Candid Conversation with Host Adrienne Barker

I got, you know, Adrian, I was just getting ready to tell you, you know, I get up looking like this every day. It takes no effort, you know, just, just, you know, I'm wearing clothes.

It's so pretty, Shelley. I looked at my closet today and I said to Alana, should I wear black, black, black, navy, black, or black? And she's like, wear black, be different. So I was going to wear the jacket.

No, we need to do some color. We need some happy.

Oh my God, Shelley. I— so Shelley, I just have to explain this. Shelley has actually been in the industry for like a million and a half years, but maybe 35 or so. But Shelley— so Shelley is with Sweeta. She is a supply— she sells for a supplier that I would also sell to. She's been an amazing friend, confidante, someone that we've drunk together younger days and laughed together.

Man, we've been through You know, you, you know more about me than most people and you still like me, so, so of course I love you.

Hey, there's something in the back behind you, kind of curious to see what it is.

Yeah, let me move out of the way because this is— oh my God, I don't know if you can see from the glare, but, um, here, I'll just turn this off really quick. Let's see if you can see the art that's on the back. Now, now you can't see the art that's on the back. Oh, that piece of art You know, as soon as I saw that hanging in the gallery, I was just so excited. I'm like, that has got to be mine, because every time I look at it still— and I've had it for what, about a year now— I just giggle. I just think it's funny.

And you know what I think when I see it? I think that, I think that you saved me, because it was the first piece of artwork I sold, and my dad was so proud of me because we had the gallery. Gallery hadn't opened yet, and, and I was like, Dad, I got a piece of artwork from the thing from Shelley Bedarsky. And he was just like, oh my God, Adrian, that's really beautiful. You're going to be off to a great start. It was beautiful. And the thing is, that was my mom— one of my mom's favorite pieces, but it had been left upstairs in the gallery at the Village in Hallandale, so they had taken it down, so they never put it up. So I'm so glad, so glad. And actually, I have Miss— I have the 3 other ones, the, um, that I, I bought myself. I actually bought them because I wanted to be fair. But, uh, Miss Gold Digger and Miss Anorexia, and what is the other one? People coming in yelling at me, that's an awful piece.

You have to have a sense of humor and you have to be able to laugh at stupid things, you know, to, to really appreciate that artist. But, you know, you have always been the master of, of social media. So when you were doing the, the live introductions when the whole gallery was, you know, even before it was a gallery and we just found the space and getting ready to go through all the decorating and getting it all set up. And then when you had these on the wall and you just kind of panned past, you know, X, and I got right on the phone and I texted you and I'm like, I must have that. And I will admit, when I saw it on the wall in the gallery, on the, on the live feed, It— I thought it was about 2 by 2, right? It's like 4 by 4. It's huge. I love it.

So, Shelley, I want to ask you, so you— you know, our industry is so different, and being a supplier, you're really what they call a road warrior. But I don't know if, like, my friends that are not in the industry really know what that means. Can you Tell us what a road warrior really does. What does that mean for you being a supplier?

In a nutshell, a road warrior is somebody that sleeps in more beds than a $2 whore.

I love that.

Sometimes they're good, sometimes they're not so good. So we all have an assigned geographic territory and I've represented areas as large as from West Virginia down to Puerto Rico and then across to Mississippi. With SWITA, I'm so happy to be in my home territory. So I cover, you know, one state, beautiful state of Florida, and one little tiny island, Puerto Rico, where I was there like 4 weeks ago. You know, I'm very, very fortunate to be able to travel across the state and to go to Puerto Rico a couple times a year and get to meet new people and see my old people that I've been talking to and working with for nearly 20 years. So I, I think that I have the greatest job in the world, which makes this whole scenario just kind of odd because, you know, as a road rep, you know, as an outside sales rep, I mean, the job entails just doing that, being outside and, you know, and explaining to people. I'm not a salesperson, I'm more of an educator. So, you know, so our job is to teach people about the products and services of SWEETA and, and hope that you will send some business my way.

I love that. I remember actually, so, and just like in any career, you work with some different suppliers and they teach you and then you move on and you're actually better for it. But I still can remember, this is interesting, I still remember your premier group standing and you said, that you were selling for Chocolate In at the time, or showing Chocolate In, and you said a party with— what was, what was you saying? That if you had more than whatever people and you didn't have food, you couldn't call it a party? I love it.

