Hello and welcome to a Monday edition of Good
News York. I am your host Mike Brindisi. You
can follow me on all socials at MikeBTV. We are
sponsored by Ads on the Go. Getadsonthego .com.
Love you Zach. And shout out to our director,
producer of Good News York. Danny Tripodi on
the ones and twos. Isn't that what they say in
the business? I don't know. You can follow us
on all socials at Good News York, GoodNewsYork
.com, Monday through Thursday, 5 p .m. Eastern
is when we air our episodes. I am joined today
by a very, very, very special guest. She has
been on one of our clients' podcasts, The Crazy
Real Podcast. She is the founder of the Cuse
Moms Club, love it already, Ali. Ali, welcome.
Again, it's always an uneventful single clap.
Well, thank you, Dani. But we want to welcome
you. Good morning. Good morning. And thank you
for being here, especially on a Monday. Thank
you. When it's what, 16 degrees out? I know.
You are the founder of the Cuse Moms Club, and
we're clearly going to get into that. But you
have a great, very interesting background that
kind of really fits for what you're doing. Tell
us about yourself and your background. Thanks.
Well, I am going to be 40 this year, which is
crazy. I don't usually say my age, but I've been
around for a minute. I grew up here in Syracuse.
I went to West Tennessee High School, went to
Cortland for college and started my teaching
career here after I traveled a bit and lived
other places and started teaching here in the
city of Syracuse. I taught fifth grade for 10
years. And then when I had my son, I decided
I wanted to stay home. I kind of always knew
if I had kids, I would want to be a stay at home
mom. So it just kind of was the right right path
for me. And when I started to stay home, I was
kind of looking for something like a way to connect
with other moms, a way to kind of just postpartum
is very lonely and it's very isolating. If you're
a mom, you know that. So when I was about a year
postpartum, I decided to start Houston Moms Club
because I looked around and there was nothing
for moms in the area. There was no like mom groups.
There was no postpartum support groups really.
I think there are a few, but you don't really
know about them and they're hard to find. So
I started to kind of think, okay, what could
I do? What could I do for Myself and other moms
and our kids and so I came up with chiefs mom's
club. I love the idea. I think it's awesome Thanks,
and it's so it's so fitting too because that's
such a teacher move You know what? I mean like
I mean that you know But I mean that as a compliment
like here you are you're leaving your teaching
career your stay -at -home mom But the teacher
never leaves you thinking what how can I bring
everybody together and we can learn and grow
and Speaking of that When you had to make the
decision, was it tough for you to leave the teaching
job? How did you navigate that? Because that
is a tough decision to make. It was. You know,
I kind of had reached the point 10 years in the
city. It's challenging. You get burnt out. It's
tough. It asks a lot of you. It's very demanding.
You give everything to those kids. And at that
point, it was kind of like... a struggle for
me because I'm like, I don't want to have kids
and send them to someone else to be raised and
then me go raise other kids. You know, like it
might, some people might take that the wrong
way, but some moms don't have a choice. And that
is really tough. I think a lot of times when
I talk with other moms, especially in these postpartum
support circles, the hardest thing is moms leaving
their babies to go back to work. A lot of them,
they only get six weeks. Some of them, they get
a little bit more time, but almost all the moms
I talk to, they're not ready. So for me, it was
like I knew I wanted this time. This time is
priceless. You cannot get this back. When I'm
80 years old and I look back on my life, I'm
never going to regret saying, oh, I stayed home
with my son, but I would regret saying I went
back to work. That makes sense. You know what?
You just completely mirrored a Facebook post
or social media. Not even just Facebook. Yeah.
I posted on social media about a week ago. My
wife took a video of my son and I playing football
out in the yard. And I said, as I'm getting older,
especially as a father, I'm starting to really
realize how much time is the most precious thing
we have on this earth. And you can't get it back.
You can't. And when you are a parent... and you
love your kids so much, you want to spend every
minute you can with them. So I totally understand
that mentality. And that's such a great perspective.
