Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - Politicians Got You Down? Here's What You Can Do

Episode Date: October 19, 2023

Do you know who you’re voting for? And more importantly, what they stand for? Trust us, in the next elections— hate will be on the ballot, so make sure you’re not voting for it. Beyond donating to political campaigns, you can also run in them. That’s what Consuelo Hernandez did, a Jewish Latina politician who is currently serving as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Today, Nicole shares a sneak preview of Consuelo's episode on MNN's Money Maker | Mi Mundo Rico podcast hosted by Nely Galán where Consuelo gives a roadmap of how you can get involved in local politics— as a politician, or as a citizen - and why several acts of violence against her family drove her to choose a life in politics, and make a difference. To hear the full episode when it premiers on 10/20/23, subscribe to Money Maker here: https://link.chtbl.com/85RcT5bT

One of the most stressful periods of my life was when I was in credit card debt. I got to a point where I just knew that I had to get it under control for my financial future and also for my mental health. We've all hit a point where we've realized it was time to make some serious money moves. So take control of your finances by using a Chime checking account with features like no maintenance fees, fee-free overdraft up to $200, or getting paid up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more at Chime.com slash MNN. When you check out Chime, you'll see that you can overdraft up to $200 with no fees. If you're an OG listener, you know about my infamous $35 overdraft fee that

I got from buying a $7 latte and how I am still very fired up about it. If I had Chime back then, that wouldn't even be a story. Make your fall finances a little greener by working toward your financial goals with Chime. Open your account in just two minutes at Chime.com slash MNN. That's Chime.com slash MNN. Chime. Feels like progress. Banking services and debit card provided by the Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank N.A. Members FDIC. SpotMe eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible Chime members enrolled in SpotMe and are subject to monthly limits. Terms and conditions apply. Go to Chime.com slash disclosures for details.

I love hosting on Airbnb. It's a great way to bring in some extra cash, but I totally get it that it might sound overwhelming to start or even too complicated if, say, you want to put your summer home in Maine on Airbnb, but you live full time in San Francisco and you can't go to Maine every time you need to change sheets for your guests or something like that. If thoughts like these have been holding you back, I have great news for you. Airbnb has launched a co-host network, which is a network of high quality local co-hosts with Airbnb experience that can take care of your home and your guests. Co-hosts can do what you don't have time for, like managing your

reservations, messaging your guests, giving support at the property, or even create your listing for you. I always want to line up a reservation for my house when I'm traveling for work, but sometimes I just don't get around to it because getting ready to travel always feels like a scramble, so I don't end up making time to make my house look guest-friendly. I guess that's the best way to put it. But I'm matching with a co-host so I can still make that extra cash while also making it easy on myself. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. In recent days, I've been sharing ways you can understand and support Israel.

We've talked about donating to causes, supporting Israeli businesses, employing Jewish talent, and holding institutions with ties to dark money accountable. Well, there's another arena we're going to enter today for the first time since the attack happened on October 7th, politics. On the show, we've talked before about the power of donating to grassroots campaigns and political candidates, especially in local elections. So as we look to the upcoming elections, do you know who you're voting for? And more importantly, what they stand for? Trust me, hate will be on the ballot, so make sure you're not voting for it. And diving one layer deeper, you can impact politics beyond donations and run for office

yourself. That's what Consuela Hernandez did, who's a Jewish Latina politician holding office as a member of the Arizona House of Representatives. It's time you meet her. Today, I'm sharing a sneak preview of Eminem's podcast Moneymaker or Mi Mundo Rico, hosted by Nelly Galan, where Nelly interviews the incredible Consuelo. In their conversation, Consuelo gives a roadmap of how you can get involved in local politics as a politician or as a citizen and why several acts of violence against her family drove her to choose a life in politics and make a difference. Their full conversation comes out on Friday on Moneymaker,

so if you love this conversation, and I know you will, be sure to use the link in the episode description to subscribe to the show and hear the whole inspiring conversation. And before I pass the mic over to Nelly, I just want to say, highlighting stories of Jewish people winning is the only thing that's bringing me anything close to hope right now. And I hope it does for you too. Welcome to Moneymaker, the podcast that gives you the tools to enrich your life in every sense of the word. I'm your host, Nelly Galan. Let's get started. Consuelo Hernandez, I am so excited to interview you. First of all, I'm so proud of you. You're 31 years old and you got yourself elected. Wow. That's a wow. And you know, for all I talk about, especially with Latinas, is finding your voice

