myBurbank Talks
myBurbank Talks
Women of Burbank: Jessica Cribbs, BurbankMom Says Goodbye to Burbank
In Season two, episode one of Women of Burbank, myBurbank reporter Ashley Erikson sits down with Jessica Cribbs, the creator and publisher of burbankmom.com. Jessica has lived in Burbank for 22 years where she has raised her three kids, but she is saying goodbye to the city to be close to family in a small town in Michigan.
Jessica shares her journey of starting BurbankMom, growing it as a well-trusted brand and resource for families, and how it has led to her love of the city. As she says goodbye to Burbank, her and Ashley discuss what makes Burbank special and how small businesses and the people of the city have made Burbank the unique place that it is.
She also shares about her non-profit, The SOAR Foundation, which she started in honor of her mother that passed from Breast Cancer, and the 5k Rose Run that benefits breast cancer research both here in Burbank and Michigan. Jessica talks about her live production, “Expressing Motherhood,” and how it led her to be interviewed by Maria Shriver on the Today Show.
Lastly, Jessica shares the short film she created called, “Laffey Men,” about her grandfather during World War II and the incredible men that survived a kamikaze attack on the USS Laffey. Listen to the amazing accomplishments that Jessica Cribbs has done during her time in California, and how Burbank is a better place because she was here.
From deep in the Burbank Media District. It's time for another edition of my Burbank Talks, presented by the staff of my Burbank. Now let's see what's on today's agenda as we join our program.
Speaker 2:Hi, my Burbank reporter, ashley Erickson, here with another episode of Woman of Burbank, and I am here with my friend, jessica Cribbs, who is the creator and publisher of BurbankMomcom. She's a freelance writer and producer who has written and directed a documentary, produced live theater, directed 5K Races and been a prominent member of her community where she's raised her three kids. Welcome, jessica. Thanks, ashley. This is how we normally converse, just without all of this stuff. But we sit at a little table, usually in your home, and we chat and you and I have been friends for so long I don't know I don't think you even know how we met. We've been asked that, I feel like, a few times and I can't remember how we first got connected.
Speaker 3:I think when the Banshee Theater was the Banshee Theater at Magnolia, there was one night where we had holiday in the park and I was doing Expressing Motherhood and you were pregnant. That was a really long time ago, yeah and you were walking by and we had already connected online but hadn't met in person. And just right there, you remember that?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, that's amazing. I've been like wracking my brain when was the first moment? And I couldn't, because I just remember you in my life for so long and I just can't. Yeah, I know I know we have connected just over the years on religion and family values and just so many things. Like we just get each other our crazy minds where we come up with these grand ideas because we're creatives, and so you've kind of been my mentor over these years. But Burbank has been your home for a very long time. Yeah, we've been here for 22 years. That's a really long time. But you didn't grow up in Burbank. No, where did you grow up and what brought you to Burbank so long ago?
Speaker 3:Well, I grew up in a tiny little town in southeastern Michigan called Petersburg it's between Toledo, ohio and Ann Arbor and I graduated with 63 people in high school. It's a very small town. It's very small, very small town, and I knew I always wanted to be I don't know in entertainment somehow, and I didn't realize until I got to college what that could mean and made my way to LA. I wanted to be an actress, like most people, but I quickly discovered that acting was not exactly what I wanted to do. I just knew I wanted to be in entertainment and it's kind of. I'm a writer-producer by nature. I think that's people's storytelling. Writing, producing is what I do, so that's why I'm here.
Speaker 2:And so your kids were all born here, so they've grown up in Burbank, and so you created this website, which is pretty much a stapled brand in Burbank now BurbankMomcom. How old were your kids when you started that?
