Hey there, thanks for joining me for another episode of YKJ in Bloom.
My name is Tracy Martins and today I have one of my best friends, Jake from Instagram's
Made in YKG.
Hello, I'm Jake from YKG.
Look at, how are you?
Look everywhere.
I'm so happy we're finally doing this.
It's about time.
It's been a while.
We were going to do it a long time ago and then-
Life.
And things coming up in Windsor, Essex and it's just kept us busy.
Yeah, of course.
And just so you guys know, this is almost our one year anniversary of knowing each other.
Should we address the elephant in the room real quick?
Okay.
Yeah, it's just you.
That's it.
I am the elephant in the room.
Yeah.
And-
You're not my grandma.
No, no.
What's the story behind that?
We were at the Mom Expo last year at Kubota Club and we were getting some kind of weird
looks with him because there's a little bit of an age difference.
So he started telling everybody that I was his mom and then I said, well, we should really
mess with people and walk back around holding hands.
But then he didn't want to call me mom because it was disrespectful to his mom.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I kind of had to do a separation there.
I had to become grandma.
And the sad thing is, is even his mom calls me grandma.
Yeah.
So we were at Salute for the first influencer event we went to.
Kathleen organized it.
It was like this food thing where we're meeting up with a whole bunch of creators.
But you didn't want to go because you hadn't shown your faith.
Had we done the downtown market yet?
I had one face video on Instagram at that point and it was a very half a second clip.
If you watched it, you would have missed it.
I was going through some of the ones from the very beginning where you just had your
logo as your face.
Yes.
All my stuff from before is archived.
Thank God.
So you can see it.
But the Salute LaSalle thing was where the whole grandma thing started.
Yeah, for sure.
Because everybody was asking like, oh, what's everybody do?
And like, what's your page on Instagram?
Like let's follow each other or whatever.
And I was like, actually, I don't have an Instagram.
I'm just with my grandma for some free food.
Right.
And it just kind of spread.
So after that event, people just an earshot heard like, oh, that's my grandma and whatever.
And they're like, oh, that's cool.
So then it just spread.
And like now everybody thinks that we can't escape it.
Well, it is funny.
It's hilarious.
I don't mind it whatsoever because it's endearing.
And I mean, in a loving way.
I know.
The sad part is, is that some people believe it.
Of course.
It's like, come on.
Do I look old enough to have a 26, 27 year old grandson?
No comment, but yeah.
Piss off.
I'm trying to not use potty mouth today.
Oh, is John going to edit swear?
No.
No, he's going to leave it all in.
We're going now.
Well, fuck you then.
It's us.
People know.
Yeah.
People know.
I think they expect it.
Yeah.
Okay.
So since we've kind of got a little bit of us out of the way, how long have you had the
MadeomyQG?
The page?
So I made the account in 2020 and I didn't really touch it until 2022, something like
that.
It was late December, 2022, where I posted my first thing and it was just a Canva thing
with a logo and like a stupid description that was like, Hey, I'm supporting local.
And then a couple of months after that, I never posted again after that.
And then it just kind of like, I think it was April in 2023 that it really started to
kind of pick up with the markets because it was my first time ever going to the downtown
farmers market.
I went to my first market at the WFCU center and then that's kind of when it all started.
But September is when it really started to pick up.
And that's kind of where I tell people I started with September because it's when I consistently
started uploading on it.
Because I know we've run into some people and they'll say, well, you've been around
forever and it's like, yeah.
The problem is, so I had the page for a while and the engagement was good on it, right?
Like I had a small following, but I had like a text list that would do giveaways for people
and stuff like that.
So people knew me from that and they were like, oh, it's the giveaway page or whatever.
So kind of branching out of that was a little bit of a struggle.
But then once I just started doing content with me and everybody just kind of like adjusted
to that and kind of forgot about all the other stuff.
Well, because that's how we met is you reached out to me for giveaway for concert tickets
for the casino tickets.
Yeah.
I saw your podcast and I was around the time where I was just sponsoring local giveaways
just for local businesses and stuff.
And I had access to a bunch of casino concert tickets that I never use.
Like I just don't like concerts.
So I just was like, how can I use this in a way that's beneficial to someone?