Is there anything that you do miss about teaching?
But it's kind of a part two to that question
is, but does the Cuse Moms Club kind of scratch
that itch for what you're missing? You know what
I mean? Yeah, that's a good question. I think
there are things I miss. Like I definitely miss
the adult interactions and like my teammates
and that, but then I've met so many moms through
Cuse Moms Club, where it's like, I have that,
those interactions, I'm a super social person.
So yeah, like the events that I do, the moms
that I meet, it's, it kind of, like you said,
you know, fills that void, I guess, but yeah.
The, obviously we're going to get into, the actual
Cuse Moms Club, what it's all about. Or quickly,
you come up with this idea, I'm gonna start this
Cuse Moms Club. Now, I don't know your husband.
I assume there had to have been a conversation.
How did it go? Was it like, oh, what? Or was
it like, all right, you know, what was his reaction
to all that? Yeah, my husband is the complete
opposite of me. He's like the most chill person.
He doesn't have social media. He doesn't... have
instagram i envy that man he doesn't know like
i will show him a reel and he'll be like like
he's like an 80 year old like what am i looking
at like does he do the glasses on the end of
the nose he wears contacts but i'm sure if he
did yeah so he's just like he doesn't like get
things when i show you know so it's like okay
whatever um so when i told him i was doing this
like he really i don't think understands i'm
like oh i have like four thousand followers now
and he's like you know he he does yeah he has
like no idea like What's going on? He knows like
obviously about the events and all that and he
knows like it's really funny to both of us like
very Very weird and funny when people are like,
oh my god, like you're a celebrity your local
celebrity when people meet us and like my husband's
like Okay. See, that's great. This is ridiculous.
No, but that's great. He's the last of a dying
breed. I love and envy the people. You know,
I work in this field now, so even if I wanted
to get rid of social media, I couldn't. I envy
the people that are so oblivious to what's going
on. And they're like, oh, you have 4 ,000 followers?
Yeah. Okay. I think he's probably like, you know
what? My wife's happy. She's not yelling at me.
Let's go. That's it. So Cuse Moms Club. Love
the name, first of all. Thanks. So the idea comes
about Tell us about what is Cuse Moms Club at
its core and and and yeah, just what what it's
all about. So when I thought like, oh, I want
to start something, I kind of had like all these
ideas kind of in my head, but I didn't want it
to be like I thought of like the Cuse Mom and
I'm like, but I don't want it to be about me.
You know, it's not really about me. So Cuse Moms
Club, I feel like the club kind of sounds exclusive,
but it's it's not, you know, like I'd have moms
be like, how do I join the club? I'm like, you
just follow. You can join, come to any event.
You just did. Yeah, you just did. Are you interested?
You're in. Verbal agreement. You're in, you know?
So, yeah, it's not like this exclusive thing,
but it kind of sounds like it. So that's kind
of what I liked it. Like a group, you know, a
club. Sure. Yeah, so. And what is the kind of
the mission statement, so to speak, of the club?
This is... Is it a little bit of a support group,
just a little bit of a way to get out and do
things? Talk about that. Yeah, so I think, like
in my Instagram bio, I have connecting and supporting
moms in Syracuse, which that's definitely like
the main goal. And so doing that through the
postpartum circles, the events, and then finding
adventures and things to do for you and your
kids around Syracuse, because I felt like that
was one of the things that was missing, too.
I would wake up and I'd be like, okay, what can
we do today? And you're kind of like endlessly
searching and you just kind of hit dead ends.
Like, okay, I don't really, I don't know. I guess
we'll, you know, do the same thing. So kind of
helping moms try to find different things to
do in the area and sharing all about all the
local offerings in the area. Let me tell you
something. That sounds like such a simple idea.
Yeah. And maybe it is as a parent. Yeah. especially
as a parent whose wife is, my wife's a teacher.
