Hi and welcome back to Tell Me What Happened,
the podcast that features folks from all walks
of life. telling us one true childhood story
and how that event, that experience has impacted
who they are as an adult. I'm your host, Jay
Rehack, and like all of you listeners know, I've
had my share of childhood traumas, dramas, and
happy times. And I'd always like to think that
everything that's ever happened to me has made
me a better person. Now I know everybody tells
me that's not true. I'm not necessarily a better
person for everything that's happened to me,
but that's what I'd like to think. All right,
today I have as my guest Martin Ross. Martin
Ross is a nonprofit leader who specializes in
forming trifectas for community transformation
and continues to add to his 10 ,000 hours of
expertise in areas of workforce development,
partnerships, external affairs, and community
engagement. In Spanish, He likes to call himself
a fuente, or bridge builder. As an appointed
person in Sacramento County, he serves as a chairman,
commissioner, or committee member, and is a candidate
for school board for the San Juan Unified School
District Area 4. For more information on the
good that he is doing in the neighborhood in
practical, compassionate, and innovative ways,
please follow him on social media and or go to
his website at www .electmartinross .com. Welcome
to the show. Martin Ross. Well, hey Jay, how
are you? Yeah So that that idea of the 10 ,000
hours comes from Malcolm Gladwell and His book
I think what's that one outliers and he said
if you put in 10 ,000 hours of something on anything
you could be really good at it and Become more
of a of an expert and that's a more of like a
differentiator. So I suppose whether it's sports
tiddlywinks crime or doing good in the neighborhood.
If you spend some time and you put in a lot of
hours, you'll become really good at it. So I'm
so excited about being on this interview with
you and sharing my story or one of my stories.
I'm not going to be able to tell all of it, but
being an identical twin and some experiences
with that. Well, I read a little bit about you
and your twin experiences. It sounds like a movie,
but I'm going to let you tell the story, Martin.
And I'm going to mute myself right now. I'm going
to let you take it away. And at the end, I'm
going to come back and ask you a question or
two about how it's impacted your life as an adult.
But take it away, Martin Ross. All right. Well,
being an identical twin has been a lot of fun.
My mom used to say double the pleasure, double
the fun. I got two for the price of one. So I
have an identical twin brother and we live in
the same city. And we've been competing and helping
each other, being friends with each other all
of our life. But I have one story about being
an identical twin when I had to actually help
him. in a particular situation where he needed
me to be a substitute or he didn't know that
I needed to be a substitute for him. You have
people doing things for switching for classes
and grades and we were always like really good
kids. So we never really did any super serious
twin pranks, things like that. But this one is
really important and I'll tell you a little bit
later on and how that. has affected my adult
life. So both of us are black belts in Taekwondo
martial arts. And we study, we practice, we sparred
with one another, we ran track against one another,
basketball against one another, competing in
different areas. But there's this one situation
where I'm on like the blue team, and he's on
the red team for a martial arts tournament. And
there's like 500 people or so. And black belts
have a particular protocol. Now I want to let
you know that My parents are from Little Rock
and North Little Rock. My dad is a retired military
sergeant, 20 -year vet, decorated third highest
medal in the Air Force. He decoded an ambush.
And my mom is a retired youth authority teacher.
So I always joke around and say, we couldn't
get away with anything in our household because
it was pretty serious, very strict, but I think
very fair. So and then martial arts. there's
a code of conduct too. We have courtesy, integrity,
perseverance, self -control, and dominable spirit
in victory. Those are the tenets of Tae Kwon
Do. So we're in this tournament and both of us
are black belts. My mother comes down from the
stadium and my brother and I are hoping maybe
we don't compete against one another for the
championship, but actually we hope we do. And
so we're fighting each other for the championship.
And my mom comes down from the stands and she
says, I don't want you boys fighting one another.
