SPEAKER_01 0:00

What's going on you guys? Corpuscursity Originals Podcast. Welcome back today. We have Jen with us. Say hi Jen.

SPEAKER_02 0:04

Hi.

SPEAKER_01 0:05

Alright, Jen is running for District 2, you guys. We are at uh 4028 Weber Road, Mold's Texas Style Barbecue. There's obscenary back there. Check it out, you guys. Come check it out. Appreciate y'all. Appreciate Mold's Texas Style Barbecue. Follow them on Facebook as well. Shout out to our sponsor, uh Premier Hearing Solutions of South Texas. How you doing today, Jen?

SPEAKER_00 0:23

Doing good.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Doing good?

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Running for District 2.

SPEAKER_00 0:26

Running for District 2. He caught me at one of my favorite barbecue spots.

SPEAKER_01 0:30

We should be eating, I'm telling you.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

No, we should have grabbed some. They have the best banana pudding here too.

SPEAKER_01 0:35

Yeah, he gave he gave me some. Try it out. That's pretty cool. So, how does it feel? Running for district two?

SPEAKER_00 0:41

It's um it's let's give you a great metaphor. You were gonna get on the rattler because you thought you were gonna do it right. And then once you got closer to the fraud, you were like, oh shoot, you can't get out because the line's too long to get back. So you just gotta get on the ride, hold on, and just run it through to the other side.

SPEAKER_01 1:00

I don't like those clicks when you're going up the rat. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_00 1:04

Those happen every day.

SPEAKER_01 1:09

Yeah, so we met we met at Solar Rock Church, man, I don't remember, 2000s.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

And then 2000 and like nine or ten.

SPEAKER_01 1:15

Something like that, yeah. And then uh I substitute taught at Winseal. Your daughter was there, looked just like you. Oh my gosh. And then I heard about your father. Uh uh, condolences.

SPEAKER_02 1:26

Yeah, thanks.

SPEAKER_01 1:27

Um, I went to school at Winceel and went to that. I don't know if he owned the store then at that time, but this was like in 1990 or something like that. But anyways, uh I was like, oh shoot, and I was kind of grieving for you guys because that's that's pretty tough.

SPEAKER_00 1:40

Yeah, that's kind of weird. You were like in the shuttles the whole time, you're like with us, you know. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a big part of me when I was going to Solid Rock. I was really involved in the youth ministry there. And we had our own little group. We used to get together in different places.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah, yeah, for sure. We would we would get together.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Did you ever play that game where we would we would uh put a hang hanger shift over our face and you throw stuff at people and we would hide on top of the counters?

SPEAKER_01 2:04

You remember that? Oh, I do.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I always kind of had to re think how we play that.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah, I don't know, it's kind of it's kind of like a memory in my mind, like I just want to forget it, you know what I mean? I've come a long way since then, just like even my relationship with God and even just thinking certain ways about church and stuff like that. So but I I mean I still haven't lost my my you know fire and wanting to read every day and stuff like that. So that's something that's definitely close close to me, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 2:33

Yeah. Once you have that as a child, like they say if you instill the word of God into your child, they will never leave them and never depart, like it's always a part of it.

SPEAKER_01 2:41

Oh yeah, you know, that's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 2:43

And it's like every trial and tribulation you go to, it's like your faith becomes grander and grander to achieve and be able to accomplish so much more because you're like, I remember when I went through that, like God brought me through and I went through this, so it's like your faith grows with you.

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Wow, amazing, amazing. Yeah, so so that does that, I guess that go that will go with you uh in district too, like if you're if you're elected and stuff like that. Does that have an effect on how you'll make decisions and stuff like that? Like, how do you look at that?

SPEAKER_00 3:11

I really do feel like my compassion for people is so deep. Like I we go places and I meet with people where I literally my heart is just so so consumed with the empathy for people. You know, I as a young child, um remember young, we were had the store on the north side in Hillcrest, and then we had a store in front of La Tomada, and then we moved over here. So we were always in these areas, and and I'd see crime, I'd see poverty, I'd seen all of this stuff, and to me, I kind of was a little bit confused at all, but we were starting to help. We would have the gun and we would snap the prices onto the things, and my dad would be like, Go give that lady the bread, yeah. And thank you so much, and oh you know, and and you love to feel that gratitude of being somebody that could help somebody else. Like it was very satisfying.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

Yeah, I found it interesting that because I I listened to you uh the first part of the uh your episode with uh the guy from the den, I don't remember his name.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Pastor Joel.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, but yeah, Pastor Joel. But you were saying that you learned a lot that from your dad, and that he would give people and stuff like that, and eventually your daughter probably will learn that from you.

SPEAKER_00 4:16

They are, they are, they do so much for the community, and it and it's I wouldn't say, I mean, I know people are like, well, she started running, now she's helping. I'm like, man, this was way before. I mean, I could think about months ago there was a lady that was walking and she got hit in the back of her head and lost her eyesight because she was in a domestic violence relationship. And um it smelt bad. She was young, 19 years old. And I said, Where are you going? She said to the bus stop. So I said, I'll walk with you. And we walked a couple of blocks over, and I sat with her and she was like, Why are you with me? And I just was like, Why not? She said, Nobody talks to me, nobody and I just something about this girl was so attracted to, and I just felt like there's so much life in you. And it was really just may not have offered anything at that moment, but my time, my inspiration and empowerment and love to her, and say you matter, because we lack that in this city. We lack that when we focus more on the corruption, and that becomes the intriguing dopamine in our in our blood instead of the remarkable, beautiful things that people are doing in this city. That's a great point.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

That's a really great point.

SPEAKER_00 5:22

I do feel like being in industrial two, that will be definitely it's a it's a foundation, it's a grounding foundation in me to be able to look at the things that are needed and with compassion and empathy, but also look at it from a business aspect of how we can define this and cultivate it so it's not something that's pressured into people and we're pulling money out from places that we don't have.

