Episode 500: 500 Episode Celebration

Rebecca, 500 episodes. 5-0-0. That is a huge milestone. I can't believe when you started Winey Palooza, did you ever imagine it would become this? Like, it's, it's a beautiful mix. You've got podcasting, you've got your weekly Wednesday lives, which I love. You've got your Facebook community, over 18,000 members. And all your articles that you handwrite yourself. Did you even think that that would be in your future?

Oh my gosh, no.

I—

it just, it just keeps growing, and I didn't envision any of this. It just— we just keep adding stuff to it, and it's been such a fun journey.

So what actually came first? So I understand, was it the blogging?

Yes, because I was a young mom with with 3 little kids. I was completely overwhelmed, and one of my coping strategies was writing. And Seth, of course, being the businessman that he is, was like, honey, this is a blog. And of course I was like, what is a blog? So all along the way I'm like, what is a vlog? What do you mean I should do a newsletter? What do you mean I should do a podcast? How exactly am I going to do a podcast? Like, he just is the— he's the, he's the genius behind the ideas. And then he takes my content to create it all.

What a brilliant, brilliant brand, actually, the Winey Palooza brand. And it really has become a cornerstone for your listeners. They know they can hop onto Facebook around that 9 o'clock mark and start watching your live and give comments to you. I've contributed by giving hearts and asking questions. So I love that it's you and Seth, and I do clap my hands when Ella joins you and sometimes Lily, which is lovely. And you really have those conversations, they're real live conversations about marriage, parenting, like your everyday chaos, and you're so relatable to other parents. But these are live sessions, like you have to be brave to do a live session. There's no editing. And as your producer, which I haven't introduced myself, I'm Adrienne Barker, the happy and very lucky and blessed producer for the Winey Palooza podcast. Uh, I get it. Like you, you're just so unfiltered and authentic. And so what, what do you feel like, what was the start of the Winey Wednesdays and what do you feel that brings to your Winey Palooza world?

So we decided that we were going to, so one of the ways to be successful, what Seth and I have discovered is that you have to be consistent. And so we decided the consistency of Winey Palooza was going to be every Wednesday. So I started writing during the week to end on a Wednesday so that it would be ready to go live on Wednesdays. And then he said, let's go live and talk about your blog. And I'm like, you're so weird with your ideas. Like I always, I've learned over the last, um, so Lily is 13, so it's been 12 years of this. So I've learned over the last 12 years to open my brain to his ideas. Now, mind you, he did tell me another idea that I didn't like, but I'll talk to you about that later. So, so anyways, he was like, let's go live on Facebook and talk about the blog. And I was like, you're so weird with your ideas. So we went live Wednesday night and we were getting so much more feedback from from the videos than from the blog. So the blog, people would, people would comment and be like, oh, thank you so much. This was so helpful. So they would keep me going, but the interactions with the vlog was becoming more popular. So I realized that people like to see me and hear me better than they like to read me.

Yeah. Yeah. I love that.

Yeah.

That makes sense. And I mean, I will just throw it out there because people know that you're a beautiful woman and Seth's a great looking guy. And but I will say that I love what Ella said that saying one time when she said, how you look is of no interest to me, or how'd she say that?

Look, Ella is so authentically Ella and she does not— Lily will be upstairs for an hour primping for school and I'm like, get downstairs, you're pretty, cut it out. Ella takes however long, a few minutes to get ready, and she comes downstairs looking gorgeous and she could care less. She's like, I'm going to school to learn. I'm not going to school because it's a fashion show. She's like, I don't care how you look. I care what kind of person you are.

Amazing. Amazing. I— yeah, Ella is, uh, definitely a fan favorite when it comes to— only because she's contributed more than, than Lily. Nothing, Lily, that you're not— you're obviously a fan favorite. And everyone loved the, uh, the podcast talking about the bat mitzvah, which was beautiful. Yeah, you know, I have to say too, I love that Ella is part of, uh, Winey Paloozie Wednesday. Sorry about that. Uh, she has her Teenage Tuesday article. Could you— would you mind just sharing that so listeners know more and they can participate?