A party without cake is just a meeting. So, so teaching the importance about food, and that was a direct quote from Julia Child, who was just absolutely brilliant in every facet. And, you know, and she really understood emotional impacts of food and sharing it with your friends and your family, and the importance of food whenever there's a gathering. So that was a fun job. That was a fun job. I enjoyed teaching people how to find the opportunities for food products in our industry, which, you know, which is completely different. So I think over the whole scope of my nearly 20 years in the industry, I think I've represented just about every category.

Yeah, clothing with Vantage. Yeah, you work with some of the best. Like, the one thing that I try to tell, like, clients honestly is that it's not that just that we're selling. We know the suppliers, we know the owner. So, you know, Ira was such an amazing man, still is, and he— I mean, the best advice ever. And, and, and David and Now, so, Sweetheart, do you have any, did you pull out any samples to show us?

I have one sample with me that kinda goes with me everywhere. Of course, I do have several things on my desk, so I've got, you know, power banks are always with me. I've got speakers here. I tried to clean off my desk just a little bit, just in case anything screwed up and you saw how messy my desk was. But this little guy just goes everywhere with me. So this is, you know, this is my base camp bottle. My Basecamp Tundra bottle. So, you know, so I've got ice still in there that was from yesterday. Wow. And, you know, rinsing out the straw and the, the sip top. And yeah, I love these, you know, because, you know, when— whether you're in the car or you're at your desk or you're outside, you want your drink cold, you want your hot drink hot, and you don't want it sweating all over the place. And of course you want something that is aesthetically appealing. And that's exactly what we've got with this. Yeah, it's just, it's just an awesome product.

It's so true. You know, it's funny because I like, I really, I really am bad. So like when I go to a meeting and I have my water bottle, I honestly am embarrassed. I look around and I'm like, oh my God, Adrienne, like, because I think it's a habit. Once you have a beautiful bottle and you get in the habit of doing it, and you know, I have like a lot of bad habits, but like so few good habits. So I'm embarrassed of myself. I'm like, oh my God, I need to put a piece of paper because these leak and they just— oh, I, it's— I'm just so embarrassed. So tell me, um, what— like, so who's with you? Where do you— who's living in your house right now? Because I have no idea.

6 cats. I am, you know, I'm kind of living the dream right now. You know, my goal is to someday be that woman where, um, people walk down the street and, you know, and they go That's the one I was telling you about. You know, so it's, it's me and my 6 cats. So I was actually thinking this morning, since I'm on furlough for another month, I'm actually thinking about reaching out to the local animal shelter, no-kill shelter, and see if they need some help fostering some kittens because I've got, you know, my brood is just amazing. And, you know, and there's one of my, one of my cats that, that, that I've been blessed with. Her name is Donut and she is just like mama to everybody. So I think that she would be a good foster mama. And you know, and just to have kittens in the house, you know, it's just, it's just a lot of fun. And I have 6, you know, what's a few more?

Well, it's true too, watching them, because it's— so I was thinking the same thing with Pickles. So I went to go to get— look at Holly. Holly wanted to bite Pickles' nose off. And so when we got there, she was like, she wanted to attack Pickles. And then we all looked at each other like, okay, that was nice, have a good day. We're not taking Holly home because Pickles won't be able to stand.

Like people, not everybody gets along for no particular reason. Sometimes, you know, the alpha dog just wants to be the alpha dog, only child. And, you know, and it's kind of that way in the cat world also. There is a very succinct pecking order. So, you know, my, my boy Mika, you know, he's the only male cat in the house, he's the oldest guy, and he is at the top of the pecking order. Really? I love that.

I was thinking like a cat, then I was like, because Pickles is old, he can't see, he's blind, he, uh, lately he's become like a little pinball. Like, he'll come in the house, he'll bang against this wall while he bangs against this chair, he bangs over here. I'm like, hello? He's like, boop. I'm like, whoa. But he seems okay. He shakes it off fine.