And I don't know if I had some kind of sideways
look or something like that. I don't know. I
don't think so, right? Because they're from the
South. So my mom would say a saying like this
every once in a while, meaning pointing at the
eyes. She would say, boy, don't roll those biscuits
at me unless you want someone to butter them
for you. And I would say, oh, yes, ma 'am. So
anyway, I must have said something or one of
us did. And they said, Are you talking back to
your mom?" It was like, no, sir, because we never
really did. They said, yes, you are. Both of
you, 50 push -ups. So we're doing these 50 push
-ups down there before the championship match.
And so none of us want to hit each other or kick
each other or punch each other. So the referee
says, Rosses, 30 seconds left. I'm like, what?
And then all of a sudden, my brother does this
roundhouse kick and kicks me in the head. And
I said, Mom said not to hit each other. So I'm
chasing him. And then time runs out and I didn't
win the match. And so he says, I have the biggest
trophy. And I'm like, man, that's messed up.
So I'm like, all right. Maybe there is some time
for some kind of payback, but we're only doing
good in the neighborhood. So we're in the Air
Force and the Air Force to have this or Air Force
family. They have this grocery store called the
commissary the commissary is where you're taking
a like grocery carts like at your normal store,
but you got runners running them back and forth
and you get paid from tips and you can make some
pretty good money and We only need it one job.
So we had this bright idea. Why not on the weekends
on saturdays? Let's switch the job with one another
and That way we can do our sports, do our homework,
and be some good citizens and, you know, have
a little bit of pocket change. Well, he was student
body president and vice president in our high
school, San Juan High School in Sacramento, California
area, actually in Citrus Heights. We were right
on the border. And I was class president two
times. So we had to flip a coin. to make sure
in that particular area we didn't compete with
one another. Like one went the federal route,
one went the state route. So he happened to be
student body president that year. This was senior
year, too, by the way. And so he thought he was
supposed to give the entering speech to the entering
freshman class. And he thought for some reason
that was later on in the evening and not in the
morning. So he went to work. And it just so happened
to be that night when I was dutifully washing
the dishes, I said, if I were student body president,
what would I say to the entering freshman class?
Well, maybe there's something about twin intuition
or whatnot. He went to the job. And then I get
a call from the school secretary, and she says,
Martin, where's your brother? And I'm like, well,
he went to work. And he said, well, you're supposed
to be giving this speech to the entering freshman
class. And I said, well, OK, well, he's not here.
And she said, well, you come then. I'm like.
Okay, I got to help out my brother. I got to
do something so I get there I walk in and I tell
the vice principal that's standing at the door
I said I just have to tell you something I'm
not my brother and he says what and he gives
me a thumbs up and then I go and I walk to the
front of the auditorium and The principal says
no problem mark. His real name is mark ton Mar
kto in and my name is Martin and we have the
same middle name He said mark. Come on up And
so when I sit down, the back of the chair falls
out and I'm flat on my back, 400 freshmen give
me this standing ovation. And I'm like, wow,
man, this is messed up. And so I have to go up
and give this speech. I'm talking about goal
setting, how to achieve things in life, et cetera.
And, you know, martial arts, other things they
tell you, you know, you have to the show must
go on. I went on and did it. I said, you know,
the parents were saying that was a great speech.
I said what? I still got to do with my fellow
students here. Maybe they'll forget after the
speech, but they weren't forgetting. They were
laughing, but the parents loved it. So I thought,
wow, OK, well, maybe when we go back to school
next week, first day of class. maybe they'll
forget. So I'm walking in, they're laughing.
And they said, hey, aren't you the guy that fell
out of the chair giving the speech to the entering
freshman class, the student body president? And
I said, no, it's not me. It's that guy over there
at locker 142C him. So I got a chance to pay
him back. I got the glory. He got the shame for
the whole year. And so He claims he has the biggest
martial arts trophy, but I'm saying, well, you're
the one that fell out of the chair in front of
a freshman. So pay back to you. So that's my
story. Thank you. That's great, man. I mean,
I love to pay back. He spends the year sort of
embarrassed a little bit, and it's a fun story.