and knowing that you're supposed to do something with your life and find your purpose. You know, I I've read so much about you and about your family. You, you sound like you have a family that found their voice. Am I right? I would say so. So I, so there's three siblings, a Mexican American, My mom, Consuelo, has a son in Tucson, Arizona. My mom's from Nogales, Sonora, which is the border town right next to Arizona. And my dad's from California. But they were apolitical, but they were always very supportive. Growing up, they didn't really know what we were getting involved with. They just knew that we needed a ride to get there. And they also knew it was an opportunity for us to get involved

outside of our neighborhood. I grew up on the south side of Tucson, which is basically the lower income, mostly Latino, African-American neighborhood area. So for them, it was great because they knew that we were doing something that was good, even if they didn't exactly know what was happening. My brother, Daniel Hernandez, served on a school board in the district that we graduated from. And the reason why he ended up running is because when my sister was a sophomore, she was brutally attacked by two women that mistook her for me because we look alike. They didn't like, they were bullies. They didn't like me. They were supposed to attack me that day, but unfortunately attacked my sister Alma. And through that, back in the day,

the school district had a zero tolerance policy. And that is pretty typical even now for a lot of school districts. So what happened was my sister went from being a straight A honor student to the next day being kicked out of school through no fault of her own, even if she was just defending herself. Because when the police officer arrived on campus to mediate the situation, he just joined and brutally attacked my sister. So she has severe damage to the left side of her body. She's 30 years old. But that was the reason why my brother ended up running this to change that policy. And back then, my brother got us involved.

We were already involved in politics. I started at 15. My sister started at 14. We grew up in a household where Latinas were very respected and women were very respected. So my brother questioned at an early age in high school, like, why don't we have a women president? And the teacher that he had told him because women were too emotional. And back then Hillary Clinton was running. So that's what struck a chord with my brother. And he got it,

he started getting involved, looked up local women who are running for office. And we started out 14 and 15, joining him as volunteers. So we've been, it's been a journey. Also, don't leave out that your brother became very famous because first of all, your brother is openly gay. Yes. I mean, he's a leader and he was working for Gabby Giffords, right? Yes. Correct. So the first few days on the job as an intern, there was a gunman who showed up at a Safeway, which is a supermarket and he just started shooting. And my brother was running through when the gunman was shooting to go and give aid to his boss, which was a congresswoman, Congresswoman Giffords at the time.

But the bandage that my brother ended up using was Israeli. So somehow through that process, people were curious, like, who's Daniel Hernandez that helped save Gabby Giffords? And people started doing research on my family and they discovered that on my mom's side of the family from Mexico, they're Jewish. And they were like, oh, he's Jewish. So they were so proud, as well as the Latino community. So it was just really interesting how everything kind of came into play because I always knew it. I grew up in a mostly Catholic community and I was involved in programs with Jewish students. And I would hear them talking about that. They didn't want to openly talk about being Jewish or where their star of

David, because they were worried about antisemitism. So for a lot of kids, young people to hear that you guys embraced your true identity and your true religion is pretty fascinating. In a community of Latinos that are so Catholic right I just never really thought about it it was just like I am proud of where I'm coming from I'm proud of my history but I didn't realize it was like such a big deal because in the family that I was from we were always taught to be proud of where we came from. And my dad always told us, you go and get your degree wherever it is, even if

it's basket weaving, I just want you to be the best basket weaver and give it your all. And that was it. So all this stuff, all this stuff that you kids have done, your brother coming out that he's gay, your brother fighting for Latinas and wanting to get into politics, you deciding you're going to convert, you guys fighting for Alma. Your parents never said like most of our parents said, be quiet, follow the school, do what's right. You know, because so many Latinos, including my own parents, I mean, I got in trouble too in school and my parents took the side of the, of the, of the nuns because they didn't want us to rock the boat. But you know, we were first generation and when Latinos are here for multiple generations, we finally figure it out. Right.

I'm a, I'm a first generation immigrant. And so my parents were very scared of everything. So it sounds like your parents were a little more evolved. I think now I know that my parents worry about us just because we are living in a really strange time where politics at one point was respected, like getting into public service was respected. And now you have all these online platforms, social media, and your address is public. So it's very easy for someone to find you. And there's just, there's a lot of, it's very scary. A lot of hate.