Because I'm just going to waste them.
So basically what I did was just reach out to people and be like, hey, I've got these
tickets like, you know, we'll make a post.
This is like follow your account, follow this guy's account.
You know, we'll do a pair of tickets or whatever.
And that's the same thing I did with you.
And then I ended up meeting you for the mom market, which was the first market we went
to, I think.
I think so.
Yeah.
We did the mom market and then we went to like the farmers market the next day.
And then.
Yeah.
And because I was looking through that and I think Shelby, my stepdaughter, I remember
this very well.
I saw that picture with the flowers.
I was dating a girl.
He's dating somebody.
She was very upset because I said I was going to the downtown farmers market with Tracy,
my 65 year old grandma, and then the picture I posted on my Instagram page was her stepdaughter's
hands.
So my girlfriend at the time was like, oh, what the fuck's going on?
And I was like, I'm just with my grandma at the market.
Like she just brought some.
Those aren't her hands.
Yeah.
She just brought people with her.
But that wasn't even the most disastrous market with her.
So I'll take it as a blessing that that was all she said about the flowers.
Let's see here.
Let's find out about you.
Me?
Yeah.
Before we.
Yeah.
Tell me about you.
Okay.
About me.
What do you want?
Before me to YQG.
What do you want to know?
Okay.
Now I do know that you dropped out of school.
Yes.
Why?
Why do you know that?
Well, because you tell me things.
I'm grandma.
We should preface it that you do know a lot about me.
Yes.
So this going into this interview.
This was honestly was the hardest interview that I had to prepare for because there was
some interviews that I didn't really want to do because I wasn't familiar with the product,
their job.
You are the hardest because I know so much about you.
So it's like, okay, what do I ask?
Where do I start?
Even when we were trying to like put notes out of like, oh, what people want to know
about me.
You were like, oh, sometimes I talk to people about something and they're like, oh, I didn't
know that.
And it's like, oh, cause it's like, he told me that.
But like, exactly.
Yeah.
And I mean, you are super, super close with Nina and it's like, really?
Surprise.
You didn't know?
I just have surprises everywhere.
So yeah, I mean, I dropped out of high school at the time.
Very sad.
I was taking care of my stepdad at the time that was dying of bone cancer.
That was kind of rough.
So I ended up leaving school and I never went back.
So basically I lived in my room for four or five years playing video games and I made
a living playing video games.
I basically kind of started an online business where you could sell the online currency of
the game.
And I just kind of built my love for business over that.
And that's how I kind of got started with just business and finance and just doing something.
Right.
Because before that, like it was like school and home and being depressed.
And then all of a sudden it was like, wow, I can actually make money doing stuff online
and whatever.
Right.
The problem is my social anxiety at the time got so bad that like I couldn't leave the
house.
I couldn't have anybody in the eyes.
My mom would try to take me to restaurants and I couldn't order my own food.
You know, so she was thinking like, what's the place where there's something going on
all the time?
Like it doesn't matter if it's in the middle of the night and I need like some type of
like stimulation or whatever.
Yeah.
And the only place she could think of was the casino because it's just open all night.
Like, you know, if I needed it out of the house or whatever, because I used to go for
like walks at nighttime and just kind of disappear.
And she goes, well, anytime you feel like that, let's just go to the casino and we'll
like go grab food, grab coffee, just walk around, whatever.
That turned into a whole other story where, you know, I started going out first.
We went on my 19th birthday, basically.
It was like fresh, you know, being able to go.
We ended up going for dinner, I would say probably twice a week there.
We'd go for coffee there probably every day just to like, you know, do something and get
me out of the house.
Yeah.
And then it kind of became my home.
I did have savings at the time from the money that I was making online and I had nothing
to do with it.
Like I had no concept of what money was because like I, you know, lived at my mom's house.
Like I had no responsibilities, right?
So I didn't really know the value of money at that time.
What 19 year old really does.
Exactly.
Yeah.
But more so like I was so isolated at that point.
It was like I had this number in a PayPal account, but I had no clue what it like did.
You know what I mean?
Coming back, I'm like, holy shit, like how I was like so, you know, out of it.
Right.