Speaker 3:Very young. The idea came in about 2005 when my first one was born, and I, gosh, where did that idea come from? I think that I had some bloggers in my life at that time. It was mommy. Blogging was huge, then Huge, then right, and there was a woman named Heather Armstrong and she started Deucecom and I was paying attention Her writing. She writes in prose. I was just obsessed with her writing and I didn't know you could write the way you speak, which is what she did, and I don't know. I just had an idea. I couldn't find things to do with my kids because it was before Facebook groups. So I just was like, why can't I start a blog? Why can't I do this? This sounds fun. So I went on GoDaddy and bought BurbankMomcom for, I think, $11.99. And I've had it since, obviously, and so it was just originally started that I could you know a place for me to just put stuff, where I could find things to do with my kids and share with other parents. And there we are, and it's grown.
Speaker 2:It covers travel and Disney and schools. Like you became really into the school system and understanding. People came to you with questions about the schools you cover entertainment. It's grown so much. What has it? How has it been to grow this resource in the city all these years later?
Speaker 3:I love it. I love it. It's 100% me and who I am. It started out as the mommy blogging but it really transferred into like influencer marketing, which didn't exist then but it does now. Just these opportunities started to come, come available and I started paying attention to what other people were doing and and I love I'm from a small town in Burbank. I always felt like a small town. So to be able to bring people together because I just I love people, everything I do is all about people and I love it Writing, networking, participating in events, promoting events, knowing what's going on in my city I just have always, I've always, loved Burbank for that.
Speaker 2:And you get to do so many fun things like I see you going to movie premieres and all sorts of things and what has been some of your favorite moments that you've got to be a part of through Burbank oh my gosh.
Speaker 3:I honestly all of them. I have been so blessed to be able to provide restaurant meals. You know Disneyland would send us to Disneyland and we'd cover new TV show premieres there. I mean, I say it out loud and I'm like I cannot believe that we got to do all these things. It's really just the experiences I've been able to give my kids because of it, the people we've got to meet, how involved my kids have been in the city and what they know is going on. I don't know. I don't know if anything I'm saying is making sense. You have done so many things over the years. Everything about everything I've been able to do yeah, everything I've been able to do is. I will never take it for granted.
Speaker 3:It's just it's awesome I get to write, I get to take photos, I get to edit, I get to make video, I get to do all the things that help me be creative as a mom and stay inside my house, which is really important for me, Cause I did come out here, I did have a good job at Hallmark Channel and I decided to stay home after I had my first baby. So it was important for me to be creative, Cause that's why so this was it's a perfect project for me.
Speaker 2:That's kind of how I started with Magnolia Park. It was like I had my first baby and I didn't want to go to a job and so I started a blog which turned into the Magnolia Park Merchants Association and just trickles. And it's amazing what you can do at home when you just put your mind to it and find resources.
Speaker 3:And now look what you've done you I mean Halliday in the Park is literally one of my very favorite things about the city. Also, when Burbank on Parade I remember the first time I saw Burbank on Parade with my little ones on Olive and we were sitting on the curb and I just I was like I cannot believe we're doing this in California. This is amazing. This makes me feel like I'm home, yeah.
Speaker 2:There was. You know, burbank has grown and changed over the years and it's, you know, becoming, you know, more industrial and there's more media buildings and things like that. But Burbank on Parade was special to me too. I have this picture of Riley when he was like two years old, holding a little American flag and waving it as the parade went by, and I think that's what I loved about Burbank so much is that that small town feel in this big city right, and you've raised your kids here for so long in that. But this is a very busy week for you because the Burbank mom is leaving Burbank.
Speaker 3:I am she's making the trip back home. Yeah, we're relocating back to Michigan. Yeah, after 22 years and nearly 18 years of doing Burbank mom.
Speaker 2:And what's going through your. I know this wasn't an easy decision. You've really been invested in this city and this community, so this wasn't a light decision. But you know what are you looking forward to about this move and being back in Michigan.
Speaker 3:Family. There's nothing more important than family. And you know, when you're 20-something and you leave your hometown and have these big dreams which I do and I still do you don't think at 20 what it's gonna be like to raise your kids thousands of miles away from any family. And you know, in those 22 years I've lost a lot of people, including my mom, and I've missed I say I, we, as a family. We've missed Thanksgiving and Christmases and birthdays and weddings and funerals and all like every event, family gatherings, just all of it for 22 years. And it's just time, it's time to go back home.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you go and visit in the summer, usually, right, you do this big road trip out there and I see these photos where the kids are just disconnected from everything and they're outside with their cousins and they're playing board games by campfires and just out in these big areas, and I mean I feel like that's all of our dreams right now is right is just to like get away from the media, the tech, everything that's around us, and just let them be free and creative.