I would say that my mom was a lot more modern because she came from a background where she waited until her late thirties to have kids. from a background where she waited until her late 30s to have kids. And in her family, there was, I think it was 11 brothers and sisters. She was the one that was like, no one understood her. Why did you wait that long? Are you gay? And I think that's why we were raised the way we were was because my mom understood she wouldn't have been able to accomplish as much as she did if she would have had kids early on. Not that you can't, but in her life at that moment, she decided to wait until she was ready to have a family. She had her own small business. She studied at the university. So it was, she had a very different, she took a very different path than a lot of my family members.

So I think that's why. So she understood the value of education. She understood the value of as women to not depend on anyone. And that's what we learned early on. And I think that that's why we are the way that we are is because of my mom. And obviously my dad, my dad worked construction his whole life, worked as work independently. We learned our work ethic because of him as well. He would leave at six in the morning, would work seven days a week.

So I think that's why. With all that being said, how did you say to yourself? I know you got involved with the school system first, right? And that's been a pathway for your, for your brother too. How do you, how did you go from that to saying, I'm going to run? I mean, that's like a big leap. Yeah. So I I'm in the state house, a state representative, but so I'm, I'm serving both in both offices right. In Arizona, you could do that. I'm on the school board right now. I'm going on my fifth year. And I was very limited as to what issues I could work on at the school district level, because I also really care about economic

development and health care. And there was very little that I could do to actually help. So my brother was currently in the district that I'm in. He ended up running for Congress, didn't win his primary, but I ran for one of the two open seats that there was in that district. So I had already been in the community, had been campaigning for my brother, for myself, for the school district, because they overlap. But that was the reason is because I knew that I could accomplish so much more

and work on other issues. If I ran for the state house, for state representative, where I could actually make laws and apply funding to the different issues that I cared about. So you guys just learned how to do it. It sounds unbelievable to me that at you guys' age, you and your brother started just paying attention and figuring out how do you create a campaign? How do you run for office? How do you do all that? How did you guys figure all that out? I think it's important

to know that we came from a family that was apolitical. My parents didn't know what they were doing. I also don't come from a family that's wealthy. And that also demystifies a lot of the assumptions of Jew Jewish people is like, oh, they rich they're all white like no they're not there's a big community in Mexico City of judios but we actually didn't know what we were doing I still feel sometimes like I don't know what I'm doing but in politics I think this is important for people who are maybe interested in running or curious like how did we do it in politics the typical is if you are interested in running for office you have to go and talk to the person who was there before you or the people who are there to go and basically ask them for their blessing but don't they tell you girl go away yeah so my brother when he first decided to run for school board

and they still turned him away they still were weren't supportive and these are latino elected officials because they were thinking i'm assuming in their mind who's this who's this young guy trying to make a difference right like it just it it was not in their playbook because in politics people plan out their oh i'm gonna run for this in xyz years and it's kind of like a chess game but we grew up they don't they don't say, there's no chance for you. Because you're a minority within a minority within a minority. Correct? Exactly. Yeah. But we were lucky enough where we grew up in a household where my parents always said, if someone tells you no, go knock on someone else's door. And we already had that internal, we're not going to take no as an answer.

And even if you don't like me, we're still going to be here. And when my brother first got involved, he didn't come out, which was important. The media outed him. so that was really unfortunate so he was outed on national tv when the whole gabby giffords shooting happened but when he ran for school board there was flyer this was a this was a long time ago but maybe I want to say eight years, eight or nine years ago, this was before social media was a really big thing, but there was flyers that went out in our community that said, this is not a real man because he's gay flyers with this picture. And he was so young, but they did flyering events. There was a lot of the Republicans. And because my brother is a gun violence survivor, the flyers also said he didn't have that thick skin because that's all we had growing up.

If someone else who was in his shoes would have really survived that public type of attack. That would have broken someone. Yeah, that you shouldn't. We should never. I don't care if you don't agree with me. You should never normalize. We as a society should never normalize going't care if you don't agree with me you should never normalize we as a society should never normalize going after someone for their identity who they are you can go after them for their and hold them accountable for their policies but to go after someone of the way that they look or the their religion reality sexuality that that's unacceptable. And we should always reject that. But that was the start of it. We didn't know what we were doing. We didn't have any money in my brother's

first campaign for the school board, but we did have a lot of volunteers and our own family who were able to knock on doors and that it was just like literally knocking on thousands of doors that was able to win my brother's election. And then when my brother was on the school board, he also found out, discovered that there was a lot of corruption in the district because he was someone who studied everything. And they thought it was someone who was feeding him information, but it was just him reading through what was being put in front of him, which most people don't do even in politics now. And he was able to find that out. My brother said, this is not, we shouldn't be supportive of this. We launched the first recall election of two school board members in Arizona history with no money. And we were young, but we knew that was wrong, that it couldn't be the second poorest school district was being robbed by the people

that were leading the district. I'm still on that district now and a lot has changed, but that's important because even if you don't know what you're doing, if you see something that's wrong, you can do something about it and you might get enough people that can join you. And that's what we did is we built a very small group of 12 people. Half of them were my family who recalled to sitting school board members and people in politics told us, no, don't do it. You're crazy. You need a consultant. You need all this money.