But at the time, like, you know, going to the casino every day, I kind of started gambling
here and there, tables, slots, just kind of whatever, just to waste time.
It was a good time waster.
And that's the one thing that I liked about that place is just you could literally make
a day disappear if you wanted to.
Right.
That day turned into making three, four years disappear, which was, you know, fine.
And you really did live at the casino.
I did.
Yeah.
I get asked a lot because I kind of throw it out randomly in conversation sometimes.
And people think you're just exaggerating.
Oh, yeah.
He was just there a lot.
He literally lived there.
Yeah.
I basically stayed there six days a week.
I would go home to my mom's house like one day out of the week just to do laundry and
catch up and whatever and head back.
You know, and it's something I brush over because it's like something I tried deeply
to just kind of like leave in the past and like kind of move on from that.
But it's still an interesting part of my story.
So I like to try to mention that to people when it's relevant.
I would never brush over that because that's what brought you out of your shell and that's
where you are now.
Absolutely.
That's why I don't regret it at all.
I do look back and I'm thinking like there's so many other things I could have been doing,
but in the headspace I was at the time, there's nothing I would have been doing other than
that except for sitting in my room doing nothing and rotting away.
Right.
Playing video games and looking at a growing PayPal account that probably had more money
than mine.
At the time, even gambling high limit at the casino all the time, I didn't realize that
that wasn't normal because I just went into it.
Fresh 19 year old, I started off small.
I wasn't gambling too big.
Right.
And then I got kind of got involved with a group who was notorious for gambling big money.
And I would just kind of sit around and watch them.
I never participated for a while.
It was just, that was my social circle.
That was the people I went and hung out with.
And then you just kind of get sucked into it.
And then it was like, all of a sudden, you look back and you're like, oh, one hand of
blackjack is like a year salary for some people or whatever.
And it's just disgusting.
But at the time, I didn't realize that.
And that's what makes me so uncomfortable now is because I was just so disassociated
from everything.
And still to this day, I'm very numb to everything, especially regarding money or belongings,
that type of thing.
You even have first hand account of that.
We were at the casino and I won a jackpot.
I was just going to say that he's just sitting there hitting the button, hitting the button.
And me and my husband were all excited because I won $100 and he's $6000 waiting for the
security escort to pass the cash in a big duffel bag.
I'm like literally shitting my pants.
And he's just like, OK.
So you know why I was frustrated?
I really wanted a coffee, but I couldn't leave because I wasn't going to have them just show
up with a stack of money and I wasn't there.
Oh, you know, I was taking them running.
Oh, yeah, of course.
Yeah, yeah.
I give you what?
$10?
I bought you a coffee afterwards.
Yes.
It was a fair trade.
Yes.
He got $6000.
I got a coffee.
Were you honest?
Even?
Yeah, going back to the whole casino thing, it's something I try to brush over because
it's not something I'm proud of.
It's a part of the story, but it's not something I'm actively telling people to participate
in.
And even you, like you can say like anytime we've been in the casino, I actively tell
you not to gamble.
Because it's like at my point with the whole living there or whatever, I never had someone
to tell me not to.
And I always had the influence of like, oh, it's just like, you know, better than you
being stuck in the thing.
And that's not my mom's thing or like anything like that.
It was just like they were happy that I was like living for the first time.
Right.
But I don't want my friends to go through that.
Right.
And even when we go to the casino, I'll be like, oh, we'll go for dinner, like, you
know, whatever.
And then we're leaving.
Right.
Because I'm just like, I don't want to get people sucked into it.
And that's why even I felt bad with the jackpots when you guys were there, because I was like,
it gives you that weird excitement where you're like excited to see it and you kind of want
to play and like that type of thing.
Oh, I've hit I've hit 1400 once or twice, 400 here or there.
So I mean, and that was just when me and John would go for walks.
I was like, oh, let's go and get a coffee at the Starbucks at the time at the casino.
But I mean, I wouldn't I wouldn't gloss over it or even feel bad about it because, yeah,
we've all done sticky things back in our 19 year old time frame.
And, you know, things we're not proud of.
But at the end of the day, it got you out of your room.
Yeah.
And it gave you a little bit of life.
Yeah.