SPEAKER_01 5:42

Oh, yeah, for sure. Definitely. All right, so do you live in district two or have you grown up in district two?

SPEAKER_00 5:48

I lived in district two. I've I've lived in the house that I live in now for over since about 2013, I think. Um, and then my father's had that store for almost about 50, maybe 17, 20 years, probably. He's had that store. So amazing. Um I've always liked that area, the older homes, the historical homes.

SPEAKER_01 6:07

Yeah, I live near Six Points. I still kind of live on that area, so it's pretty cool. It's pretty cool. Yeah, so do I. Yeah, yeah, going back to what you were saying, man. Like I definitely totally agree with that. Like some people you they just want you to say hi to them. And it's rare that when you do, they're just like, what's this guy's MO? Like, what's he, you know what I mean? What is your intention? What's what's why are you doing why you being why you being nice? You know what I mean? And it's just it's just something that God called us to do, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

No, it is, and some people lose that. Like there was a lady that crawled under the bus stop, and she just she was tired of asking for help and people to help, but she just she died, and she died under there, you know, and it was like I want to bring back humanity for animals and humans. It's like when do we stop saying don't feed the homeless, don't feed the dogs, don't don't do this, you know? And it's uh it's we've come a little far from where we should be.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, so is that so is that like part of the reason why you're you're running, like uh just seeing that human that that humanity that you want to bring it to the city council? Like, what's the reason why you're running?

SPEAKER_00 7:08

I think I'm guess that's my question. Overachiever, I'm so confident in myself. I think um like I said about faith, you know, when you go through certain things, you endure more, you have more strength, right? You you build more strength every time. It was kind of the same thing in my life because you know, I was young when I had my daughter, and you know, you go through all the real issues of finding a job, working, how do you find a baby? Like all of these things to keep yourself to keep yourself focused in the bigger picture. And um, I was the oldest out of six, so I was always getting lectured and pushed to do more, give more, be more. And um, I was frustrated with that. Like, I can't, this is all I can do. But when you start from the very bottom, I remember I had a little corolla and I had to hit a speed bump just so the radio can turn on. I'd be like, Jesus, I just want to listen to some music, please. And I would just like try to hit a speed bump so it could work. And we were just like, I just want to precursive maintenance. Yeah, I was like, I'm not gonna listen to Hadzian 5, I'm gonna listen to Jesus music. Just give me some radio. But I've started from the very bottom in that area. When I got older and I started in general construction, I started at the very bottom. I worked with the guys 16 hours a day, ripped up pants, eating pizza at the back of a bed truck. Crazy. Okay. And I looked at the guys that come and look at the jobs, and I was like, I want to be like that. I want to just go to a job with like, hey, everything looks good. Hair still looks good, I look good, goodbye. You know, keep it up, you know. And it was just so far-fetched to see myself from that bed of the truck to that place. But you know what? I did it, and we actually became multi- we did millions of dollars in this city, you know, for the company that I was working for. So it was always a challenge once I'm another challenge. So I saw I'm at the top, I capped off, and I was about 29 where I decided I'm gonna start my own general construction. Oh amazing. I'm gonna open my own business, put $50,000, and I'm gonna run this out the same way that I do. And that's exactly what I did, you know. Wow. And um that running my father's estates, handling all of the properties, overseeing the store, trying to manage, help my mom with of course a lot of my brothers and sisters were still in school when my dad passed away. So I became my father when he died. I stepped into those footsteps to have to take control and the leadership of the business aspect of it, helping with my mom with the children, because I didn't want her to feel overwhelmed, along with running my construction company. Wow, you know, so I've overachieved these kind of things that found to be very challenging in my life. But those were the obstacles that I went to that put me in the place that I am today because I have achieved those. I started a business, I helped my husband start his company, and now we have a nice home, it goes to a great school, and it's like I'm always looking for another project. I'm like, now what are we gonna do?

SPEAKER_02 9:54

And what are we gonna do now?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

And it just happened to be that I was working on a campaign with Laura Ramos, and I figured, man, I kind of like this politics. And I started watching this the meetings and getting involved. What is the city ordinance? Looking at the bonds, like I was just so intrigued by it. I submerged myself into it, and then uh it was really just a matter of like, are you gonna jump? Oh, sure. You know, and I was like, let's go.

SPEAKER_01 10:18

So, what were your initial thoughts when you when you dove into that stuff? Like, oh shoot, this could be I just was like, this is crazy.

SPEAKER_00 10:24

Like, where's all this money? It to me, it was like catching your boyfriend cheating. You're like, I'm gonna look into it for records, and I need to find out the truth. Like, what's going on here? You know, I'm like, why can't we do this? I'm like a seven-year-old and just intrigued by it. So I just submerge myself in every part of it.

SPEAKER_02 10:42

Oh, crazy.

SPEAKER_00 10:43

I I also had friends, you know, I I talked to a lot of the people on the council. And when they heard me and my saw my passion for the city and my passion for people, they wanted, they were like, you should run. And I'm like, Yeah, calm down.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

It's funny.

unknown 10:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

They just lined up, it it all aligned, but it was very small steps, I'd have to say. And I would just love to write a book about it someday because it's very fun. Very fun.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Yeah, so I guess so. What are some of the main issues you would work on if first thing if you would get in there?

SPEAKER_00 11:15

You know, people always ask when it comes to like what does district two? What do we need to? Like I've said before, I mean, we do have a whole city issues which are structural, our structural and our water issues. And then we have like, what does our particular district need? And really, I mean, as much as we get is as much as we're able to get from reading what we have, but we're not like in the council to see everything, to kind of put where things should be and go. Um what I do is I play the listening campaign. I like to go to places and just go to different places I've never been and hear about issues that I don't know about, you know, that I'm not familiar about. Like what's going on here, what's going on here, and then you kind of keep tabs of all of this stuff so you get an understanding, what are their issues and then how do we make the connections? Because we can't completely say the city has done nothing. They have. Yeah, they're actually listening. I'm actually being heard. Yeah, this is being done.