And we were like, no, we don't. I think people just need to know what's going on. You're kind of shocking me because I have to say, I think maybe I'm jaded at this point because I think we watch so much stuff. jaded at this point because I think we watch so much stuff and you know and also listen I'm a Latina that came from Cuba and that my parents lost everything like I grew up thinking bad things happen to good people right and I think that with everything we've seen in this country the last 10 or 20 years but even like the last 10 years you almost feel like there's no way to grasp. You're saying you can grassroots it.

You can like have a community that believes in something and you can actually go make a difference. And you're shocking me because I guess I didn't, I stopped believing that that was possible, that there's a machine and that if you're not in the machine you don't get elected and then we see a lot of people like us that start off with the right ideology and then the machine takes over and then it's they don't even look like what they started out looking like right yeah yeah and you know what though you're right there is a machine wherever you're at. It's people who've been inside of these chambers who have their own people pick their own people. But there is still a possibility. We're just one small example, but there is still a possibility of you wanting to make a difference and still not having to go ask and beg for support for people who are not even doing a good job asking them to support you. We're always trying to recruit candidates to run. I'm also, along with my

siblings, I think that we're very optimistic just because we've been able to help other people run for office, get elected, that we know it's possible. Is it going to be hard? Absolutely. Is it going to beat you down? Because campaigning can get very ugly. At the end of the day, you just have to remind yourself, like, is this worth it? And if it's worth it, then you do it. Even if you don't have an entire roster of people who are supporting you that are like the big people in the community, you can do it.

You know, I read a lot about you. I look at your record and you've also, not just that you got these gigs, which I don't know how you did it, but you've created a lot of bills and you've gotten a lot of bills passed. Yeah. How did you even do that? I mean, people tell you it takes forever to get a bill passed and we can't get it through.

And I'm wondering if there's some secret sauce in Arizona, because when I think about places where I've lived, like I'm now living in Florida before I was living in California, it seems to me almost impossible. Like it's so feels hardened in these two states to get anything through. How did you get like actual bills and legislation? Talk about some of the stuff you've gotten through. It's kind of shocking.

It's not, it was not easy by any means, but you're right. Arizona and Florida, I feel like we're always in a competition of who's the most extreme and i know that the public thinks that we're a blue state because we have had at one point two democratic senators and we have now our highest elected offices recently in this election are now democrats but we're still you can't do anything at the state level when your state Senate and state house are Republican. It's very difficult, even with having those higher offices, but it sounds simple, but a lot of people don't do it is for years. I will go wherever. I don't care if I don't agree with you. If someone invites

me somewhere, I'll show up. And that's just how I learned to be supportive of different communities. But that's the most simple advice I can give anyone that is even interested or even sitting elected Democrats who might be in the same position as me is like, just show up. The amount of people who will show up to events that you might not agree with everything they're saying is very like slim to none. And for years, my dad grew up hunting. So for years, there was a Republican republican there's been a republican friend of ours who has a farm in arizona and for years he would do dove hunting during the season would invite everyone the only people who would show up to this dove hunting event were my siblings i was on the school board at the time,

but my siblings and my parents, because my mom didn't hunt, but my dad loved hunting. And the rest of them were Republicans. Everything adds on everything that you do. Even if you think people don't notice, you can start chipping away at whatever it is that you want to work towards. And I wasn't intentionally doing it. I was just joining my family because I thought like, oh, that's fun. Right. But everything kind of added up when I was a freshman. We're in a Republican led legislature, not by many, but they still call the shots. And I, I heard that there was almost going to be what they call a labor and delivery desert in a rural part of my district, which basically means, just like people say food deserts, that the small clinics were at a point where they couldn't provide labor and delivery services. And it was just, I just couldn't understand how that was possible. But there's not enough births in rural parts of Arizona to be able to fund the entire programs,