Oh my gosh, of course. So Ella asked me over the summer if she could start a column, and she said, I want to talk from the teenage perspective perspective. And I was doing Winey Palooza Wednesdays, so she used that and said, I want to do Teenager Tuesdays. And I said, okay. And she started doing a consistent column every single week, blog column, whatever you want to call it, just whatever's going on with her that she wants to contribute to put out to the universe, to families. And I said to her, I don't expect this to be consistent. Like, you have all these AP classes that you're taking. You study endless hours. You do this when you can do this. But we were just at the orthodontist and she pulls out her computer and says, while I'm getting, you know, my mouth fixed, can you check out Teenage Tuesday for me? She'd already written it to go out tomorrow. Like, she's just such a hard worker and she's such a creative writer. Everybody loves what she's writing. It's coming from the teenage perspective. And people are telling me, ooh, I gotta show my, my kid this. So the moms are seeing it and they're showing their kids. So every Tuesday, a new, um, something, article, what are we calling it? Blog column. She started calling it a column. It comes out every Tuesday. And so you can look for it. And when she feels up for it, which is not a lot lately, cuz she works so hard, she joins us on Wednesdays to talk for like 5 minutes about her Tuesday column. Ella, I love it.

I hope you can continue to find the time because it means a lot to me too. You know, it's so funny is that I have shared about the Clear Media Project, and I think I've told you, and I'll say it aloud here, I consistently, when I'm asked to deliver the nightly news— so there's a podcast, I deliver breaking news— I get my news strictly from the Clear Media Project. I let them know that when when I deliver news, I share from the Clear Media Project. It's amazing, Ella Green, that you have created and, and that you, you know, curate the news in such a great way that I can be proud to deliver it. And I'm never worried like, okay, this is fake news. I've never had that issue. I've had it in some different things, but not with Ella. So amazing.

Oh my gosh, yes. Ella is a budding— she wants to major in journalism and political science, and I can't wait to see where that takes her.

Oh my gosh, I love that. I love that. Yeah, so Teenage Tuesday is amazing. We have Winey Palooza Wednesday, and then we have like your Friend Friday. You're like meeting people that, you know, I, I love wine. Yeah, I can't even say what's my favorite because I really, I love Wednesdays and Fridays, so I'm not sure where to go with that one. But so tell us about when did that fit in the schedule, and when did you hear that idea, let's go from lives to actually creating the podcast and the interviews?

Okay, so we went from the blog to the vlog, and then Seth said, "I think you would be an awesome podcast host." Now, this is— he's telling this to somebody who had never listened to a podcast, didn't even really know what a podcast was, and he's teaching me all this technology. And I'm like, "Honey, I— like, you have way too much faith in me. I can't do this." So he's like, I'm going to do the first couple podcasts with you, just trust me. And so you— people are finding us, as you know, after all these years, people are finding us and Adrian's finding me amazing people. And I get to interview guests, experts in the subjects that I just adore. It doesn't feel like work. It is— I get excited every time I get to meet someone and I get to interview people every week and learn from them and share it to the world. And after a couple times of Seth teaching me how to use the technology, I got brave and did it by myself and figured it out. And you know, it's not that hard once you get used to it. There were a couple panicked phone calls from me with technical issues, but it's been so much fun and I love it so much. And after 500 episodes, I can still tell you that I get excited every time I get to do this.

You could tell with your face, it's so lovely. I, you know, it's, it's interesting because you do still have all the excitement and I will say you're really easy to book for because of your reputation, the reviews, which are amazing. And you know, your numbers are incredible. So all of that. So what a family when you look back at all of the guests.