SPEAKER_01 12:21

Yeah, for sure. So, okay, so the water issue is gonna come up, obviously. What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Well, the water issue is a big hu big, big issue. Um, somebody needs to explain why the water tastes like dirt and grass or anything. What's going on with the water here? Um we got a lot of uh I've a lot of questions.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

We had to get ours from outside source.

SPEAKER_00 12:42

Outside source of water here.

SPEAKER_01 12:43

Let's see. Arlington, Texas, nah, Pasadena.

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Um I'm willing to collaborate and work with everybody. I know we have two big projects in the in this energy cell, or we're gonna go towards this project with the Harbor Island and everything else that's saturated on this groundwater and this. Okay. My deal is I would love, and I want to work on this putting together and implementing a map to see, okay, this has this much MGDs, and we kind of have, but it's still there's still some missing links. I can't really quite tell you, but I'm definitely gonna say this I'm not going to put my hand on either one of them until I'm fully aware of everything that it has to do and if it's beneficial. And you know, like most people say, you've got a lot of poverty and people struggling in this area. Like, I'm not gonna be the one to be like, let's do it, and then they're like, you stupid girl. Jesus, I thought it was a great idea. You know, I want to be sure, I want to make sure I do my research, I homework, I talk to everyone that's involved, and and make me confidently believe inside me that this is the best decision for us moving forward. But trust me, as a leader, I'm ready to pull the gun on anything that I feel is effective and that's going to be producing what we need, and it's going to give us a longevity of a long-term water solution.

SPEAKER_01 13:59

Yeah, so do you look at it in terms of like the money that's coming in, money going out, that type of stuff? You know what I mean? Because we could say, oh, they're pulling money from this place or the barn money, whatever, whatever. What are your what's your what's your take on that? What are your thoughts on that?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Well, I said, I mean, if we have a grant for $150 million and the project is close to, you know, billion, $178 million, I believe. Where's the other $800 and something million coming from? Um, I want to start to finish. I'm a contractor. That's what I do. If you told me you're gonna propose a deal to me and you're gonna say, well, this is how much I can be like, all right, buddy, we're kind of missing a gap here. And um, what about the maintenance costs of running and maintaining this place? Where's that coming from? So I want to start to I would love to see, I mean, I'd love to see a start to finish project. Yeah. This is the price, this is what they're gonna put, they're gonna put, and this is what we're gonna have. So do you feel like this that people that are that are in city council now they're doing that now, or they have been doing that, like starting projects without Yeah, there's a lot of money being put into a lot of different places for all these projects, and it's like um, then you have people all against it. You don't want water, or you're not, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:04

Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

We have to build the trust. We have to bring it back, we have to build the trust, and we have to acknowledge everybody's opinion and their voices. We have to listen and structuralize this that is beneficial. You know, and I don't want to go back into a repetitive state that we did from the other podcast, which I haven't seen it yet, the one we did with Pastor Doel. But um, I I've said that people have to be heard and have to take accountability because we did think of a long-term plan solution, but we never really implemented something short where residents weren't affected by this.

SPEAKER_01 15:36

Yeah, and you're talking about like the water issue. Okay, okay, okay.

SPEAKER_00 15:39

The water issue because you're the one who had to, you know, turn your water off at a certain time and you know cut down on cost of water usage.

SPEAKER_01 15:45

So you're saying establishing trust would help with those issues? How how how how would we go about doing that? Has there ever been a time do you know that you know of that there is that there has been? I'm new to all this. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 15:58

So am I?

SPEAKER_01 15:59

So I'm just like, has there ever been trust or stuff gets you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 16:04

It's to me, if I was an I was a citizen and you were running in, and what I'd ask, like, I would like to just see you around more. I'd like to see you kind of implement time in your particular district instead of your three minutes to kind of emphasize where we're going and our plans on moving forward. I'd like to see leadership, but I also like to see accountability. I'd like to see some accountability for like footwork, like them actually doing something. Just show me a little footwork and show me like when you made these decisions, you were thinking of the longevity program of this entire thing, but we were not thinking about implementing something as a short-term relief so residents weren't affected. I didn't see anything implemented in that particular area. But now we have everything on the board. We are we should be able to kind of minimize all of this and collaborate. So this part wants this, this part wants this. How do we collaborate to make something and cultivate something new to be able to emphasize this and just push it through? Push it through. I mean, can we do this? Can we can we not say it's black or white? Can we kind of just say this is what you want? How much can we get? Can we get some more money on this? Pay less on this.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

I think it's still a possibility. Yeah. Because if we continue to go left, right, left, right, where are we gonna go from there?

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, that seems to be the key word, collaboration.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

It has to be because there's so much um division within our council, it's almost a personal uh attack not to have any type of agreement because I already do not like you.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

You know, so why do I want to agree with you? That's not good, you know. So um it's it's a division within our council that's causing division within our city. We have to stand up and be effective leaders and be able to show honesty, integrity, and move forward as decision makers. And even if we don't agree with each other, we handle that behind like me, me, and my car, I got something to tell you. But you we don't do it in front of the people, right? Because we need to hold a uniform um appearance and be able to kind of collaborate and say this is what we need to do.

SPEAKER_01 17:57

On that, like to be able to get elected too, you have to present yourself. Well, I'm I'm yeah, they collaborate for sure, but just on that note where you're saying, like just being presentable in front of people and stuff like that, having signs around, and it's like, how do you establish trust beyond that, you know? Because you could see like like you can see your sign like everywhere. Okay, vote for her. She looks like a cool person. Not even like going past the you know what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

I don't like that either. I'll I'll tell you this. I don't like that. I when people go, I'm gonna vote for you, that they'll message me, I'm voting for you, and I'm like, You don't even know me.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

No, you know who I am.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

I tell them that too. I'm like, you don't even know me.