And it did afford you some savings to figure out what you wanted to do.
So it's not like you lost your.
Yeah.
You lost everything.
Even to this day, like the reason where I am right now is because of that whole experience.
Exactly.
So like the first the first like main job I ever got was because of a connection I made
there in the high limit room where they were like, hey, we need someone like I was like,
I have no clue what I'm doing.
Like I'm just some kid, you know, plays way too much money at tables and goes, hey, that's
OK, I trust you, like, you know, whatever.
And that was how I got my first like big job.
Right.
And then it was that reference.
Like I ended up getting laid off from that job, you know, at the beginning of the pandemic.
But that was the one that got me to where I am now and where I'm going next.
And you know, it was just it kind of all spiraled and like dominoed from like the start of just,
I don't know, connections and networking.
That's the next thing is, OK, you dropped out.
You took care of your family and ended up with the agoraphobia and the social anxiety
and that.
And then you went and lived at the casino.
What happened when the pandemic hit?
That was rough.
Yeah.
And that almost this is going to get depressing.
That was almost the end for me because I went back to the worst place in my life was just
being lonely in my house again.
Right.
And I think the memories of just being in that house to begin with and like being so
sad in the same room.
It was like when I got kicked out of the hotel, I was literally in the buffet when they let
me know, hey, like you got to leave the hotel at I think it was like six o'clock in the
morning.
You have to be out at six.
And I'm like, where am I going?
You know, so I was like, OK, back to my mom's house, you know.
And then it was straight back into the room that had so many dark memories of like trying
to just get through the day.
Right.
So it's like when the pandemic hit, like I was just looking for anything to kind of
distract myself.
Right.
And I ended up making an Instagram page that wasn't made in like you, G. It was like a
fashion page or something.
I was just trying fashion page.
I'm not.
Yeah.
I was just clinging on to like anything I could to try to like find a passion because
up until that point, like my whole personality was, oh, he's the casino guy.
There was no other substance to my personality besides, oh, he's just like the high roller
that everybody knows and like waves to.
Right.
And nobody kind of knew like, you know, anything else more about me.
And neither did I.
Right.
And that's what I struggled with at the beginning of the pandemic, because I was like, I don't
know who I am.
Like because for three, almost four years before that, I was just the guy who, you know,
went and played tables and that was it.
Like that was my whole life.
Like I did nothing but gamble for those years.
And like I did work remotely at the time.
Right.
It was such a small fraction of like what I was doing at the time that it was literally
just that.
Right.
I didn't have any more passions or like finding hobbies.
Like I didn't go to school, obviously, so I didn't play sports or like anything like
that.
Right.
And the only like hobby I had was video games, which I used as kind of like a depression
crutch for so many years that I didn't want to go back to that in the pandemic.
And I think there was a very small period at the beginning of the pandemic where I started
playing video games again.
And then I realized that it was like putting me back in that weird place.
I'm like, I'm just using this as a distraction and I'm going to like crumble, you know?
So I ended up bringing two books, actually.
So I ended up making a fashion page on Instagram.
And it was just I wasn't necessarily interested in fashion, but I was so I was around a lot
of luxury fashion, luxury watches.
Like I was just mesmerized by that.
Like I remember the first time someone showed me it was a Jacob and Co watch.
And it was like, I think they said like a million dollars or something.
And it was this cool.
It's an Astronomia.
It's like this big round dome thing.
It's the craziest thing ever.
It's got like gems in it and it's an earth that kind of revolves around.
And there's a big like diamond that kind of circles.
And it was my first time that I was like, holy shit, like this is, you know, whatever.
So at the time, like the little hype fashion was really in where people were wearing Louis
Vuitton and all this fancy stuff and flexing on Instagram and whatever.
Because at the beginning of the pandemic, I was like, OK, well, I don't have a gambling
addiction now because the casino is closed.
So maybe I can get into like clothes or whatever.
Turns out I just like wearing stupid crocs and I'm not really much of like a fashion
person.
I don't have style, you know.
Same here.
But I had a personal Instagram at the time where I did post casino pictures here and
there, but it was mostly just for like, you know, friends until I made that fashion page.
And then I just started randomly adding people for some reason.