I used to have dogs also for a long, long time, you know, and anybody that knows me knows how special, especially my German Shepherd Gracie was to me. And because I do travel so much, it just wasn't fair to go out and get another, adopt another dog, you know, just for my own peace of mind. You know, cats, you can leave them for a couple of days and, you know, and everything's good and everybody's still fine. Dogs, you can't do that. So yeah, I've missed having a dog, but at the same time, you know, I, I've enjoyed other people's dogs even more. So, you know, and that's another great thing about the job that I have is that there's a number of people that, that work, you know, that run their businesses from their home. And, you know, and after I get to know somebody for a little bit and they're kind enough to allow me to come into their homes when they've got a dog, oh And those are just the best meetings, you know, sitting on the living room floor and the dog's on your lap and licking your face. And yeah, I've got a great job. I really do. I am going to write a book though one of these days, Edge. And you know, and it's going to be called— don't tell anybody, all right? But it's going to be called The Good, Bad, the Ugly, and the Downright Disgusting. Been there, done that, slept in it, ate it.

Oh my God, I can help you edit the book. And actually, I can help you too, uh, how to put it on the Amazon Kindle.

I have every intention of getting it, especially now that I've got some free time and I love reading. What's the name of that book again?

Head Down, Shut Up.

And I've talked to a few people in the industry that have read the book and they said it's absolutely brilliant. And so, yeah, so I'm looking forward to getting that.

The industry is amazing. So Shelley and I are on a private Facebook group that was started by Lisa and Mike. And that's, it's just, they've done a really nice job. And I think every industry should have its own way of communicating. And our industry, it just has many different ways. And I love, I love Tim and Paul talking together on the town hall. That was wonderful.

Oh my God. You know, those two men, I mean, are just absolutely brilliant. And you know, when you look at the hundreds of thousands of people in our industry, And you know that the little personal interaction that we get with, you know, two of the biggest names and faces in our industry. And when you see them in any kind of a venue and you know you can tap them on the shoulder, hey Paul, how you doing? And they know you by name or they recognize you. You can see in their eyes that they recognize you, may not remember your name, but they recognize you. You know, it's just, it just really. Pinpoints how much of a relationship business this is. And, and it's one of the things that I really absolutely love the most about it. It's so true.

So it's so true. I look at Norm and I cry, literally. And it was so embarrassing, and I was kind of sobbing, and his beautiful wife was there, and he's looking at me like, poor Adrienne, what's wrong with her? But because he reminds me of my dad, and they are both like the same age, and when he did this like when he did his chat, I was right up front, like just taking in every second of it because it was so neat to hear his story. So yeah, it's a beautiful industry, it really is. And, and it's, um, it's interesting now, all these— so you see me be a little more vocal right now because all I— and I'm going to say this out loud— distributors need to, if they want to, they don't have to need to, but if they want to offer the sale of the, of the mask— I'm not talking about the respirators, they're not We're not taking masks away from the hospital, the medical. We need it too. And pretty soon, you have a beautiful cotton mask. Pretty soon, we're going to be able to imprint these masks. It'll be like wearing a t-shirt. We're going to follow Sammy's in China. So right now, they're back to business, but everyone has to wear a mask. It's really important. And I think— and they're not so easy to get. Alana made me my banana mask, which hurts my ears. And then she made me a— a paper towel mask, which was okay. But the truth of the matter is it's, it's going to be our new way of life, and I'm happy to— I've learned about it, understand it. And if you were just a regular per— if you're home and you're thinking, I need to order masks for my business, and you go on and you end up at an Alibaba site, or you end up at an Amazon site, you literally are going to pay in advance. My hair is so weird. You're literally going to pay in advance, and you're not going to know how Or what, or who you're selling it to. So why wouldn't you want to buy it from me or another professional who you could trust and were reputable? So like, there's that going back and forth, and I'm staying out of this lane. I'm like, no, you really need to get in this lane, and you need to, to help your clients to find the right product for them, whether it's cloth, whether it's disposable, whether they do need a KN95. And, and that is not a bad thing, it's a good thing. So I'm off the— let me get down off my pedestal.

No, and you do raise some good points, and I do want to remind people that if you're not in the medical industry, all you need is a cotton mask or a fabric mask. What you're looking for is something that's a deterrent. When you think about how many times we subconsciously, we touch our faces, and that's what the cotton masks are for. That's all we as the everyday people need going out there. I have supplemented my cotton mask and And when I had to run out to Walmart the other day to get, you know, cat litter, you can imagine, 6 cats, and I was running out of litter, and I couldn't wait for Chewy to, the Chewy shipment is a little behind. And, you know, so I broke out my white music gloves, that, you know, my white cotton music gloves, you know, just to have one more layer of protection, you know, before I got out to the car and started touching my own personal things again, I took them off, put them in a plastic bag, and now they're in the hamper to be washed. So it's, yeah, here we go, touching my face. But yeah, that's all you need. The average person doesn't need the medical grade.