Oh my gosh, the guests are incredible. I mean, we could just recycle every— like, I'm— I welcome new people, you know, I welcome new people, but we could literally just recycle everybody. And I would— I have people coming to me now and saying, will you interview me again? Like, you've seen the emails. I mean, Christina just said, will you email me again? Christina Fletcher, if you hear this, you can come on anytime you want. I love her. I've met amazing people and And the best part for me is that they want to come back. Oh, okay. That gives us—

okay. All right. We should really look at a series of the comeback guests. I love that idea.

I've had so— and I need to take notes. Like, I need a podcast journal. I think that's going to be my new, my new thing because I'll interview someone and they'll say, can I please come back? Can we talk about this next time? And I don't write it down and I don't want them to think that I'm not following up with them. Like, because I don't want them. I just need to tell you and write it down.

Yes, yes, tell me.

I, I just, I forget. I've had so many people say, okay, we did this subject, next time can we do this subject?

I totally agree with you. And actually, since, I mean, I think it was you started before COVID Oh yeah, yeah. So I mean, after that many years, you definitely could recycle guests and it'll, and it's And it's exciting because actually I love like where you were 5 years ago from where you are now. So finding out where they are too with the different programs that they've had to offer, I think that's really cool. So I love that you go deep dive with your guests on Friday. I love that it's a really raw— I'm so lucky. I keep thinking I'm listening, watching, and I'm like doing all the show notes. I'm like, wow, these are all gifts, the conversation. What you pull out of them and then what they share.

Thank you. I love it so much. And I, I can't tell you that, um, I had no idea what I was in for. I had no idea that this was going to be a journey of not only giving content that I'm proud of, but becoming a better me through the process. Wow.

So your own personal growth Have you ever felt too, when you're interviewing a guest, that like, ooh, I'm actually getting some private therapy too, even though all the listeners are listening?

So yeah, so I will authentically— okay, so there's two things that I will do. If it relates to me, I obviously mentally take notes for myself. I also ask questions that I'm comfortable asking live, you know, for other people to hear. Like, you know, this is the situation with my daughter, like, how would you handle this? Everybody has teenagers. Everybody has little kids, like everybody understands the challenges. So I'm not embarrassed to say that I have challenges and I will share that with people. And I also, when it's over, if I am really struggling with something, I will say, can I take 5 minutes of your time to tell you what's going on? And they will spend a few minutes with me to give me my own personal therapy. If at that moment I'm feeling called to ask that.

Amazing. And what a gift for them to be able to do that and to know, because if you're asking the question, there's hundreds of listeners that are thinking the same questions. That's what is the beauty of your podcast, and that is why I love, love, love being able to be your producer, because it is a top producer, it's a top show. Um, so it really is, I think it's one of the best Mommy, what, you know, Mommy Podcast. But it's like the whole package. I got to put that whole package together. We got to give it a full name.

You're amazing. Mommy, a Mommy Package. See, I think you're talking like Seth. I think Seth is concocting something that you two would agree with.

I love that. Doing things differently, I think, is a hallmark also of like, you know, success. And, and I think that's, you know, you were doing it before and then you're just, you're being honest all the time. And, you know, I've watched you cry. I think your listeners have cried with you. They've laughed with you. They've probably done a lot of things with you.

So sweet. And it's— and I want you to know, like, it is amazing to have you doing this with me. I feel so supported. Like, Adrienne does such an amazing job. Her show notes, her, her support, her finding amazing guests. Like, I feel the love and support, and I don't know if you realize how much that helps me.

I thank you so much. It's so nice to be on the, on the Winey Palooza train. I love it, I love it. You know, Courtney from Pacific and Core, she said, I love this, you've helped listeners make their lives better than ever.

That's so sweet. I'm, I'm trying, trying to help.

You are doing it.

You are.

You, you, you passed trying and you are actually doing it. It's amazing. And Rihanna Milne, I I said her name correctly. She shared that your conversation helps people understand and overcome childhood and love relationship trauma.