I mean, I like the fact that you're brothers
and you still get along. Oh, yes, for sure. You
know, you compete and yet at the same time you're.
obviously love each other, et cetera. And I think
that's excellent. So how do you think growing
up as a twin or maybe just experiencing shared
experiences with your brother or however you
want to look at it, how do you think that's impacted
who you are as an adult today? Both of us, through
that whole experience, we still want to make
strong contributions to society. And, you know,
you really, you're going to have mess -ups and
mistakes and things like that. And that was probably
one of the, you know, most people would have
probably walked off the stage and couldn't do
the speech, but you have to be able to continue
to follow through and realize that everything's
not going to go as perfectly as you would like
it to be in life. So you still have to press
forward. That's what martial arts taught us.
That's what our parents taught us coming from
the South, right? You know, my uncle was the
court case. I don't know if you heard of the
Little Rock Nine. That was the integration of
Central High School. My uncle was the court case
basis for the Little Rock Nine. He was one of
the sharpest kids in Arkansas, and Mrs. Daisy
Bates asked him to try to enter into the University
of Arkansas knowing that he was not going to
be admitted. And knowing that he was not, then
they went back. and did that challenge of the
separate but equal and so forth. So growing up
where I grew up being one of the first African
-American families being in the military in the
area that I grew up in Sacramento, sometimes
it was tough. But sometimes it was really good.
But the main thing that they said, you have to
keep pressing forward. You've got to be the ambassador.
You have to be that Puente that we talked about
when I picked up as I speak Spanish relatively
fluently, Tito Puente. And I was like, man, that's
a cool name to have bridge in your last name.
And so I always saw myself as an ambassador,
as a bridge builder in all the communities that
I've served. whether Indian tribal group in Scottsdale
or Compton, California for seven years. I was
the bridge between I was only this only African
American that we were aware of as my ministry
at the Salvation Army for 20 years. I was an
engineer before that. So there you go. Thank
you very much. I know my audience is going to
want me to ask you this question. And that question
is, did you ever switch? When you were dating
your people did your brother ever switch for
you or you ever switch for your brother? Well,
no, we never switched. There's not an evil twin
or a bad twin. We're both doing good. But one
day, here's the funny thing, this last one, we
were in New York. We had an argument and we talk
about mental telepathy. At the end, we came back.
We made up as friends. We've always been friends.
And I said, well, we went to Harlem, in Harlem,
New York. We said, well, where did you go? He
went to the same record store. He went to the
same shops. And I said, well, what did you buy?
he pulled out these shirts for our mother and
father and sister, and we had bought the exact
same shirts, exact everything, and went to the
same record stores and everything. So no, we
didn't switch, but we do have this twin telepathy
type of thing going on. So there must be something
real to that. I don't know. That was the weirdest
thing that ever happened. So that's another story
though. All right. Well, thank you, Martin Ross,
for being on the show. I really appreciate it.
The story is interesting. I know nothing about
twins other than what I've seen. And some get
along and some don't. I'm really happy that you
do with Mark. That's great. Anything you want
to say in closing? Well, I just want to say thank
you, Jay. Thanks to Jeff. out here in Sacramento
area that connected us. And what I want to say
is, if folks want to learn more about me and
collectively do some good in the neighborhood,
you know, being practical and compassionate and
innovative. And that's me, you know, trying to
leave this world empty because all the gifts
we've been given, we've freely given away. Reach
out to me at electmarchandross .com or you can
find me on social media at all of them, either
at LinkedIn, Instagram. or Facebook and just
look up March and Ross. You'll see me on there
and I'd love to hear from you, connect with you
in the community. And let's make a difference
together because we're better together. Thank
you so much. Beautiful. All right. Well, thank
you, Martin, for being on this show. Shout out
to my good friend out in Sacramento, Jeff Holden,
who you referred to, who is part of the MultiPoint
Strategies and Nonprofit Network out there in
Sacramento. He hooked this up and I do appreciate
it, Jeff. All right. Well, that's our show. So
until next time, this is Jay Reheck asking you
all to please stay safe out there and try not
to hurt anybody.