No, but they do need, so the mask that you're wearing is to protect other people. And I think that is so, and it's so true. The minute I have a, the minute I start talking about my face, I really, I don't know what it is. I was telling Alan, but it's weirdest thing, right? It's, I know, but we do, we do need to protect other people. So I'm really excited to hear you play.

Okay, well, you know, it just so happens I'm going to turn this light back on, so excuse my reach.

You're so funny. The artwork is amazing. It really is cute.

So, you know, you, like so many of my friends, know how dear music is to me, and that's right now— that's, I think, the thing that I miss the most is being able to play. We had a really nice opportunity on Saturday to have a very small gathering of just a few people and celebrate, you know, one of our music community family members who's— on Saturday, it was his 98th birthday. So we got together in his front yard and I brought my clarinet and, you know, and my friend brought her saxophone and we played some songs. And our friend that's a violinist, she brought some patriotic songs. So we were singing all these patriotic songs while she's playing. And, you know, they've got this giant live oak tree that shaded the whole yard. So we visited 6 feet apart. Visited for an hour and celebrated him, and it was just, it was wonderful. So one of my instruments that I have, you know, and I'm very proud of this little girl, her name is Clara. She is not a clarinet, she is a soprano sax. And I've had her for about a year and a half, and I want to show you just the detail that goes into this gorgeous instrument. Just a gorgeous, gorgeous instrument, and the purpose of the soprano sax quite often is for orchestras and symphonies. By the way, the term orchestra and symphony, it can be used, you know, regardless. It's basically the same instrumentation, but it usually defines one group from another in a local region. But anyway, so that usually the purpose of a soprano sax is in the absence of an oboe. So you'll find that the sound— I'm not going to guarantee how it's going to sound over the air. So we're going to change from— by the way, did I have these when I saw you last? I call these my mullet glasses. They're business in the front and party in the back. So my music glasses are just all reading prescription and blah, blah, blah. So Anyway, I hope this isn't horrible. Are you ready? Do we have a minute?

I'm ready. I'm relaxed. I'm sitting back.

Okay. But I want to show you the mouthpiece on this. So this is a single reed instrument. Here we go. So this is a single reed instrument. Clarinet, saxophone, soprano saxophone is a single reed instrument. And then you've got your double reed instruments. So in the absence of a mouthpiece, the reed itself would be the whole— so double reed would be the whole mouthpiece. So you're talking about your oboes and your bassoons and that type of thing. So here's a little song that I kind of like.

So Oh my God, my mom loves sending the clowns.

It sounds really good. So, but, but so I played the piano sax. I also have a couple of alto saxes. You know, you like to use them for different, different things because they're different metals, so they have a different sound. I also have a beautiful buffet clarinet and a really cool bass clarinet and a couple of Irish penny whistles.

Oh my gosh, Shelley, and would you start in school? When did you start to learn?

I started— so when I was a kid, you know, I'll tell you that when I was a kid, I was legally blind, having been born with cataracts. And my first instrument, believe it or not, was a little toy accordion. Yes, I truly am a nerd. And, um, and from there, you know, I learned to play the guitar. So I've always known how to— I've known how to read music since I was this very small child. And my best friend in the world, you know, you could take music lessons, you know, once a week. And I used to love to go over to her house, and, and, and I loved, um, and I wanted to play the piano so badly, but because my vision was so bad, I couldn't see the music sitting on the piano from sitting on the the piano bench. And, you know, so over the years and, you know, vision corrections and those kinds of things, I was able to play even still legally blind. I learned to play the clarinet in 6th grade, and then when I got to be a senior in high school, they needed a lead sax player for the jazz band. So I'm like, okay, let's try that. And then after that, it was a 27-year hiatus before I needed to play it again. And So yeah, so I started as a kid and it's just something that's always been really passionate to me.

It's such a really great gift that you have that you could do that. And now you can make people happy. I was on a, I was at a fun networking call down in North Miami Beach with my friend Leslie and her, the president, Evan Piper. So they had a guy playing the piano. It was really beautiful. So in between the networking where everyone's on that Zoom call, they would play. So it's, that's really nice. You should like, That's really amazing. I think you're so lucky to have that talent. Plus, it must help you during this time when there is so much stress going on that you can lose yourself in your music.