That was— yes, I remember her. She— I mean, she was a wonderful guest. The topics that we do are just amazing, amazing.

I really am jealous of everyone that's younger than me, like those that are in the 30s and 40s and are able to see and learn and hear and read from the Winey Palooza because I didn't have access to this. And like, it would have changed my life completely to have known that there is even someone that could help you with childhood trauma. I didn't even know that there was such a thing. So like, I feel this like little sense of that envy, like, oh, if I only had this when I was— but then I'm thinking to myself, you know what, Adrian, it's okay, I've got it now.

Um, do you know I have cried about that? I have cried about the fact that I have learned— I, the person that I am today, if I was that person when I gave birth to Max, they would have had a different childhood. Now I did my best, but I am so much better today than I was when I first started parenting.

Rebecca, I just had an idea that came to my head because I'm thinking, correct, I'm no longer— I have a 19-year-old as my, my youngest but I am a grandmother. Maybe we should do some episodes about grandmothering because I actually— it's always new and never sure. And I think that grandparents can sometimes maybe meddle too much or not meddle enough. And would you like some guests that I would talk about?

I would love that. I think that's a great topic. I think that's a fabulous topic. I wonder, you know, she doesn't love being on the podcast, but it would be really cool to talk to my mom about being a grandma.

Yeah, I would love that. And also, was she working in her store too at the same time that she was raising you? Okay, so I think that— and then I'm thinking to myself, okay, you know what, Adrian, there's a lot of people that I know that are in their 40s and early 50s that are grandparents. They're, they're having their— both their, their children and their grandchildren. They started early. So, oh, I'm glad that we just had this idea.

Yeah. It's a great idea.

This is how it works, everyone.

This is how it happens. And, um, I, I had a very hot conversation. I think I emailed you, um, in my group about, um, being the sandwich generation. And I think we need— I think that you sent me guests for— you sent me guests who you didn't know that this conversation was going on in my group, and you had already sent me two people to talk about that topic. So you're right on with the type of topics that you find for me, and I think that we should definitely do that topic too.

I love that. I love that. Yeah, very difficult. You're taking care of your child and your parents.

Whoa, whoa.

By the way, I think you have to let us in on the inside joke on this one. Donna Moss, she said, and she laughed, and she said, crazy teenagers. Do you remember what she was maybe referring to?

Um, Okay, so Donna might have been one of the lovely women who talked to me about— I have good and bad weeks with, you know, I— Max has gone off to college, and Max, oh, if I— I can't even express to you what kind of temperament Max has. He is just amazing to have around the house. He is calm. He calms all of us. He helps all of us. He's a firstborn and he just knows how to step in and do things, whether it's helping Lily with her homework, telling Lily to be nice to me, um, telling Ella to calm down. I mean, he is just an amazing brother, just an amazing son, amazing brother. And he's at college and it is a huge adjustment for us. So Donna may have been one of the women that I talked to about teenage girls, crazy teenagers. And let me tell you, the difference between— and I know that this is temperament and it depends on the children— the difference between a teenage boy and a teenage girl is insanely different. And the hormones that my girls are going through right now, like Lily will be so happy to see me, will tell me everything about her day, and I will just feel all the love. She will not want to talk to me, and she will be like, don't talk to me. And I just have to ride the wave of teenage emotions. It's not an easy thing. So as I learn to be good at it, I can then teach others to be good at it.

I love that, Rebecca. I, I— my Rudy, my Rudy, uh, same thing. When he left, it was so hard because he's very— nothing personal, Alex and Sam— but Rudy is that calm. As a matter of fact, when I read about and see the pictures of Matt Max. And the only thing I could tell you is Rudy is now happily married, living in Tucson, got his dream job in his life, and his personality is the same thing. So like, that doesn't sway from who they are or what we saw at home. It's the same way he is too with his beautiful wife. So, uh, and you know, I— Max and Lily and, uh, Ella, they just— they're just so joyful. And I love that you share, and I love that they allow you to share. Uh, I think that's huge. By the way, Deborah Malo, who I do have a video, so I'm gonna see if Kristin can link the video here so everyone can watch it. She called you a superhero-level consistent. Superhero level, and you're consistent. I think that's a good explanation and description of you. You're a superhero. You're doing it all, and you're doing it all with people's eyes on you, and yet with such grace and, and being real. That's what people want too, by the way. This is Seems like this is the decade of being real and authentic, and you know, if you're fake, walk out the door.