Yeah. And when you have a long break, and you're
scrambling for finding things to do, you can
only look up so many things. Yeah. Just, I mean,
obviously the support part of the group of Cuse
Moms Club is great, but I think just having one
place where you can go and find events is probably
key. Yeah. For everybody. Do you think, because
I know you had mentioned... It had gone through
some postpartum, which is a very real thing that
moms go through. Do you think that was kind of
the catalyst? Like, that was the thing that kind
of gave you the spark to start this? Was that
kind of the inspiration? Yeah, for sure. Like
I said, postpartum was really hard for me. I
had a really tough time. My son was in the NICU
for the first week of his life. Yeah, so... Which
is terrifying. It was really tough. Yeah, it's
at he actually was like perfectly healthy. It
was just a protocol because he was born so early
So that was like a really hard thing to deal
with I think I would have had an easier time
if I like knew he needed the NICU right? like
in my heart I knew he didn't and then like later
confirmed with my midwife who Is at a different
hospital, but I decided to go to Krauss because
I was early She was like, yeah, he would have
been fine here. So that was like a hard thing
to deal with because when yeah when you have
a baby or like I just want to have that baby
with me all the time and that I couldn't it was
that really messed me up and it it had like long
-term effects. So yeah once he was a year old
I kind of felt like okay I was like not getting
back to myself but I was like I was kind of out
of the throws of it and so that's when I decided
to start it but it definitely was probably the
spark that made me want to start it. It's amazing
and I'll tell you you know On any sort of entrepreneurial
adventure, whether it's small or large, it's
a leap of faith. You have to have the confidence
and the bravery to do it. You have a career as
a teacher. What gave you the confidence to say,
you know what? I'm going to go do this and I
can do this. Yeah, I know. I honestly didn't
think it was going to become this big. I just
was like, oh, I'll just like. like start this
club and see what happens. Maybe I'll have like
10 or 20 moms, you know? And I remember the first
day it was like 400 followers. Like they shut
my Instagram down. Really? They shut my Instagram
down because they thought I was like collecting
bot followers. Like, I'm like, what is happening
here? Like I put it, I posted it. I'm like, they're
not letting me access this. And like somebody
messaged, it was like, cause you're growing so
fast that they shut it. What is so, I mean. For
anybody who's on social media, especially that
we're a company click stream studios We produce
podcasts and social content and we have good
news York Everybody wishes they knew the secret
sauce. You know, everyone dreams of like, I'm
going to start something. I'm going to get a
ton of followers. Yeah. What did you post? Like,
what's the gist of what you posted that worked?
You had the magic recipe. I honestly think at
the beginning it was there was nothing in this
area for moms. Yeah. And I think Instagram was
my preferred platform because I think as a millennial
and as a mom, that's where a lot of millennial
moms are. You know, I think TikTok is growing
for us, but not not as much as like Instagram
as our platform. And so then when it started
to come, I was like, oh my God. Once I got that
many followers, I'm like, oh shoot, I better
like start planning some stuff. I better actually
do something. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like,
okay, like let me, like the postpartum circle
was the first thing, but yeah, I was like, oh
my gosh, this is a lot of pressure now. Like
it started to become where I'm like a lot of
pressure, but now I've chilled out. I'm like,
all right, I have like a really great group of
moms and I... I do not care about the followers.
I do not care about, like, if people know who
I am at all. Like, I don't really post myself
really on my page, again, because it's not about
me, and I actually don't care about that. Oh,
my gosh. Yeah. So you're the equivalent of the.
I had a band for a lot of years. You're the equivalent
of the musical artist that's like, I don't care
if I have fans, I do it for the music. You end
up growing the biggest following next to all
the bands that are posting every day. Check out
my music. That really is the key I feel like
sometimes is you get rid of preconceived notions.