Speaker 3:It's really special. Our summers in Michigan have been really awesome, so my kids aren't unaware of what they're going back to. They have no idea what a Michigan winter is gonna be, like. So I'm waiting to see how fast they say we want to move back to California.
Speaker 2:You're going like right before winter it's gonna hit you yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's gonna come very soon. Normally they've. Actually, it was 60 in Michigan on Christmas, so they had a beautiful sunshiney day for Christmas this year. So yeah, winter is coming.
Speaker 2:I can't wait to see the photos of their miserable faces in their coats.
Speaker 3:No no, but it's really. I wouldn't encourage anybody. If you can get outside of Los Angeles for any amount of time vacation, visit family, just get out of here for a little while.
Speaker 3:Even when you're coming back. You know it's special. I was your family really excited for you. Oh yeah, yeah, oh yeah. They've been asking me to come back for a long, long time and the time's right and my husband's ready to go, which was really the key factors. You know, it's a hard place to be right now, just with finances, and he has a long drive to work and he's been doing that for a long time supporting us. So, yeah, it's just time.
Speaker 2:It's hard to make that jump right, like you're really flipping your whole life upside down, everything that you've known, that your kids have known, that you've built your world around, but you are so good at taking chances and trusting God and praying about this for a long time and also just making do with what you have.
Speaker 2:Like you start small and you can grow things so big. So I'm really excited to see what you're going to do over there. But the reason I wanted you here is because I really wanted to tribute what you've done in Burbank and all the amazing things and so you can look back and see your time here. So I'd love to hear what your favorite businesses are, what your favorite things about Burbank have been over the 22 years you've been here.
Speaker 3:That's a huge question. There's so much I love about Burbank. It's number one the people. People make places special. I mean we've got the mountains and the trees and the weather and all the things, but if you don't have good people in your life and people running the businesses, you've got nothing. So the business owners in Burbank small business, if I always support the best I can and I love Burbank because you make a lot of friends and especially with kids in sports, and then you see, doesn't matter what school kids go to, you see each other at Target or Walmart or the grocery store, whatever. But I love man. We've got some great restaurants. We're lucky to have portos. I mean my checklist this week.
Speaker 2:Making sure you get it all done. Making sure I get it all done.
Speaker 3:Next up is Poblitos. So, poblitos, I'm coming for you. And Dinos. We had Dinos this week. Everything's revolved around food, all the staples, yeah, no, I mean, burbank has some really amazing food. We do, we do, and Burbank is so close to everything, in my opinion, that we can just hop over the hill and have different experiences elsewhere too.
Speaker 2:So I don't ever leave Burbank.
Speaker 3:I don't really ever leave Burbank either.
Speaker 2:I don't need to. I don't need to, I don't want to, I don't know. Free parking easy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, but we really are blessed to live in the city because normally by eight o'clock nine o'clock at night the roads are quiet, neighborhoods are quiet. It's a town where people come to work because of the studio, so we get all the fun, awesome things of people and downtown and the media district and everything and then it's quiet. So it is a great place to have a family in Los Angeles and that's why we chose Burbank all those years ago.
Speaker 2:So and now your kids are older I think this is a good time that they're going off to college and things like that, so you've got such a whole new journey ahead of you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I have a daughter in Chicago in college, so moving back home we're gonna be four hours from her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that'd be so nice it will, and you've been really close with unique vintage over these years. Yes, you were rocking all those dresses all those times.