So Seth has told me that when I get on and I talk about like what is hard, people are so much more interested than what is good. Like, what is good? Okay, yay me, you know, it was a wonderful weekend, and she won the competition and she did the play and yay, yay, yay. Nobody like, yay, that's wonderful, but they want to hear like what was hard about it, you know what I mean? Like, talk about the challenges because it was bumpy. It was wonderful outcomes, but it was insanely busy and it wasn't easy.

I agree, I agree. We just want to know that we're struggling too. And so it's— nobody wants to see like what we see on TV all the time, the happy life or the really— because I'm a Lifetime, so of course I'm like, all the drama, and in one hand, but it's never just normalcy. So I love that. What goes through your mind when you hear these voices from the community of guests and they send you messages along the way too, that have joined you along the way and that are sharing their thoughts?

I mean, it, it, it touches— I think that as corny as this is, it touches my soul. It's like what I And he, like, it makes me want to keep going. It makes me want to keep doing it. If people, if the guests are enjoying it, if the people listening are enjoying it, like, that's what it's all about. So that makes me want to keep going and it fuels me.

Yeah, it's all about the purpose, right? And so, and that's something that really, Rebecca, the minute you find your purpose, doesn't it just seem to open up like the skies and everything? You like, that's what I think of is so many people. Have not found their purpose, no matter what their age is. So kudos for you. I think you just nailed that answer with exactly— you found your purpose and you don't take it for granted.

No, I mean, I'm, I'm so lucky that I have access to so much, so many resources. I mean, you— I have— I have— you, you know this, I have a whole team behind me. This is not just me. So I feel very lucky and I don't take it for granted.

I totally understand that. I love what Tony and Alyssa— which we're really excited to have them come in, right, from one extraordinary marriage.

Yes.

They said that you've strengthened couples through your work. What have you— so the question for you is, what have you learned about partnership from doing the show, your Wednesdays, along with Seth, both, both as a co-host and as partners in life?

Well, so this goes along with what I've learned about myself. So for me, it was all about the kids. Like, it was all about the kids. Like, what can we do for the kids? How can we keep the kids happy? Like, focus on the kids, and you can forget about yourself and you can forget about your marriage. So what I have learned over the years through the guests, through my own experiences is if you take care of yourself, then you can help take care of your marriage. And then if yourself and your marriage are okay, then you have the extra oomph and power to take care of your kids. So it starts with yourself. So I was doing it backwards. So it's like self first, Seth and Rebecca second, third is the kids, because number one and number two gives you the the strength you need to do the number 3.

You know, I'm just thinking, Rebecca, you are— you also are changing like kind of how we see things. So when you just said that, I thought to myself, yeah, because our parents who were born without the internet, without books, without podcasts, without these lessons to learn from each other, they, they— and I don't want to use the word like they didn't know better, but they didn't really understand. So it was really like what was important to them was always about the children. You stay in a marriage because the children— like everything. So I love that you're showing what should age and evolve because we understand more. And so those are really important lessons for people about putting your own oxygen mask on first, right, before helping others. It's kind of how I look at that. Yeah, I think that's a huge direction in your podcast, shaking— for those of us that are, uh, baby boomers, that shaking because our parents did parent us completely different. And if we follow that path, are we really following the best path? So I've learned so much from you and you and Seth. So, okay, consistency, 100% checkmarks. I mean, I think if we had to say throughout the years, maybe at the most, I don't even know if you could say a handful that you've missed a Wednesday. I don't know, what do you think, like maybe 5 times?