SPEAKER_01 18:34

Yeah, for sure. And then, like, okay, so I could ask, you're in construction, you're in real estate, I guess you could say.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

I never sold a house, but so you're not? No, general construction is like concrete, asphalt, she we done uh side balcony repair, siding, exterior payment.

SPEAKER_01 18:51

Yeah, I'm just I'm I'm thinking, so like, say somebody was real estate. Why are you running? You're trying to get figure out the scoop on the property, get more property, what's you know what I'm saying? Like what's your agenda?

SPEAKER_00 19:07

I don't know exactly who's realtors that but I've heard there's a I've heard that in my back there's another realtor, or why are all these realtors? But I I'm like, what does that mean?

SPEAKER_01 19:16

Well, it seems like it's been a hist like a historical problem too, because if you take to Facebook, everybody's saying, like a lot of people are saying that, which it's new, like I'm saying, it's new to me. Like, why is somebody running for office? Is it because you want more land or more money? You know what I mean? Like I could I I could I vote for you, I call you, hey, is somebody asking you or offering you money or whatever for this, this, and that. You know what I mean? Well, how would you respond? How would you react to that? You know what I mean? Is it something that's an issue for you? You know what I'm saying? Because somebody could offer something and you're just and you could be like, Yeah, sure, I'll do that, but then I'll tell them this. You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 19:55

I feel like uh it's so hard for people to understand me. When I think about running for district two, it's way past like a two-year little run here. You know what I mean? I want visual change, I want to be a part of something bigger than myself. I want to establish something for our youth that's gonna live out generations to come. Like something that's gonna implement a legacy, a tradition. What I my plan is is I want to show leadership. I want to bring that same leadership that I have to other kids that could be like, wow, I could do that, or even my own children. Because when my dad passed away, that's exactly what he did. He left so much properties and so much stuff to us and his presence of his his um character in the city. And when I say when I run, it's not like oh, I want you guys to believe I'm this person, and then I get up there and I'm like, yeah, making all because it's like my six, my five brothers and sisters, my mother, my father, our whole entire family has lived this built for so so many years of giving back.

SPEAKER_02 20:58

It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

And then I say, you know what, I don't like that. Pisa out. Yeah, it's I guess I would love to have that still continuance of generational wealth, like pouring into the community as a strong figure, a strong pillar of this community. You know, so I guess you're right, everyone does have an intention. What is the intention? Intention is to see visual beautification that it will at last my generation for generations to come. It's what I see. I can envision something better in that area because it's I feel like that area is especially in the sixth points. I live by there, it's neglected all of the way going out to City Hall in Noasis County. Our judges and our city officials, and when you got the homeless guys hanging their clothes on the back of the gate, I'm like, do we not have a problem here? Do we not see the issue in our backyard? Literally.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

That's fine.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Um, 'cause I do.

SPEAKER_01 21:51

Yeah, it's out there.

SPEAKER_00 21:52

And um, it's I really I mean, I don't I can't say I know everything, but one thing I can say. Is that I always promise for integrity and honesty. And the moment I do not leave out to that, I will be glad to dismiss myself off the council publicly and remove myself from council because I make a contract with the city to be able to be somebody that they can trust and they can uphold with respect, that they can come to, that can be forefront with the information.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:21

And I don't want to create something that's not already created. I say we take something from another city and we implement it because it's effective there. It could be effective here. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 22:31

So like see patterns and other places that it has worked.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Why do we have to pay for all of this extra designing and reconstruction when we just say, hey, can we kind of grab that and put that in, you know, into our area here? Yeah, yeah, that's pretty good.

SPEAKER_01 22:43

You know, definitely.

SPEAKER_00 22:44

And um, money-wise, I think we're paying a lot of money for some of these projects. A lot of money. So I just want to really kind of evaluate that. And and I'm not one to fight or forcefully say, hey, you know what? I'm just like, how can we work together? How can we do this and collaborate to be effective here?

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 23:05

Because people want change, they're done with the bull crap, they're done with people picking sides. They want someone that's gonna stand for them. And you know, and this is why I have never taken a dollar from the Democratic side, from the Republican side, or from industry. Every single dollar has been funded by me and my husband, the community, small businesses, and residents we meet on the daily.

SPEAKER_02 23:26

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 23:27

And that's exactly what you're gonna see when my financial re campaign report comes out. Nothing more than that. Because if I'm gonna sit here and say that I'm for the people, I better damn well show it. You know?

SPEAKER_01 23:38

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

I have to show it. So I'm a complete open book.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

Yeah. How are you gonna juggle how how would you juggle like your life, your family, your work, your job, uh, say uh as a district two representative?

SPEAKER_00 23:54

Well, really, whenever my husband started his company, he started doing really good. I started slowing down my work and construction. I said, Well, I surely don't have to work this hard. I'm I feel like I'm pretty enough to like sit back. And I want it to be that.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

So you do why do you so you just do work this hard because that's just how you are? Like that's working.

SPEAKER_00 24:14

My mom says I'm crazy. I mean, sometimes I get involved in projects and I'm like, why did I start this? But now I'm in it. I have to finish it.

SPEAKER_01 24:23

Is there projects you start that you don't finish?

SPEAKER_00 24:25

Heck no. Blood, sweat, and tears. I started the guest house and I swear blood, there was sweat and there were tears, and I finished that guest house. We remodeled it completely.

SPEAKER_02 24:35

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

There were some that I regret it, but there was this part in my head that I'm not gonna be looked at as a failure, like she starts something and doesn't finish it, you know. That's tough. So I have I I'm harder on myself.

SPEAKER_01 24:45

I was gonna ask, yeah. So you feel like you're harder on yourself.