right? They have to pay staff. And even if there's no births, they still have to pay staff in the facility. And I just thought, I cannot have my community that's close to a border town be a labor and delivery desert. So I made it my mission to drop a bill to appropriate money. So to fund labor and delivery services in rural parts of Arizona. So that was one bill. And then there was across the country, there was train derailments. If you happen to see them on the news in my community, there's a trip train yard, which basically means they just, they store a lot of the train cars there. But what was happening in rural parts of Arizona, too, that I learned is that in rural parts of Arizona, which is part big part of my district, when there's only one road and there's a train, kids can't get to school. Right. Because they might have to wait up to an hour or two hours, or you have an emergency and the

first responders can't get on the other side. So what's happening in a lot of states is kids were actually not in Arizona, but kids were actually trying to climb under the trains to get to school, which is very dangerous. Didn't happen in Arizona, but it was happening. very dangerous. Didn't happen in Arizona, but it was happening. So I made those two my missions of I need to do something about this. Only about five Democrats were able to have any bills assigned or heard in committees. And my sister and I were two out of the five. And the reason why I will credit, it's my friends who I built relationships with throughout the years and the newer people, but I was able to go up to them and say, Hey, this is happening in my district. I know you care about life. We can't even deliver babies. Like, did you know that? And then I went on to talk about my other bill but it was through

there that I built that trust with them because they knew me and then for the newer Republican members I just went up to them and and I tell this to anyone like I didn't work this hard to just sit in my chair and not try like I didn't really know what i was doing my sister just said like you go talk to them and i was like okay and she's younger than i am but she is a very good leader and i was like okay i'll go and talk to them and it was a lot of sitting democrats were too i think concerned of doing that people follow the protocol and maybe you young people are like, who cares? I'm just gonna do it. And yeah, it's like, beginner's luck, you just figure it out. And you do. So maybe the answer is, we got to get more young people to run for office. Because

if you guys start getting rid of all the old people that kind of think like by the book, maybe things will happen. But let's talk about something else. Money. Hold on. Moneymaker will be right back. One of the most stressful periods of my life was when I was in credit card debt. I got to a point where I just knew that I had to get it under control for my financial future and also for my mental health. We've all hit a point where we've realized it was time to make some serious money moves. So take control of your finances by using a Chime checking account with features like no maintenance fees, fee-free overdraft up to $200, or getting paid

up to two days early with direct deposit. Learn more at Chime.com slash MNN. When you check out Chime, you'll see that you can overdraft up to $200 with no fees. If you're an OG listener, you know about my infamous $35 overdraft fee that I got from buying a $7 latte and how I am still very fired up about it. If I had Chime back then, that wouldn't even be a story. Make your fall finances a little greener by working toward your financial goals with Chime. Open your account in just two minutes at Chime.com slash MNN. That at Chime.com slash MNN. That's Chime.com slash MNN. Chime feels like progress. Banking services and debit card

provided by the Bancorp Bank N.A. or Stride Bank N.A. Members FDIC. SpotMe eligibility requirements and overdraft limits apply. Boosts are available to eligible Chime members enrolled in SpotMe and are subject to monthly limits. Terms and conditions apply. Go to Chime.com slash disclosures for details. I love hosting on Airbnb. It's a great way to bring in some extra cash. But I totally get it that it might sound overwhelming to start, or even too complicated, if, say, you want to put your summer home in Maine on Airbnb, but you live full-time in San Francisco and you can't go to Maine every time you need to change sheets for your guests or something like that. If thoughts like these have been holding you back, I have great news for you. Airbnb has launched a co-host network,

which is a network of high quality local co-hosts with Airbnb experience that can take care of your home and your guests. Co-hosts can do what you don't have time for, like managing your reservations, messaging your guests, giving support at the property, or even create your listing for you. I always want to line up a reservation for my house when I'm traveling for work. But sometimes I just don't get around to it because getting ready to travel always feels like a scramble, so I don't end up making time to make my house look guest-friendly. I guess that's the best way to put it. But I'm matching with a co-host so I can still make that extra cash while also making it easy on myself. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. Me again. If you're loving this conversation between Nelly and Consuelo, subscribe to Nelly's podcast Moneymaker at the link in the

episode description to catch their full conversation. Okay, back to Nelly. to Nelly. Let's get back to the show. You I know you're very interested in money and in young people and people of color and all this, which is what I love and what I speak about because I go, if we don't focus on financial, and especially women being financially self reliant, if we don't understand the financial system of this country, we're not going to make it as a group, as, as, as Latinos, as women, as Jews, as anything. Right. So let's talk about that because now as you go, as you guys all continue, I mean, I feel,