Mm-hmm. And I have a friend that, you know, here I am, 40 years old, and I'm gonna learn how to play the piano. So my first piano lesson, it's gonna be a virtual piano lesson tomorrow night. So I'm— it's going to be a dream come true. You know, I, I always love to be able to sit at the piano and, and read and, you know, but it's just— yeah, let's see. Keep your fingers crossed. It'll definitely be something fun to work on.

So wait, so now I have another question for you. So you sent me Kirsten Campbell. Is that— were you at her wedding?

So Kirsten Campbell is my daughter. She's my baby.

Oh my God, your daughter is a knockout! Her husband— are you kidding me? They— I was looking, I had like 3 minutes. I'm like, okay, She is so beautiful.

She's in that wedding, and she's a wonderful person. So, so when you see how beautiful she is on the outside, she's even more beautiful on the inside. You know, she's just a wonderful mom, and she's a great friend. And, um, you know, she's always one that's rooting for the underdog. And, you know, and she's, she, she's a right fighter. And, you know, she's just got an amazing work ethic. And, um, You know, she's just an amazing human being. I'm so proud of her every single day. And, you know, I'm gonna choke up, but I, I love her and I love her husband. My, my newest son, Bevan.

Handsome. The children are so good. Look, I'm like, that picture, I was like, okay, who is this woman? She is absolutely beautiful. And then I was looking down, I'm like, oh my God, uh, Kirsten, you can keep me as a friend because I will be liking everything you post because I just, I'm just so beautiful, beautiful family. Wow, congratulations.

Thank you. Yes, I'm very proud of her. And of course, she blessed me with two wonderful grandsons. Um, Elijah's 7 and Ethan is 5, and, and I miss them terribly. Thank God for FaceTime and, you know, and those things.

So true. My little Axel and Michaela— and I, I have to show more pictures. They got some beautiful pictures. Alex, my oldest, Alex and Corey are so beautiful together. And then, yeah, beautiful people, they just make beautiful children. And Alex is good because they'll send me the, uh, the videos, but I don't— you know, I forget to ask him if I could post them, and I don't want to just assume that I could post, so I don't, you know, post. I'll have to ask him though. Hey Alex, can I post pictures of Axel so I could show off a little bit?

You're a step ahead of me because I don't usually ask to post. I just assume if she's posting, it's okay if I post and share because, you know, I'm kind of proud of the boys. Beautiful, and they're smart, and they're wonderful, and they've got So I'm looking forward to when, you know, when the floodgates open up again and the pool warms up so we can have them all over and playing in the pool.

See, Alex messages me, and that's where— so he messages. So there's a group of, um, so Sammy, Alex, and Rudy, my 3 sons, were on a Facebook group together. It's really fun. I can't dance, stand my hair anymore, and it's so much fun. And so when Alex sends it that way, I feel like I, you know, that's not— because he messaged me, so I forget to ask But, uh, it's nice that I could communicate with all 3 kids. And, you know, sometimes it's just, it's like ding, ding, ding, ding. But I do have to run. So, um, so, uh, stay tuned to watch. So Dina La Rosa is coming up next right after you. Lovely, lovely woman out of Celebration. So when we had our office in Celebration, and actually when you drive from, uh, from Tampa at Market I-4 into, and you're right in Celebration, you'll see a big sign that says La Rosa Companies. And that is Dina. And her and her husband have built a huge business. She's— and she wrote a book on blended families. So I'm really looking to— oh, she's ready to join too. I'm really looking. I think she's going to come in the stream right now. Let's see. Come on in, Dina.

She's really—

oh, what a lovely woman. And I haven't seen her since we were networking together in Celebration when I was— she was active in the chair and I was. So I won't confuse because the system is so funny and I don't want to mess anything up. So I love talking to you, Shelley. And I will see you in just a few minutes. I may see you. Well, let's do this again. Let's catch up again.

Hey, anytime you want. I got time.

I got time, too. I love that.

Fun. Thank you.

I'm gonna cut my own bangs, and they're gonna be like, up here.

No, no, no, no, no.

I don't have shears. I have the same scissors that I cut like.

No, I love you too, Adrian. Thank you.

Thank you. Bye-bye. Hi, Dina. If you want to come on in, you can come on in. We'll just— oh wait, I'm going to cut to— I'm going to go off and then do another one so it doesn't get confusing.