You just do it because it's your passion. If
it's good, it'll come along. It'll work. Business
101. It's like I always tell people like if you
want to open a restaurant, right? You you're
not in your city has five steak houses. Don't
open a steak house, right? You found a hole in
the market that there was a extreme need for
for for mothers who needed support and things
to do and you found that and that's so great
and you're selfless about it and I think it's
wonderful What uh, what are some of the things
that you guys do? I know you mentioned like a
postpartum circle. Yeah I know I've noticed there's
happy hours. Talk about the types of events that
you guys do Yeah, we do all different types of
events. We do events just for moms So yeah, the
happy hours we do we're doing like a Galentine's
Day event So a mom's night out with like shopping
pampering. It's gonna be great We do events for
moms and kids so that we can connect and meet
you know, moms in the area that have maybe the
same age kids as us or that live in the same
area as us. So that's a great way. I've had like
moms who have become friends through Cuse Moms
Club, which that's amazing. You know, that's
like, yeah, obviously the main reason like why
I started it was to help moms connect. So that's
great. And then, yeah, just doing events for
families, too. A lot of the events I do on the
weekends I do for families because That's family
time, right? So I don't wanna be like, oh no,
it's just moms and kids. And then like, what
are the dads gonna be doing? Just, you know.
Right. That's their time to spend with their
kids. So I try to be mindful of that. But most
of the events are for moms or moms and their
kids. That's amazing. Yeah. And is there a certain
venue that you go to? I know obviously with events,
you have different venues because it's... different
event. Yeah. But is there is there like a clubhouse
or just kind of a home base for you guys? There's
not. I wish there was. But there's not. I think
that's something that in the future I would love
to do. Again, like you talked about the entrepreneurial
side of this, I can't even say the word. Tough
word. But that is like not my wheelhouse at all.
So again, being a teacher, like I don't really
know how to run a business. I don't. But I would
love to. Have you ever heard of Play Day in Liverpool?
It's like an indoor play place. No, I haven't.
OK, so it's like an indoor play place for kids,
but it's the only one in the area. So in the
back of my mind, I'm like, I would love to own
something like that in like Camillus, like where
I am kind of based. And that could be like a
home base that could also be used for events
that could also be used for like even. like schooling
down the road like a little like pre -k or top
you know or the dads can come and the they can
go in the play area with the kids and then the
moms can do their thing you know i mean if anyone's
listening uh yeah any venues investors any investors
any realtors i think that's a wonderful idea
yeah so right now we don't have a clubhouse but
i i would love that you know that would just
take obviously i don't make money off of this
right now so that would take I have to find funding
and I've been wanting to try to look in the not
-for -profit route, but have you ever like searched
how to do that? It's very daunting. It's a ton
of paperwork. There's like, I feel like I need
to just hire somebody and be like, can you turn
this into a not -for -profit? So I have some
funding so that I can like elevate my events
and, you know, take it to the next level. Well,
it sounds like you're doing everything right.
What? How do you come up with this idea for different
events? And what goes into choosing the venues?
Yeah, so a lot of times I think, okay, what are
things that I would want to do either by myself
or with my son? So that kind of helps. I have
people reach out to me a lot, like, hey, would
you want to collab on this type of event? Would
you want to do something at our space? So that's
really nice. I have been now kind of been able
to pick and choose like what I do because I have
a lot of people reaching out to me, which is
also hard because I have to say no sometimes
because otherwise it's like too much. So I try
to keep it to like five to seven events per month
so that it's not like a burnout and I'm sure
not like every night of the week. Like, OK, I
got to go, you know, do this or. Yeah, no, it's
actually really smart. Again, I'll apply it to
I'll compare it to, you know, having a band or
being a musician. You know, one of the rules
of thumb in like a local music scene is don't
play 10 times a month because then, you know,
the shows that you do play, some people are going
to go, I'm not going to go to this show. I could
go see them next week. You know, make it make
it more of a special thing. Yeah. Is there also
some like so obviously the events are the events.
But outside of that, you have a strong social
media presence. Is there a lot of interaction
with the members through social media as far
as support goes and interacting with each other?