I try to, I try to miss, I try to give myself permission to miss some during holiday seasons. So like Thanksgiving is coming and we're gonna go pick up Max and it's a Wednesday, so I'm gonna just totally nix. Like Max comes first, my family comes first. So if it's Hanukkah, do we want to do it? Is it fun to do it? Or are we feeling like we need a break? So I just kind of assess the family and like, where are we at this Wednesday? So yes, we're very consistent and we do most Wednesdays, but I do give myself permission to just skip it sometimes.

I love that. Another example of authenticity and just being authentic with what you're doing. Not doing something— you're doing it when you really didn't want to would also be unauthentic. That's why I just— I absolutely think it's amazing. Okay, so You had a little bit of a terror, I have to say, earlier this year when— because the Winey Palooza mom group is a big group on Facebook and people love it and they're always reading what you read and they're supporting. So you, 18,000 members strong, and then I think you had a little, a little fight with maybe Facebook.

Okay, so my— so I have a Winey Palooza fan page, which people forget about, and that is the 18,000. The Winey Palooza community mom group is at like 600-something, mid-600s. So we're trying to grow obviously the mom group because we interact more in the mom group, but there is also a fan page. So Facebook— why did Facebook— oh, some— are you talking about when somebody like stole my account?

Yeah, you got hit.

Yep, yep, I got hacked and they charged money. They charged us, they on my business account, they charged money that we got back. Facebook was wonderful, gave us all the money back, and, um, through the business account they were able to bring it back. It was—

took a long time, it took a long time, but I also feel that during that time you, you still had your community, you were still able to do the things that you needed to do, people could find you, um, so it just shows that you really have to be that omnipresence when you're doing something like this, because if that's all you had, that would have, that would have been hard for a lot of people that would have not had access to you. So, so grateful that you are on so many different locations. That's important. And actually, if I could just say, if you go to winypalooza.com and you go all the way to the right, there's a Linktree. Click that and then just follow Rebecca. And then that way you're always following her so you could see what's going on and you could participate because Rebecca does. This is the only time I wish I wasn't your podcast producer. Is when you do your challenges. And I'm like, oh, you can do my challenges.

You could win the challenges.

I can.

Okay, you need to know, you need to take part. You could totally win them. Yes, take part in the challenges. I do them every month, once a month at the beginning of the month. And I want you to find me on TikTok and Instagram, and I want you to sign up for the newsletter. There's so many different things.

There's so many. Oh my gosh, you could go live on TikTok too now. I mean, I heard there's just so many different things going on. All right, so I love that you do the monthly challenge. What, what even made you start that? What was, what's the story behind it?

So I love giving presents. I love giving presents, and I love asking questions and getting people to think. So I decided every month we're going to do a theme So November was thankful and things that we're thankful for. So let's get people thinking about what they're thankful for. And then I decided I was going to be consistent and do it the 1st through the 5th every month. And now it's the 10th. I gave everyone plenty of time to comment on all the pages and on all the questions, and now I'll go pick a winner. And I've done it different ways. I mean, I'm going to be authentic here. I've done it where I loved the answer, so I had to give it to someone. I've done it where I've picked out of— I've had the girls pick out of a hat. Like, I've done so many. I've done a wheel, you know, you can do like a free wheel where you put all the names in. So I do different methods of picking winners, and it's so fun.

I mean, I, I love it. And then you announce the name, and then they get excited, and it really is a unique way you do it, even in the— your time frame is unique. So are you saying if they haven't done it yet that they could go in? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's November 1st through 5th, there's 5 questions, and every comment gets entered for a prize. So the more you comment, the more you have a chance of winning the prize. And then I pick someone, and then I either mail the prize if you're out of town, or I drop it off if you're local.

