:39:22,200 like old wooden sort of door slash gate to this house. 813 00:39:22,200 --> 00:39:23,840 And we just stopped and we were just admiring it. 814 00:39:23,840 --> 00:39:26,320 It was like, Oh my gosh, you never see stuff like this in America. 815 00:39:26,320 --> 00:39:28,920 And the man walks out and he's like, hi. 816 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:29,920 And my husband's like, Oh shoot. 817 00:39:29,920 --> 00:39:30,920 He's going mad at us. 818 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,960 And instead the guy's like, we're, we're just getting dinner ready. 819 00:39:33,960 --> 00:39:35,720 You guys want to come in? 820 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:37,680 And my husband was like, is he going to murder us? 821 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:41,520 Like in America, they would murder you if they invite you in like super strangers. 822 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:45,800 We went in there and his wife was cooking in the kitchen and he had this beautiful yard 823 00:39:45,800 --> 00:39:47,880 and he showed us plums from his tree. 824 00:39:47,880 --> 00:39:50,320 And then he took a bag and gave us a bunch of plums. 825 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:54,980 And we ended up sitting down and having dinner with these strangers. 826 00:39:54,980 --> 00:39:58,440 And my husband to this day, like it's the one story always tells people. 827 00:39:58,440 --> 00:40:02,040 I mean, that might be a little bit on extreme, like not everybody in Croatia is going to 828 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,320 invite you over immediately, but there's the people there. 829 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:10,240 And it's the thing I hear the most from Americans who have gone to visit Croatia vacation. 830 00:40:10,240 --> 00:40:17,640 There's just such a warmth and hospitality and you know, your neighbors, your friends, 831 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:19,360 they are all family. 832 00:40:19,360 --> 00:40:22,040 They are family and you will show up for them. 833 00:40:22,040 --> 00:40:25,060 And to me, that's just one of the most beautiful things. 834 00:40:25,060 --> 00:40:29,680 And one thing I recently realized is Croatia is not a hustle culture. 835 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:35,380 And I think in America, everybody's just hustling for more and better and you know, moving up 836 00:40:35,380 --> 00:40:36,380 in their career. 837 00:40:36,380 --> 00:40:39,440 And that stuff gets really distracting, right? 838 00:40:39,440 --> 00:40:43,840 It distracts you from focusing on what ultimately really matters. 839 00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:47,320 Like again, not to be morbid again, but when you're on your deathbed, you're not going 840 00:40:47,320 --> 00:40:51,000 to give a crap what position you held or how much money you made. 841 00:40:51,000 --> 00:40:54,600 It's who is going to be there holding your hand saying goodbye. 842 00:40:54,600 --> 00:41:00,520 So I just, I love the way Croatian people love. 843 00:41:00,520 --> 00:41:01,520 That's a great answer. 844 00:41:01,520 --> 00:41:02,520 Yeah. 845 00:41:02,520 --> 00:41:04,120 I think that's one of my favorite things about it as well. 846 00:41:04,120 --> 00:41:05,360 Just yeah, everyone's so warm. 847 00:41:05,360 --> 00:41:06,520 That's such a classic story. 848 00:41:06,520 --> 00:41:07,520 Yeah. 849 00:41:07,520 --> 00:41:09,160 Just randomly getting invited in. 850 00:41:09,160 --> 00:41:11,080 And we stayed in touch. 851 00:41:11,080 --> 00:41:12,080 Like it was crazy. 852 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:13,080 Yeah. 853 00:41:13,080 --> 00:41:14,080 That's awesome. 854 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,880 Well, Christina, I want to thank you so much for coming on to all things Croatia podcasts 855 00:41:17,880 --> 00:41:18,880 here. 856 00:41:18,880 --> 00:41:22,120 How many people find you if they want to find information, you know, when you're going on 857 00:41:22,120 --> 00:41:25,720 tour next or where to buy your book or, you know, find you on social media. 858 00:41:25,720 --> 00:41:27,240 What's the best way to do that? 859 00:41:27,240 --> 00:41:31,920 So just my first and last name Christina with a K, which is the correct way to spell Christina. 860 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:38,160 Obviously Americans know that and last name K U Z M I C and I'm on Instagram, Facebook, 861 00:41:38,160 --> 00:41:39,160 YouTube everywhere. 862 00:41:39,160 --> 00:41:40,160 Awesome. 863 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:43,520 Christina, thank you so much for coming on the podcast. 864 00:41:43,520 --> 00:41:44,520 Thank you so much for having me. 865 00:41:44,520 --> 00:41:51,520 I really appreciate it.