And I came across this person.
He did like magazine type of things.
He's an artist, he's a photographer.
He writes poetry, that type of stuff.
And that was actually kind of what started my whole local support journey.
This artist isn't local.
Can I grab it?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, just grab here.
Yeah.
So these were the magazines that I found through making a fashion Instagram.
So this was the first one I bought.
Right.
And I haven't seen these yet.
No, I brought this was a surprise and I've never told anybody about this.
But I keep these books on my desk.
And it's just a nice reminder of like how I got started with this.
Right.
So I remember seeing this person on Instagram who they make little magazines with their
photography and then they'll do, you know, poetry and stories.
Oh, those are pretty.
Yeah.
So you can see there's like.
So this was the first one I ever bought.
And the thank you letter is kind of what started this whole thing.
Jake, thank you for supporting independent.
It says, Jake, thank you for supporting independent art and giving me a chance to connect with
you, Emmett.
That's so sweet.
So just seeing that, like I want to say this was fifteen dollars.
It was just something on Instagram.
The guy was saying he made a couple.
I think he said something about maybe they weren't selling or something like that.
And I was like, I'll buy one, you know, because I liked his pictures he posted on Instagram
at the time.
And I was like, what's the worst that can happen at fifteen dollars?
And then just having the note in the back, it was like that little personal touch that
like local businesses talk about all the time where it's like they do a handwriting or whatever.
And it actually matters because this is literally what set this whole thing off was just this
little stupid note that said thanks for letting me connect with you.
I want to say this was in twenty nineteen that I bought this one.
So before the Made in YQG page, which I made in twenty twenty, this one was from twenty
twenty, I believe.
And I got another handwritten letter from it.
So I want to show a couple of pictures from this one because you can kind of see how his
artwork evolved over time.
Oh, that's nice.
There is this very, very long page that meant a lot to me at the time.
This.
I'm not reading the whole thing, but I will take a picture of it and put it on my Instagram
story because just reading this was very securing for me at the time.
And it was just something I needed to hear in the pandemic.
And it was really thoughtful and life changing, which kind of prompted me to buy his second
book when he put it out, which was more of like a photography type of magazine.
There was less writing in this one, but his vision was to go for more of like.
It's called Late Bloomer for Stress.
So he basically wanted to make something where it was like peaceful images, you know.
And those are pretty.
Yeah.
I mean, there's a bunch of them.
I don't know if the camera can see them all, but they're very nice.
Anyways, I got this other handwritten letter and this time it was more than two sentences.
So this was a little bit later than I expected.
So this one got shipped out in May 30th of 2021.
So still during the pandemic.
So it says, Jake, man, thanks so much for constantly supporting my work.
It makes me feel less alone to know that my weird pixels carry meaning for someone other
than just myself.
It's also encouraging this fucking handwriting.
It's artists and doctors.
They have handwriting that's very special.
Listen, I'm going to try so hard to read this weird picture.
It was carry more meaning for someone other than just myself.
It's also encouraging.
I just really wanted to say thank you for supporting a stranger.
Life has been so fucked up, not just Corona and 2020 and 2021 chaos, but probably since
the beginning of time.
Life itself is a struggle against meaninglessness and nonexistence.
This used to terrify me, but I see now that it's liberating.
There's no rules, no truths, no meaning except what we build for ourselves.
It may be a fool's errand, but I endeavor a special love and hope even while the world
around us is in flames.
Somewhere else, love blossoms and flowers bloom.
That's very nice.
Yes.
That was the thing that made me start supporting more local artists.
Just even ordering this online and seeing it show up to my house really gave me an idea
of the small impact of just supporting people.
It was the first time ever supporting an artist, buying anything online from anybody, just
having that note and that reassurance in the pandemic that we're all in this together,
everything's on fire, but sometimes things bloom elsewhere.
Like your tea and bloom.
There you go.
But the thing is, is like we'll go to markets and different events and people get so excited
that we took the time to go out and see them and support them and maybe throw stuff up
on Instagram and buy stuff.
They're what is making our community what it is today.
They don't realize how much that they mean to us as well.
This is probably the heaviest you're ever going to see me and him.