Speaker 3:Well, you know, katie Etcheverry, who owns unique vintage, is a really close friend of mine and, man, she's amazing. You should have her on this podcast. Yeah, she, her story is awesome. She inspires me. She's one of my mentors. Katie, if you're listening, I love you. She's very smart and she's also a female business owner who encourages all other business owners. Like she's always told me, there's room for everyone. There's just room for everyone to do what they need to do. So, you know, focus on your own business, focus on what you want to do. She's taught me a lot.
Speaker 2:And you introduced me to her. We had a Burbank mompreneur meetup once.
Speaker 3:Oh, we did at her office.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you brought us all there and she had these little like girl boss buttons and told us her story and gave us a tour of her incredible factory where she takes all her photos and things and ships things and just like to think that that's here in Burbank is just so incredible. There's some incredible women here.
Speaker 3:There are, yeah, and you know, carrie who owns, oh my gosh, romance and the Bean and the New Deal, and her new one coming up too, where it's right in between. Really, oh, that's hers, oh that's hers, yeah, yeah, I'm just so inspired by the people in the city who create these amazing places for us. Yeah, I have a lot of favorite things in the city, but and you could probably find it all on BurbankMomcom you probably could in my archives. Yeah.
Speaker 3:My kids were younger, they would allow me to take pictures of them, and we were, you know. So it's changed over the years and as they've gotten older, it's more about what I can help promote without my kids being in the picture.
Speaker 2:So Do you have a plan for Burbank mom? No.
Speaker 3:No, but you know I don't know what to do because I like what it does for the city and what it can provide, because I do know people come, but it's also me and so if I don't know, it's also and it's more than that. So you know, outside of Facebook and Facebook for the city, instagram, I have a larger following and I have on Pinterest I do really well and you know, it's just, it's bigger than just Burbank, so I don't know what to do. No, I have no plans.
Speaker 2:I think it will come to you. Yeah, I think it is you. Yeah, I don't think it could be anybody else but you.
Speaker 3:Well, we're all Burbank moms, Right, and that's why I started it, that's true, but it has morphed into something where it's kind of it's not really my identity, but it is something that is part of me.
Speaker 2:So so just keep an eye and see what pops up.
Speaker 3:Well, yeah, and if you know I am planning on, you know, showing how this cross-country move is going to go and It'll be Michigan, mom. Well, no, I don't, I think I don't know. Something different has to happen. My kids are too old and I'm yeah, I hunt.
Speaker 2:You know, I feel like that too. It's like we're not doing the little crafts and the little science experiments and going to the kid's zone and the kid's base and all these things and I miss that so much. But we're not in that phase of life anymore and it's sad we're in a new phase we are. We have to pass the baton on.
Speaker 3:And I'm a little older than you, so I'm even farther ahead. You should have some years with your kids in school. Yeah, I'm almost done with that, which is sad to think about and amazing, because my kids are awesome and they're going to do great things. But you know, we're headed back to the Great Lakes and if you've never been I have not you need to come see me. My dad has a charter fishing boat on Lake Erie and it grew up there and that's how we spend our summer, so that's amazing.
Speaker 2:I will definitely be there in the summer, not the winter, not the winter.
Speaker 3:No, I don't believe you for that.
Speaker 2:Well, I want to talk. You've done so many other things other than Burbank mom, so let's, let's just dive into it. Ok, let's start with something that's pretty incredible called expressing motherhood. Ok, yeah, so give us a little rundown of what that project is.
Speaker 3:So expressing motherhood is a live is and was a live stage show where a girlfriend and I had started created. She came to me with this idea because we were both midwesterners who had moved to LA to be in the industry and then we had children and we were like but we want to be moms and I don't, you know, we both didn't want to leave our kids if we didn't need to. So we created expressing motherhood, her idea. She came to me and she's like you want to do this? I was like say less, let's do it, you know. So it was a stage show.
Speaker 3:We cast real moms on stage to share stories about motherhood. Some of them were hilarious, some were not funny, some were devastating because motherhood is all over the place. And it was really successful and we booked multiple shows in LA and every show we did was a new cast. And then we went to New York and went to Chicago During COVID. I know she did it online. I stepped back at a certain point because I'd started an unprofit, which I'm assuming you're going to ask me about yes, I will, but it was a way for us to stay creative.