SPEAKER_00 24:48

I'm pretty hard at myself, you know. So I don't take anything lightly, and anything I'm involved, I submerge myself into it.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

So um I know it's kind of a Yeah, no. So what are some I so what are some of the things you're involved in at the moment? I know you do do you do like nonprofit work or yeah?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

So we started a domestic violence and homicide awareness, and the beginning of it was for my dad when he passed away. You know, um so many people would come to the store and want to know how we were doing and keep up with you know my brothers and sisters. And so we thought this would be a good way we were gonna remember him and you know keep his memory alive.

SPEAKER_01 25:21

Domestic abuse awareness?

SPEAKER_00 25:23

Homicide awareness and domestic well, it started just the homicide awareness part, and then the domestic came in at a later time because we kind of emphasized these are both things with the CCPD that are being affected into our area. So how do we collaborate these two and create education and and add other people to build with us to give people that don't understand am I being abused? Wow. Is this something that I should be looking at happening to me?

SPEAKER_01 25:48

Wow, that's tough.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Um, yeah, they're the really hard ones to deal with. But if I was able to inspire one person, you know, from hurting themselves or from getting out of a bad situation, then I thought it was it was well worth my time to put on these.

SPEAKER_01 26:02

That's very interesting. So you so there's cases where they don't think they're being abused, but they are being abused? Yes. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Just like the 19-year-old girl I was telling you, the boyfriend hit her in the back of the head and she lost her eyesight. And she said, I never thought it was bad because I saw my mom in this relationship and I didn't know any different. Wow. You know, and then he would say, I love you, baby, come back.

SPEAKER_01 26:23

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:23

It was a psycho. It was a psycho. It was a psycho, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Oof, man, that's tough.

SPEAKER_00 26:28

So that's where the compassion comes from being there, uniting communities together, bringing people together, inspiring, empowering, and then collaborating. The CCPD, the sheriff's department, the DA's office, all in one place to be able to emphasize the direction we need in that particular area. That covers that portion of it. You know, and then just the leadership qualities of being able to implement certain strategies and kind of cultivate things that are effective in that area. Really, my construction area is kind of has me to be able to look at construction jobs, budget management, you know, managing projects and kind of emphasizing what effective plan can we have moving forward.

SPEAKER_02 27:06

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

And then my creativity is like, hey, we can order a pizza and track it to see how long it takes. Can we track a light to get replaced? Wow. Or speed bug? Like, give me an give me a guy that could do this, you know.

SPEAKER_01 27:18

So crazy.

SPEAKER_00 27:19

But you imagine you're like, oh, that light's out, and you just kind of put in your phone, right? And then they send you a report, they're like, your light's down with a photo. You're like, you love me.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

You do love me. Yeah, I just had a conversation with my daughter. She's like, who are the well, my son? Who are those people? Those are the street workers. Like, we pay them. You know, they we tell them come fix the street, they come on and fix it.

SPEAKER_00 27:37

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Yeah, it's just basic, basic stuff. And and like they don't know, yeah. And we're the ones that we pay taxes, you know what I mean? We pay, we pay them, you know, basically. That's kind of where the the basis of it, you know what I mean, at a base level explaining it. Um, and of course, like when I started paying attention, I was like, where's my money going?

unknown 27:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

You know what I mean? So that's something that's definitely like top of mind. Like, dude, City's doing this with our money.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

I started doing math. I'm like, how much did it get?

SPEAKER_01 28:04

I know I had to remember how. I was like Madea. I was like, that's funny.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

How much did you get there? Let me kind of add that in mind.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

I was at a comedy show last I uh so I did a comedy show. Um I started stand-up like last year.

SPEAKER_00 28:17

Oh, you're kidding me? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

So on Friday and Saturday was my first like uh deal in front of a live audience. So just for you, so you're making jokes, you're cracking jokes, and I was thinking about I was like, dude, you should try it out. Should try it out once or twice.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

I've always people say that when I get in my zone, they're like, You should have been a comedian.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

That's funny.

SPEAKER_00 28:36

And then you put me on stage, I'm like, hi, I'm I'm Jen.

SPEAKER_01 28:41

I'm pretty sure she can come home with something. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 28:44

Oh, you give me a story, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

It's true. It's like we want to know where is our money going.

SPEAKER_01 28:50

Yeah, oh yeah, for sure. We want to know where it's going. And I a lot of us I feel like we're like, say if we try to go research it, it's like, what am I looking at? You know what I mean? And then eventually we're just like, do whatever.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

And you're like download, download, open, file unavailable. Why isn't the file unavailable? Uh simplify it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Simplify it. It makes it a lot easier for us to kind of understand, oh, look how far they're along on this project. Oh, okay, look, that one's done. They've only put that, okay, that's good. You just kind of want to be involved a little, right? You kind of want to see where things are going. I mean, we know on a bigger level, this is a lot. We're running over a billion with everything we have, but in this in a smaller extent, like little things like that, why can't we understand and get the gist of it?

SPEAKER_02 29:36

You know? For sure.

SPEAKER_00 29:37

And you think that if people, when you look at the people that go to City Hall and that speak, they're just like, yeah, you know, they're angry. They want to be heard. They're not being heard. You're not listening to me what I'm saying. You're not even understanding it. You're not even nodding your head as you heard me.

SPEAKER_01 29:54

Do you feel like those do you feel like those people that go and speak like they've already chosen a side or they've already picked a side and aren't willing to maybe listen to other opinions?

SPEAKER_00 30:05

I think a percentage of them, they're already set and they're going in there with an intention to blow out whatever person they're planning on blowing out. I have seen some people like, well, I this one guy, I came up with this idea, it was like a humidifier. And if we put a couple of them out, you know, I could go, I could buy some myself. Yeah. You know, if you guys could help me a little, you know, they just wanted to be a this is what I think I have. Or some was like, well, you know, we have this new idea with this homeless or this fruit store that we're putting in. We just want to. It's a it's a diverse of things. Um I I'd have there's percentages, I guess. Some are in there with an intent just to get the knife and just stab that person, some are in there with just a creative idea, some are just want to bring in knowledge to a problem that maybe you didn't see.