Yeah, for sure. Like I get so many messages just
like thanking me, which is really nice. And like
how like this has helped me so much as a mom
in my postpartum era, which is like awesome,
you know? Yeah, that's the that's the whole thing,
right? I mean, the events are great, but it's
like at the crux of it. Yeah. You know, this
started by being inspired by by struggling through
postpartum. And when you hear other moms, you're
like, this is why I did it. Yeah, like at Christmas
time, like I had a like a couple of moms then
mo me like, just thank you so much for what you
do. I had a mom give me a present like just so
unexpected and so nice, you know. Yeah, but they're
doing it because again, you're selfless and you're
providing. as much as this is a recreational
thing of sorts, it's also a support group, and
you're helping people through some of the toughest
periods of their life. It's amazing. You've accomplished
so much with the Cuse Moms Club, and for the
most part, it's lighthearted, but are there any
milestones or goals, or where do you see this
going over there? Is there something where you're
like, you know what I really want to do with
this group? I'd love for us to be able to do
this. Yeah, I think... long -term obviously the
not -for -profit route would be amazing and then
I have thought about like the future and what
this could look like because obviously my son
is not gonna be young forever, you know and as
he grows like Homeschooling is something I've
thought about because I have just loved staying
home with him so much and then obviously bringing
in that like teacher part of me I would love
to be the one that is teaching him and seeing
him grow and Obviously being a teacher and you
like when that light clicks for the kids and
you see their growth like that's amazing. Like
that would be awesome to do that with my own
son. So just talking with other moms about that,
I know there are a lot of moms who are interested
in the homeschool like route. So maybe down the
road, that's something like this could turn into
like a homeschool co -op. I don't know. I feel
like the possibilities are endless. I love where
your mind's going because, you know, given your
background in teaching, You know, this could
evolve into something you never expected where,
you know, the teaching element is involved. Who
knows? But we wish you the best. Thanks. Allie,
you're a former teacher. Once a teacher, always
a teacher. Hughes Moms Club. What are some events
coming up that you want to talk about? Yeah,
so we have a couple events in February already
on the books. We have the Galentine's Day event,
which I'm super excited about. That's February
13th, and that is at the Linear Collective. So
it's going to be a night of shopping. We have
vendors. We have pampering, massages, things
like that. And then we have an event February
11th. It's going to be at St. Camillus. It's
a nursing home. I don't know if you've heard
of it. It's in Syracuse. My grandpa was in St.
Camilla's for like forever, for like seven years.
So we're going to go and do like a little senior
story time where the kids and the seniors can
kind of like sing songs and do a little craft
together and hopefully bring some joy to the
people in St. Camilla's because. How fun. You
know, you're not only helping moms and children,
now you're helping the elderly. You're like Mother
Teresa. No, OK. It's wonderful. If there are
any moms out there that they're interested in
the Cuse Moms Club, where can they go to find
you? Give us the plugs. Yeah. So Instagram, it's
at Cuse Moms Club. That is the main platform
I'm on right now. I don't really do much on Facebook
just because it's a lot to run multiple platforms
and answer a lot of messages in that. So I try
to be mindful of how much time I'm on my phone.
But yeah, Cuse Moms Club. And if you are interested
in collaborating an event or looking to have
me host something at your space, you can email
me at Q's Moms Club at gmail .com. Amazing. Is
there anything else you want to talk about or
mention about Q's Moms Club before we go? I don't
think so. Just thank you everyone who's part
of it and thanks for the support and we love
it. I think it sounds like everyone is thanking
you. Even our executive assistant Amanda said
before you got here, she goes, Oh my God, I love
it. She goes, every time I want to do something
with my daughter, I look up Cuse Moms Club. That's
awesome. You're doing amazing things. Thank you.
And we're so happy you came on Good News York.
We wish you the best. Ali from Cuse Moms Club.
Again, check her out at Cuse Moms Club. I'm Mike
Brindisi. You can follow me on all socials, at
MikeBTV. And we, Good News York, are on all socials.
at Good News York, goodnewsyork .com. New episodes
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Danny Tripodi, thank you for producing and directing.
This is powered by Clickstream Studios, and we
will see you tomorrow on Good News York. Ally,
thank you so much. Thank you.