Speaker 3:And then, and something really special in the middle of that happened where Maria Shriver was coming back to the Today Show and she had reached out to us and we were her Mother's Day special reintroduction back to the Today Show the West Coast Because she was a correspondent for the West Coast. So she came out and set up shop and it was surreal.
Speaker 2:It's amazing, yeah, and so you got interviewed by her, yeah yeah that's amazing. Yeah, it was an experience and to go to these different states and, yeah, to bring these stories. Did you speak on the stage as well? I did.
Speaker 3:I did the very first, very first show. I Wrote a piece about my mom. I had lost her at that point I'm not sure how many years, but I wore a dress of hers from the 70s. I fit into it then. I do not fit into it now. I bet my eighth grader would. And I just wrote about her hands. My mom was tiny and she had little hands and yeah, I, I'm sure it's online somewhere. But yeah, I performed once and then I was like, no, I'm sorry, I did it twice and then I was good and then you just helped produce the show and was the show and Lindsay directed Lindsay Cabot.
Speaker 3:She's amazing.
Speaker 2:And is this still going on now? Is this something that's carrying on? Yeah?
Speaker 3:she's been doing supper club kind of things, where it's more intimate instead of a large black box theater, which is really great in and of itself, but she's made it. I think during COVID she transitioned to online shows and now they're more private supper clubs. So you.
Speaker 2:You performed here at the Banshee was on Macmillan.
Speaker 3:I did I did Banshee and then another one in Hollywood, over in the theater district, somewhere we used to go to the elephant elephant.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that's incredible. So let's, let's talk about your mom for a minute. Yeah, this is a it's. I'm sure it's a hard topic. You lost your mom to cancer breast cancer and you started a foundation in her honor which turned into a 5k, and in two different states over many years. I mean just like that, you just like touch things, it's like Midas and it's just like gold. I don't know about that. Yeah, I mean so. So you started the sore foundation.
Speaker 3:Strength of a rose. My mom's name was rose and roses are very strong flowers. She was super little and very strong. She was a farm girl and yeah, so I started the strength of a rose foundation after she died and I was in a running group at the time in Griffith Park. I can't run, I tried, but it was a group to keep me active and just to stay active.
Speaker 3:After having my second baby. I'm called mom's in motion and it's not mom's in motion anymore, but Lucy Murray. She's uh, she was a parent here in Burbank as well, but Lucy was super helpful and inspirational to me and the whole group of women that I was meeting every Saturday morning with while I lost my mom and when she passed, I just knew I needed to do something. She was so young, she was 54 and beautiful and well loved in her community and I knew I needed to do something. So, because of the running group, I was like let's do a 5k and my family was like whatever we'll do, whatever you know. So it's been amazing. We, we, we just had our 15th run this summer and you call it the rose run the rose run.
Speaker 3:I took an online class about a year. In Took an online class at Glendale College about how to start a 501c3, how to start an on-profit. So I did that and I incorporated and and did it all legit and we've been doing it, like I said, 15 years and I'm not even sure of the exact number of we've raised, but um, it's I mean over 15 years.
Speaker 2:That's a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so we do in a small farm town and it's amazing this town we're moving back to um, I planned for 125 people. I was like, okay, 125 people show up and we charge this much, we can make this much, we donate this right. Well, 315 showed up and I got more sponsors than I Anticipated and we ended up raising $10,000 for charity for that. That first run, wow, blew my expectations. I was hoping for 2000, we got 10. So we've been doing it since and I did it in Los Angeles for three years here in Griffith Park.
Speaker 3:And we raised money for the Disney Family Cancer Center. And Roy Disney came and ran and Uh came up to me one time and shook my hand. He's like great job, jessica. I'm like who are you? It's like I'm Roy and I was like, wow, that's pretty incredible. Yeah, he had a great time too. Roy, you're a great runner. And um, anyway, you know, it was just amazing. I had so much support here. I was on the friends of the Disney Family Cancer Center I don't think that group's there anymore, but we, um the rose run, helped raise Uh money to help fund one of the three new tomography machines at the the cancer center. So, um, and I've used that machine. So, um, that's incredible, yeah, and a huge accomplishment. Yeah, it is, yeah, it is. And doing a race, a 5k race, in Los Angeles is very different doing it in a small town and we were able to raise a lot more money here just because of the resources.