SPEAKER_01 30:51

Yeah. You know, and well, and it seems like there's a lot of comments, and then maybe some of the um city council are maybe they're tired from the day or whatever, maybe they're trying to listen, and it's just that whole debacle of that, you know, yeah. I'm not people speaking, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:08

To me, I used to think that I'm like, why do they even do that? Like they're not even listening. Yeah, I'm like watching, they're not even looking. They didn't even take a note.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

They're not gonna remember. Yeah, we got so much stuff to like it. Seems like that too. Like maybe maybe we don't understand how much research they've got to do if they are doing their research in certain issues and stuff like that. You feel like you're diligent in like your own research, like say different you know what I'm saying? Maybe that's a question that I didn't ask.

SPEAKER_00 31:38

My mom would be like, don't get her started.

SPEAKER_01 31:40

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh yeah, I think it's something that would that I I think that us as people that we don't understand that either, because there's millions of dollars involved, and there's research you have to read through and figure, and under to be able to understand the research is another thing too. Like, what is diesel? I don't even know what that is. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 32:00

Yeah, and then okay, can we talk to this person and put this? But it's like if you just spend a little time on it, because you at the end of the day, you want to be someone they saw like, hey, I done this on my particular, like this is what I found. Like, what do you guys? And then let's collaborate, like exactive working together, right? Because if if that were the case, and it would just be the mayor up there handling the entire city, right? But that's impossible, right? That's why it's broken up in these areas so you can take on and collaborate. What are these issues? And then bring that to us and bring that to us so that we can make it wholesome.

SPEAKER_01 32:32

Most of yeah, for sure. Um, is there anything you would like to talk about uh regarding district two, or anything in particular you'd like to discuss that's on your mind about district two or running for a city council or things like that?

SPEAKER_00 32:48

Um yes, there's a lot. Whatever happens in this race, you know what? I'll tell you this, it ain't will not stop. The fire has already been lit. I mean, the furnace is going. It's like we're gonna implement and strategize on effectively still trying to collaborate and work to getting these things and these issues done. Like, how can we work with you? Because I know most of the people on the council, and I'm like, hey, can I can I tell me about this or that? I just want to see something effectively being done without any type of interest for your own personal gain, is what I want to see. Secondly, what makes me feel so confident in my abilities because I'm a hybrid. People wouldn't go. And then, you know, I was raised a certain way. So it's like you had this nice life, you lived and you went to these places, so you understand this life, but you understand that life. So being able to go out there, I'll go right now out to the north side or to the west side. I'm not afraid to do that to understand what are the biggest issues going on.

SPEAKER_02 33:52

What's going on in there?

SPEAKER_00 33:53

And I think that's a different thing about district two. It's so diverse. You have to be able to go everywhere. You can't stay on one side. You can't be just part of one group. You need to be diverse. You need to be able to go in this particular area and that area.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

Okay, so I live I live in district one, it's right next to district two. Um there's stray animals, there's homelessness. Um, what else? Many things that I really see. Um maybe I don't know. The street, the roads seem pretty alright, you know what I mean? It seems like they're kind of fixing them out there. Um parks and recreation, another candidate brought up too. I don't know how much um you're into park parks and wreck. Maybe even CCPD, CCFD. You know what I mean? What are what are some of those let's say, let's say stray animals. Is that something that you have dealt with or talked about? Or what do you think about that stuff?

SPEAKER_00 34:54

I got a story for you. My grandpa, he's a truck driver. He would drive down this road and he would take a big bag of food from Sam's Club and he would go feed all these stray animals. And people just, I don't know where this road is, but he'd go down this road every time. There was loads of dogs that people would drop off, and he would put little buckets and he'd feed all of these dogs. And then every so often he would get word that they were gonna come and like do a cleanup on aisle three. So then he's like loading dogs in his truck and taking them home, right? I didn't know any of this was going on until he got fined by animal control because he had all these dogs. But I saw this setup, he had little cages set up, these two come out, this one comes out. I mean, like these dogs lived well. And um, he was close to all of them. So he said, Jenny, you know, he's old, he's grandma's about to be grandpa's gonna be about 80. He was like, I I think my grandma just kind of was like, I'm not, you know, you're your dogs, you know. So he loved the dogs. Um you've seen what that is. He um got into some trouble, $17,000 of fines for these animals, right? And animal control was like, Well, he has to pay the money, and I'm like, he's gonna die before he is able to pay that off. You'll get that. So I go to court with him and I'm there, like, I have the paperwork. Like, what are we gonna do? This man's just trying to take care of animals, and you know, you are doing this. Like, well, that's according to the city ordinance. You're only allowed to have six animals, and that's it. Can't have any more than that. Every other dog, you'll be fine. Plus, the dogs have to be all up to date. I take it to the prosecutor, he says, Well, he's never gonna pay that, and I'll do this for you, even better. I'll give you a certain amount of time, but you're gonna have to get every one of those dogs up to date with all of their records, and you're gonna have to submit everything back to me, you know, the register of all this stuff for every one of those dogs. And uh, I loaded every one of those dogs. Some of those dogs are like 80 pounds in my car one at a time, took it all the way to starred options out there and got every one of them registered, took a photo of each one, added the little sticker with the registration, and I took it to the prosecutor because he was like, I don't think you'll be able to do that in your face. I took it farther than that. I got a hold of the Color Times, I wrote a story about him. My father, grandfather, was excited by this, like, we need to change this. I read the whole City Gates assessment that I got, and I was like, look how many animals they were euthanizing. I was dealing with the director over there. Martinez was done with me. You were all done with me, but I was like, if you're gonna bring a problem, we have a problem, but we need a better solution for this. You don't want these dogs in the street, and you're saying people don't care about dogs. You find somebody that cares about dogs, but you're like, oh, you can only care about this many dogs. So, how do we kind of you know work around? Yeah, how do we figure this out together? But it was it was a broken system. It was a broken system, but you know what, we got homes for these dogs. We were able to find some of these guys' homes, and we were able to get them all their shots, and he felt good. He that's at the end of the day, he wanted them to have homes. Yeah, you know, and um I think that we have to come up with a better idea when it comes to our animal control. And to me, I've said the same thing every time. We have too many small little rescue places around, and they all save dogs, they're all on Facebook.