I feel like I'm feeling a family legacy here of the Hernandez family in Arizona, just like the McCain's and all these other people. But as you guys go up the ladder and run for bigger office, and I see you all, I'm visualizing you all in such big political jobs, you are going to have to raise a lot of money. And I think we have to think about what we all should be doing to make money and save money and invest money, uh, in order to make it to the ends of our careers and also not be so dependent on other people, even though the life of a politician is dependent on money from other people, because maybe you can explain to especially the young people listening how you can't get all your money from one source legally yeah and i'm so glad that you bring that up because that does play a factor in everything i had a full-time job apart from politics i do consulting and then i had a full-time

job on top of having my paid because in Arizona and in most states to serve in local elected offices, they don't really pay you. So as a young person that doesn't come from wealth, I had to work. I've had to work multiple jobs to be able to do that. Thankfully, I've been able to figure it out, but I do think it's important for people to figure out how to plan ahead of time. I would consider running for office a life event because you have to kind of prepare for it. If you decide whether it's getting married or running for office or buying a house, whatever it is, everything is possible. everything is possible. You just have to figure out how can I do it? And I think that's where trying to figure out what resources are available local to you. Because even if I, for example, had three jobs, I didn't know that I only needed 3% down for my down payment. Like, even though I'm in politics, like you just assume that people know everything. No, I didn't. I just didn't believe it. Even if

it's true. I was just like, there's no way 3%. I thought I needed 20. So you're telling me I could have bought a house a long time ago. And that was recent. Like you said, how as an individual, whether you're women or men, like, how can I make sure I prepare myself so I am not dependent on anyone? In politics, you are dependent, but in your personal life, I would encourage everyone to try to figure out what that means to you. Like write out your goals. What are your next goals? And I'm not an expert, believe me, but it's the mentality that as Latinos, as being a majority in this country, It's the mentality that as Latinos, as being a majority in this country, we have so much purchasing power. So much.

How do we use those dollars is what will make a difference for our generations to come, right? I explain this to people. Running for office is similar to running a small business because you need advertising, right? You need a logo. You need people to work with you. So I have a campaign manager. Her name is Berenice. And one thing, actually, I'll credit my brother is he always taught us, we need to hire people from our own communities.

Because normally, people in politics hire people outside of the state and mostly people that are not from your community. In this case, majority Latino, African-American, Native American. So I will credit our success to the people that helped us, but we also need to give them an opportunity to be able to get involved in politics. So we created an internship program, started with my brother when he was running for the school board. It was a very small stipend. I think at the time it was $250 per month. We hired students from our own school district who were interested, but couldn't afford it because politics, there's so many hurdles. One of them for minorities is you just can't afford to do it. And we understand it because we had to do that.

When we were involved in, when we first started, sometimes our parents didn't have gas money. And that was just the reality of like our situation. So we would scrap up money to put gas in our car and then they would go and take us to our volunteer events. But through our own personal struggle of no one understood what we had to go through to even volunteer. That's why we took it as a priority in our own individual campaigns to have an internship program that was paid. And I don't care how much you pay them. You just have to feed them and pay them. Like we don't have, we can't afford as Latinos and as minorities to contribute to the same cycle of not paying your interns.

And then there's just so many expenses that when similar to personal finance in politics, you have to make a budget. Like how, how much am I going to be able to spend? Okay. If I need, if I have to spend five, they're not a number $5,000 a month, that means I need to bring in $5,000 a month. That's right. So that requires, and my brother taught us this because he had to do it first than all of us. You have to do things that make you uncomfortable. And as an introvert, that took so much out of me. I remember the first time that I ran, actually ran against a congresswoman, congressman's daughter for supervisor, and I lost my race.

So not everything you run for, you're going to win. But now I'm obviously in an elected office I wanted to be in. But I remember just sitting on my bed with a list of phone numbers of people that I knew. And even if it wasn't money for me in my bank account, I still had to call them and ask them. But just like the thought of as Latinos. And I think that's where we don't like that. It's embarrassing, right? So learning like as Latinos, if we want to take back some power and work on policies that reflect our values, we have to get rid of some of the old ideas of being embarrassed about asking for help. Even if it's not for you. We have to get rid of that idea. This money is not for me. This money is to be able to get me to where I need to go so then I could make a difference for everyone. To hear the rest of Nelly's conversation with Consuelo,

including an incredible surprise from Nelly that leaves Consuelo speechless. The full conversation will premiere on October 20th on the Moneymaker feed, which you can find in the show notes.