Speaker 2:So You'll continue this moving on when you move back.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, yeah, we'll continue it's. It's a really great event. There's a there's a lot of races that don't survive, and we've made it 15 years and you've been producing it from here.
Speaker 2:You don't go right during right, but I don't do it alone yeah.
Speaker 3:I have um a solid group of of women who helped me, um my sister, a couple friends, everybody who knew my mom. So it's a small town and everyone comes together. We have more than enough volunteers every year. It just gets it done.
Speaker 2:You know what time of year does this usually take?
Speaker 3:place in july, um, so every year, um, we have a weekend in our small town called community day, and normally it's centered around like kegs of beer and you know, just Go go to old-fashioned like. I know it's like it's been around since I was a kid. So every I think it's a second weekend in july, the whole weekend is dedicated to celebrating the town, and so I put the rose run in the beginning of the saturday morning, so the rose run kicks off that full day. There's a parade at noon. It's like all john dear tractors.
Speaker 2:Oh my god.
Speaker 3:It's just amazing, honestly, honestly.
Speaker 2:I just can't imagine when it's like to be in a town like that, where it's like sure you just know everybody. You do and you know everyone's got your back, I'm sure and just yeah my, uh.
Speaker 3:My burbank high schooler is going to be in for a surprise when he realizes how small his class size is going from from burbank high to you know, your pool of girls shrinks very soon. Yeah. Put the way for college. Yeah, yeah. So yeah, we'll still do it, of course, and um, I don't see it ever stopping.
Speaker 2:The town loves it and I get lots of support and that's awesome, yeah, and and something else you've done, that you another tribute to a family member. You're very big on keeping legacy alive. Which I love is, um, you produced or you made a film, a short film, yeah, mm-hmm. Called laughy man. Yeah, based on your grandfather in world war two. Just, you know, just throwing it out there 5k is nonprofits, I feel like.
Speaker 3:I have. I have Project add. Like I cannot stay with one thing ever. I will never be able to do that. I accept that about myself. That's how I was made. I will always be moving from one thing to another.
Speaker 3:Yeah, um, laffy men, the uh, my dad, his, my grandfather, um. His father was um in world war two and um, my dad is one of nine kids and when I was it was 2003 or four I kind of found out that my grandfather was on the uss Laffy in the pacific in one of the the last great battles, um in the pacific before the world the war ended and he survived a kamikaze attack on their specific ship that nobody should have survived. So I was like, oh, I'm gonna look into this a little bit. I found out there was a book written about it, called the Ship that Would Not Die. I got my hands on that book. I started asking my grandpa. He still didn't wanna talk about it. You know a lot of World War II vets didn't wanna talk about those things because it was hard. And then there was a reunion for the men who were on that ship, who survived, in Patriots Point in South Carolina, which is a maritime museum. The ship is actually there. So I was like, well, I'm gonna go interview people.
Speaker 3:So this was before kids, I was able to get a camera.
Speaker 3:I was working at Hallmark Channel, I had so many resources to me so I took advantage of it, went to South Carolina, interviewed four other men who survived that day, went back to Toledo, ohio, interviewed my grandfather.
Speaker 3:I was just gonna put like this little video together for my family so they knew what my grand, what our grand, what he went through and ended up becoming a 30 minute short documentary and I got it professionally voiceover because I was working with voiceover artists at Hallmark Channel. I got a real friend to write an original song for it. I found a composer in Los Angeles who was willing to score the whole thing. My neighbor gave me who works in the industry, gave me software, he gave me Final Cut so I could edit the thing and it got played in the Cleveland International Film Festival and another festival here in Malibu. And the best thing is that we were able to rent a movie theater in Mommy, ohio, with a beautiful it's an old theater with a marquee with my grandfather's name on it and we had a movie premiere for him and movie posters made and he signed movie posters for two hours afterwards.