SPEAKER_02 38:11

No.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

One place, one place, and that money, that all those grants and the funding that goes in there is going to go into one building, one electric bill, and then everyone else works outside of that for different ones. We travel, this one does the registration, this one does the rehoming, this one does the advertising and marketing, and working together as one coalition. These small ones are ineffective, but if we would work all together, could you imagine all of the money would be actually going to the real problem of this city?

SPEAKER_01 38:43

Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

And actually submerging ourselves in the areas that are the heaviest traffic with stray animals instead of all over the place.

SPEAKER_02 38:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:51

Bring it in, build a team, format it, direct it in one collision, then you're gonna be able to be effective than all by yourself, saving some dogs. I'll tell you this, Debbie Hammond though, she she's goodness, I can't even she puts money out of her own, her own account to put dogs and have them neutered, have them stated, and um, she really, really does have a lot of things. Huge heart for the animals, you know, huge. And um I've seen a couple of them as well, but to be killing that many dogs, and I'm like, gosh, it's yeah, we have to work together. We really do.

SPEAKER_01 39:28

When did when did you realize that having like relationships with people uh affects like your like everything? You know what I'm saying? Because you seem like somebody that talks to people. You know what I mean? You know what I'm saying? So it's like when did you re like did when or did you realize that that that that's an effective way to keep society going? You know what I'm saying?

SPEAKER_00 39:52

I didn't think I ever did. People tell me all the time, like you're a great speaker, you're very good at you know, directing your message across. And um, I think when you're passionate about something and you really have a heart for it, it comes out of you, and people feel it, they see it, and they understand it. You know, and um I don't know. I don't know. I couldn't tell you me as an entire whole because I just have that empathy for empathy for people, and it's just I saw people that wanted to speak up for themselves, but they felt like city council was like um that's politics, I don't get involved in politics. And then I try to be like, no, that's you giving me your money and saying, Y'all my boy, like I'm okay, do whatever you want with it. That's what you're saying when you're saying I don't get involved in city politics, you know, and it's kind of like breaking that barrier down. But I felt like I was a leader enough to be structuralized to speak up for you that doesn't want your business to be affected because you're thinking the people that you're associated with are your brother or sisters associated, it's going to affect your business. Oh, but you felt like this is wrong. You need someone to kind of address that for you. You know, just like with the animals that we had. Um one time this construction company down South Bromley demoed out a huge area, affected all the small businesses there. I got on the phone with Sylvia Campos, I redirected, met with the engineer out there. I had them put barrels with the names of the companies so that they were able to redirect that and get people in their businesses. They were being affected. This is happening there, this happened on Everheart because I know construction. The more I demo out, the bigger draw I can get, right? I don't give a crap if your business I'm gonna take a larger draw. But we weren't effectively thinking how the small businesses were going to be impacted by this, and we weren't putting anything in place for them if they were impacted by this. Businesses were being closed down because of this, you know. So I got with her and we had a whole thing out. We redesigned, we made the openings, and we handled it. And I wasn't running for counsel.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

I was like something.

SPEAKER_00 41:54

My mother was there. All the I know all of these businesses, we need to fix this. Wow, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 41:59

Yeah, it's amazing. Yeah, like just that in itself, talking about relationships, like businesses keeps business open. I was talking with another person on my podcast, and she's like, they they feed, they pay for their kids' soccer classes, kids' dance classes, whatever, whatever, you know. You have relationships with people, especially small businesses. You have currency, you pay currency. It's just a relationship that we have with people in the city. You know what I mean? And I feel like we need that. We need that collaboration, like you're saying, and we just need to work, work with each other.

SPEAKER_00 42:35

I would say 80% of my money when it is comes down to shopping or businesses, is going to be supporting the Corpus Christi small businesses because we've been that growing up. We know what it's like. It's either you do or you die, you make or you don't, you break.

SPEAKER_01 42:47

Well, see too, like, okay, so talking about small businesses and city council, like, say a new business wants to be built or whatever, they could have to do permits and excuse, sorry about that, permits and stuff like that through the city, you know what I mean? How much, how much what do you think about that? Like, like, because the city could be like charging them a bunch of money or whatever for permits or whatever, and they can't get their business going. Is that something that that you look into or have, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Yeah, we have looked into that, and we've there's a company that's called Business Boosters. And they were actually work with a couple of people from Florida and Miami that we build this team together. They wanted to focus mainly on six points area. We wanted to look into six points area. How do we get, you know, any type of historical commissioner association to help these small businesses? How do we implement the turves that we have downtown to collaborate with this? How do we help these because abandoned buildings, but not just throw anything in there?

SPEAKER_02 43:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:41

This company, this investors and developers wanted to know number one, that we were going to secure our water. Number two, how effective this plan would be to work on this particular area. And they wanted to set up the buildings and they were going to be pre made, pre-done businesses, giving two to three months for free. So these companies, these Or able to get on their feet. That's showing you actually give a crap about me making it or not.

SPEAKER_02 44:05

Right.

SPEAKER_00 44:05

You know, and establishing a small place that they can actually help kind of alleviate and kind of show them and direct them because a lot of people have great ideas. Yes. They don't have the opportunity and don't where to go.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So sorry, man, I'm just thinking about the water issue. Obviously, if you fix the freaking water issue, you would have more businesses. Like yourself.

SPEAKER_00 44:28

We need some PR. We need a great PR, Corpus Chrissy PR team. That's gonna be nothing to see here. Everything is great, guys. We are doing wonderful. Like come and visit us. Like we are so great. You know, uh, we need a PR to kind of back it out a little. We don't need to have every single novella on national news. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, but we have uh so much to offer here. We have so much that we can work with and and create, you know, so much wealth and and economic growth in this particular area.