This is the most serious I've ever been in my life, but I did want to share this only
for the reason that it is the reason why I started my whole local support journey.
If that letter never came to me, if these magazines never came to me, I probably wouldn't
have even cared about local.
Honestly, it's just not something that ever interested me, but it's less of the value
of the actual item itself and more of the aspect of the creation behind it and the people
behind it and the love exactly.
Sure, I can buy something similar at a big chain store for a quarter of the price or
whatever, but it's that special touch to it that adds so much value.
It's true.
I do want to mention though, during the pandemic, after the letter that I got, I randomly started
commissioning local artists to draw things and people on Reddit who I've never interacted
with them, they were just posting commissions.
This started a spiral of me just commissioning a bunch of people to do local art and weird
stuff.
I have a bunch of commissions in my attic in a box from local artists that probably
don't even know that it was me at the time and a Google Drive full of pictures.
I only had selfies at the time.
It was just weird pictures of me in the casino in a mirror or whatever.
I would just send these to people and just be like, hey, can you draw this or whatever?
Just tell me how much and whatever.
I have probably hundreds of just commissions from artists and it was all because of this.
It was just like, I just wanted to help people in the pandemic where people were all struggling
and I just wanted to find that one thing to try to help people.
It was around the same time, like I said, that I was just discovering the value of money
and I was like, $10 at a local business means so much.
That could be the difference between putting food on the table for that night to some people.
Whereas from before, I just wouldn't even think about it and I would waste way more
than that in 10 minutes.
You know what I mean?
That's why I think the pandemic was very transformative for Windsor and Essex County, the way we think,
the way we see things, the way we create things.
It's really changed and like you said, the artists and the markets and the makers and
that's why we do what we do.
Our zero dollar an hour plus benefits jobs.
You're making zero?
I'm in the negatives for this job.
I like to support too, like my little sign behind me.
Of course, and your little trinkets.
And the thing that you gave me and a few things.
So I got some of these on a market that almost ended my last relationship.
It ended for different reasons, but this was a contributing factor probably.
Jake loves going to markets.
I love going to markets.
You have bins of stuff and he won't give me any more.
Yeah, well, I decorated your whole house.
My first market I ever went to was the WFCU Center Market.
Whatchamacallers Miranda, you've interviewed her on your show before.
I just saw her on Instagram.
We did a giveaway at some point for like a bandana or a collar or something like that.
And that was just what I was doing on Instagram at the time was just sponsoring giveaways.
So I ended up going to the market because she posted on Instagram and was like, hey,
I'll be here.
And I was like, oh, that'd be so fun.
Like, you know, I told my girlfriend, I was like, let's go, you know, we'll just go see
people.
I saw that picture.
And you had your logo on your face and you were holding up bags of stuff.
I was looking at that last night.
You creeped my profile before this.
So you know what you're talking about.
I did.
I was going through it.
And then a lot of your one, two, three.
Oh, yeah.
It's like, oh, it's like a progression of us too, because I'm in a lot of it.
And that's why I like archiving them like that.
Right.
Because some people archive it as like, oh, this is food.
This is whatever.
And this is whatever.
Yeah, but if you keep it in order and people can just watch through, you can just kind
of see like the growth of the whole page.
Right.
Because you can go back to when I first started and like at first when I started the page,
I was like, OK, I'm going to go up to everybody, introduce myself.
Hey, I'm made in YQG.
I want to take pictures of your booth.
Like I want to post you on Instagram.
I thought you were going to say boobs.
I was going to.
But that's what I wanted to do was just go to this market.
Like I saw Miranda was there and I was going to go up to everybody.
Hey, can I take a picture of your booth?
Like, you know, let me share it on Instagram.
This is what I'm trying to do, whatever.
And it's given so many opportunities to do amazing things in the community, like charity
work and stuff like that.
And I'm just so grateful for, you know, the progression of everything.
And all the friends we've made over the last couple of years.
I'm fine without you, but the rest of them are good.
And this is a good stopping point for part one of my interview with Jake from Made in
YQG.
Tune in.
In a few days, we will have part two.
We will talk about Jake's charity work and we'll catch up on some more shenanigans.
You guys have a great day and thank you for joining me for YQG in Blue.