Speaker 2:I can't imagine what that must have been like for him.
Speaker 3:He got a standing ovation after the film played and he was speechless. He's since passed, but our family still has this story forever.
Speaker 2:It's so important because I feel like so many stories get lost. They do, and a lot of people don't have the tools to commemorate those stories, and so it's so incredible that you were able to capture that and turn it into a film nonetheless.
Speaker 3:You just gotta move with things. You just put them in motion and see what happens.
Speaker 2:You never know who's out there and who you know. The closed mouth never gets fed right. And so you have to ask and see what resources are out there.
Speaker 3:That is something I've learned. I used to sit back and think, well, if this is good enough that I'm putting out, then they'll come to me. And that's just not true. You have to ask. You know, the answer will always be no on everything. If you don't ask. Ask for help, they don't want to do this. Where do I find that? You know, and there's been so many women, even in Burbank, who have helped me, who are even, you know, ahead of me in certain things, and they've just encouraged me and given me free advice. Or you know how do I do this? What do I do with? You know, just, and then I try to do that for others, like just always pay it forward, because, why not?
Speaker 2:Like Katie said, there's always room for it.
Speaker 3:There's always room, yeah, yeah, and there's always competition. There always will be. That's something she always said is there's always competition, but there's room for everybody. Just keep your head down and focus on what you're doing so.
Speaker 2:Incredible. And where can people watch this film if they wanted to watch it?
Speaker 3:It's on YouTube. I don't know the exact. It's on YouTube you can. It's just called Laffyman. It's a 30 minute short documentary and it's there. You can watch it Incredible.
Speaker 2:You've done so many amazing things and your time here in Burbank is coming to a close.
Speaker 3:Oh, my gosh Days. Tomorrow's my last day here.
Speaker 2:Hours, Hours left in Burbank. I know and you have done so many incredible things. The last thing I wanna talk about is maybe something that's newer or maybe it's new to me in the last few years of knowing you is your DIY skills. This woman If you go to her TikTok or Instagram, she just you turn water into wine.
Speaker 2:You turn the old furniture into beautiful new furniture. You've done your whole house by yourself. You've torn up the floors and everything. Every time I come over, there's a new project your coffee stand or something. Where did that come from? Is that something you've always been into?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I'm from a family of do-wors people. It was actually foreign to me to come to California and realize you can pay someone to do your lawn. And I gave my kids a heads up. I'm like you guys know, we're mowing our own lawns Like we're getting a lawn mower. You're raking leaves Like we're doing the thing. If this is something we're doing, yeah, I'll hold them, I'll let you know how they do on that.
Speaker 3:But yeah, just, it's interesting, when you come from a large family, somebody always has a skill. So I remember when we, my dad, was building a pole barn when I was a kid. He's got eight brothers and sisters. Well, one of them's a plumber, one of them's a carpenter. You know, they all come together, they all work together. We show up if someone needs a new roof on their house, you show up and you do the work and you help each other out. So, yeah, I don't know. And my mom was a crafter More than a crafter really, she could create a lot of things and her sisters Very, very crafty.
Speaker 3:And I just like to do it. I like the challenge I actually put During COVID. I put new bathroom floors and I had to tear up linoleum in my kitchen turned out to be four layers of linoleum. And when I went to the bathroom to put new floors in, the Toilet flange was it was just all I had to fix things. I had no idea, so I did, but I figured it all out and there's something in it, like if you just go to YouTube, you can learn anything on YouTube, anything. And then I have plumber friends. So I'd call a plumber friend and he's like do you realize how much money you're saving yourself right now by doing it? I was like I don't care and it took me eight hours to replace this iron Toilet flange that I had to drive to silt. Like it doesn't matter, you can do it, don't be afraid of things. You can put new floors in, you can paint the walls, you can fix the plumbing. You can do the things. Just ask questions and go to you working with your hands.