SPEAKER_01 45:02

Matty, yep.

SPEAKER_00 45:04

And it's inspiring. I mean, could you imagine? Like, I think about these people, all these businesses are open, they got cute little plants, and nobody's stealing them and burglarizing their windows, and you're like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_01 45:14

Well, yeah, it seems like that that those will be issues if we weren't fixing these situations. It's just gonna get worse. You know what I mean? For everybody, for just the whole community as a whole. And that's not something that I want.

SPEAKER_00 45:29

Yeah, and I'm definitely not Mr. Rogers or living in Fantasy Island. Like, it's like, okay, I know I'm not gonna be like, ta-da! There you go, guys, I get it. You know, I didn't even break a sweat.

SPEAKER_02 45:39

Thank me. Thank me.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

I'm like kind of a big deal here. Like, just thank me. I'm like, okay, we can make small decisions, and and in Rome wasn't built in a day. Couldn't eat an elephant in a day. Small little implements effectively strategizing ourselves to the end go, right?

SPEAKER_01 45:56

Yeah, yeah. Do you feel like do you feel like we don't want to make take those steps because fear of failure? And as opposed to doing what we used to do or we've been doing because it's comfortable.

SPEAKER_00 46:11

Because you're an entrepreneur. I think it's both. I think it's a little bit of both. It's like fear fear of failure. But as a leader, you're gonna make you gotta be you gotta be crazy to think you're not gonna make a bad choice.

SPEAKER_02 46:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:22

I would put guys on a job of like, go to that job, and I say it confidently, I want you there, and you're gonna start on Saturday, and then the job is a switch, or I end up messing up on where I sent them, and I'm like, you know, bring it back, never mind.

SPEAKER_02 46:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:33

Um, or hey, I screwed up on that, you know. Yeah, you have to admit your faults and you gotta stop the bleeding early on, and you gotta say, hey, we gotta back this down right here because of this came up or that. Um fear of failure. I mean, what are we gonna do? Be stagnant and live in purgatory? Yeah, we have to make a decision.

SPEAKER_01 46:52

That makes a lot of sense.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

I mean, you have to have this sense of fearlessness of being able to adapt and be able to entwine and create. I mean, that's how great leaders are. They I screwed up, but we're gonna retie this and bring it back in and you know, get it where it needs to be, instead of not making no decisions.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

I mean waiting and waiting and waiting.

SPEAKER_00 47:10

And goodness, it looks like since you know I had to take over my dad's role, I didn't have a choice to get to leave Corpus Christi. Oh, so I guess um, born and raised my entire life in this city, and I thought, goodness gracious, so many times I wanted to run away, and I never could. So I knew eventually that one day would pay off. I could run for city council and say, I am born and raised in Corpus Christi. Never left here, okay? And a good portion of that in District 2, so it is my corazon. So um, yeah, I wanted to run.

SPEAKER_01 47:42

That's cool. Thanks for coming out, Jen.

SPEAKER_00 47:44

Yeah, it was so great. This is a really good conversation.

SPEAKER_01 47:47

Thanks for coming on.

SPEAKER_00 47:48

All right, and I'm glad we gotta implement together. We gotta tag team, you know?

SPEAKER_01 47:52

Yeah, definitely. I'll share some clips on some stuff that uh I'll just find some clips and I'll tag you on them and stuff. You guys on Instagram? You're on Facebook, right? Yes. Facebook? Okay. I'll tag you on Facebook. Um before we go, is there anything you would you would like to mention? Uh maybe something you would like the say you're running. Here's here's your campaign to the camera. So that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 48:13

Oh, my campaign to the camera. Honestly, I just think people should meet me. And when you get to meet me and you have a one-on-one with me, I think you really understand a person's integrity. You find out their honesty, and you see, hey, um, I'm an open book. Just like everyone else in District 2. We made mistakes. I I saw some parking tickets. They were like, Jenny, look, look, she ran the stop sign. And I said, Oh Lord. My mom was like, I told you the stop sign tickets are gonna catch up with you. And I'm like, okay, I get it. But like, don't you think if I was really hiding something, I would say, Hey, I'm running for district. Can we like take care of that? And let that let's hide that. I mean, I'm exactly what my poster says. One of us fighting for us. Hey, I know you got a ticket, I got a ticket. I mean, you're not gonna see anything crazier than some parking tickets. If that's all you got, then bring it because what I have to offer is a lot more than some speedy tickets. I'll tell you that. But you know what? Check us out on Facebook. Um, really get to know your candidates and um think about the issues your family is going through. Think about who is the best candidate that you think that's going to be effective for your district. And that's for every district, you know. You gotta look at people and stop making this a popularity contest and actually start making decisions on who is an effective leader to make change is going to do something that's going to be for us.

SPEAKER_01 49:35

Nice.

SPEAKER_00 49:36

We want change, we want realness, we want boldness, and we want someone that's going to stand for truth and honesty. And as long as we keep playing the popularity test, we are never gonna get out of this place that we're in today. So vote Jen Aende.

SPEAKER_01 49:49

Let's go. Thanks a lot, you guys, for joining the podcast. Um, follow Jen. I think she has I'll put some links down on the bottom. Uh follow her on Facebook. She's got a website also with all the information on there. Thanks to Mole's Texas Style Barbecue. Right here is the place where we're at. Um, come come show them some support, local support. They got some barbecue for you guys. They got some excellent uh banana pudding. They just hooked they hooked me up before I came here. Rachel's banana pudding. Some of it. Um, and uh shout out to Premier's uh Premier Hearing Solutions of South Texas. Check out Yvonne over there. She's got your hearing needs on lock. But uh thanks again, Jen, for coming out. You have a good one. See y'all later. Bye.