Speaker 2:It's such like a lost art form right, like just this, learning a trade, right, being able to pass a trade on, or I mean I feel, especially when COVID hit, If you didn't know a trade, you were worthless, I mean as an event planner. They're like we don't really need you right now. I'm like great, yeah, I know, you know my husband works on cars right, they needed him. But that was a really eye-opener is, if you like, when the world goes down, you better know how to do stuff.
Speaker 3:I do think there's something to be said about those kinds of life skills, like knowing how to Fix certain things instead of buying something new. Knowing how to you know the coffee bar, which is my very favorite thing. It's um, it's a 75 year old kitchen vintage piece that I found on facebook on the west side that I built into my dream coffee bar and I, I love it. I love it so much, but you know when you need to build it with your hands, it means more. Yeah, you appreciate it more in the effort into it.
Speaker 2:Well, you have Been incredible this these years. I can't even know how many years it has been since. I guess if I was pregnant, I don't even know which kid it was. Yeah, I don't, either 11 years or 15 years, one or the other, um, but you have given me so many years of friendship and mentorship, I mean I a shoulder I could lean on. I was sitting by that little window in your, in your kitchen, hours hours. I know, I think our kids have to to break us up.
Speaker 3:Yes, talking and visiting. Actually, tyler wouldn't stay there forever.
Speaker 2:He would, he would.
Speaker 3:But I just owe so much to you.
Speaker 2:I really do, because you have encouraged me in every way. I mean, there was job interviews that you pushed me to do that. I, you know I have these jobs still and Um, bouncing off all my ideas with you. You have just been like Such an inspiration, such a role model to me all over these years. Um, so I'm going to miss you very much. I'm going to miss you too, but I'm a phone call away, although I don't like talking on the phone. No, you'll have to come see me. I'll take your.
Speaker 3:We'll take you guys fishing on Lake. Erie and would love that. Yeah, they would, they would.
Speaker 2:So is there anything left that you want to say to Burbank or to the, to the families and that are raising their kids here in Burbank?
Speaker 3:Thank you, Like I wouldn't have a website if people didn't Know, like and trust me. I mean there's, there's really that's really important when you're building something, and that's why I've always stayed away from Um and that's why I've always stayed away from mostly religion and politics on my site, because those can be very divisive and I don't. That's not me. So, um, just thank you, burbank, this has been awesome. It it's very surreal I know it's the right time I have so much peace about leaving right now and um, and the importance of being with family and you know, live. I mean, if kovat didn't teach us anything, it's like life is so short. Do not waste your time not being with the people you love. Do not waste your time not, you know, going forward on projects that you have. Do not waste your time Period we're not guaranteed today. So you know, just just live and tell people you love them and and show up for people. Put your phones down like seriously, I'm on social media, huh, all the time. Get off social media. Yeah, you know it's, uh.
Speaker 2:I'm two social media experts. I know get off.
Speaker 3:My kids will laugh when they read to hear me say that Um, no, it's just, uh, just live and be with people. People are more important. You know restaurants, movie theaters, places, things are gonna come and go, but you know people are really important. So Focus on that. And um, raising kids here Without family is doable, um, I've done it for a very long time. I don't recommend it, but you know, if we're here because of jobs and you know what we have going on, find a try, build your village, reach out, ask for help. Don't be alone. You know um, a lot of times when I was feeling lonely or isolated, because I was isolating and it's hard. So, check in on each other and, um, take care of burbank, as everybody will. I'm just the person like burbank's not gonna stop because I'm not here, you know so, um, it's a better place because of you. Oh, thanks, ash. You too, man, you've done so much we. Maybe next time I can come interview you.
Speaker 2:That would be nice. Yeah Well, thank you, jess. I I'm I'm so excited to see what you do. So, um, follow burbank mom on social media. Go to her website. Who knows what she's gonna do next. And whatever it is, it's gonna be incredible. So thank you, thank you. Thank you, guys, for watching another episode of women of burbank. We'll see you next time. Our wealth management and the ups store on 3rd street.