Amazing. Okay, that'll be for December because this will be airing at the end of November. So December, you guys got that time. Don't think that Rebecca's gonna always give you a little extra time, you know. She's not a teacher, she's not always going to do that. Um, so between, between the podcast, the group, your live shows, your 3 children, you have— how many pups do you have?

I have 1 dog, 2 cats, and a goldfish.

Oh my gosh. Oh, cats. What are your cats' names?

Faith and Joy.

Are they faithful and joyful? Are they lovely? Yeah. Do you love them? Oh yeah, cats give it just a different kind of— I just, I just, every time I see a homeless cat, I can't even. I just can't. Yeah, right? It's just the worst.

No, we want to take everyone in. You and I want to take everyone in.

Oh, I remember your stories too. Sometimes I think you do. I have a feeling Rebecca has a little area that maybe you— or you just— because that's— it is so hard. You want to take them in, but sometimes they don't get along with the other cats. But, um, so what now after the 500 episodes? And there— and I want to actually— the 500 episodes is obvious, but community is such a big part of conversation. And honestly, I think a lot of people, if you mentioned community to me a couple of years ago, I would have been like, my community in my neighborhood, that's like my community, right? Like, I never thought of this online community. And what— so what does this online community mean to you, especially after 500 episodes?

So I decided— my friend actually encouraged me to do it. We had been talking about starting a mom group. And I was like, you know what, I'm gonna do the Whiny Palooza mom group and I'm gonna do it for free on Facebook. I don't know that my husband agrees with the fact that it's free, but that's a whole nother story. Um, so I decided I was going to start this group and I was going to encourage people to ask questions, tell us their challenges, tell us their successes. I want to learn from their successes. I want to help them with their challenges, and I want them to feel the love and the support. So when you— when I put up like something like a statement or a question, people respond and start talking, and people are starting to post their questions. So I just wanted moms to have a safe place to go where they could feel the love, and I would never tolerate any sort of judgment. Like, if I feel— I'm gonna knock on wood— nobody has been judgmental, nobody has been negative, nobody has been judgmental. I probably shouldn't be saying that out loud, but I'm not going to be superstitious, and I'm going to say that it's been going well, it's been lovely. The women have been wonderful. There are some men too, and I just monitor it to make sure everyone's being positive with each other.

I mean, I love that you're just like, I just monitor it. Okay, it's not easy to monitor these groups sometimes, so I give you credit. And I think that it starts from the top, honestly. So when you have such a respectful place, nobody really wants to go in there and be a, I don't know, doxxer or a, what do they call, troll, right? Nobody wants to be that troll in a group like this. So I think that it's your moderating that's probably creating that sense, that like feeling of safe, safety. And that's what communities need, being safe, being able to share, being respected. Wow, you've, yeah, you've cornered the market on community building.

I hope so. I, I really enjoy it. And I think that that's part of it is hopefully they feel that I'm really enjoying it. I mean, I did have a mom reach out to me. And tell me that she did not feel safe sharing stuff because too many people in the group know her. And so, you know what, I need to tell people that they can post anonymous stuff. I just realized that talking to you. I'm gonna do that next. I'm gonna go post that people can make it anonymous so that they don't feel judged.

I agree, that's a good— yes, the minute you said that, I thought the same thing. That is really— that's important. Yeah, Rebecca, I love that you take the community seriously and it is a big challenge. And that's another thing, you could community manager. It's like your titles are endless. So, all right, I want— because, okay, so yes, I could say, oh, I have a blog and I write, but you know, AI is my friend. But you, I think you're— are you still doing everything by hand? Amazing.

So I, um, Like, here's the thing, okay? AI is wonderful. AI has given me ideas that I've needed. AI has given me titles that I've needed because sometimes I feel blank on what should I call this. But I want it to come from my heart, and AI is not my heart, okay? So I really want it to come from me. So not only do I want it to be authentic and real, I also get something out of it. It's still a coping skill for me. It's still me coping through life's ups and downs. It's— writing works for me.

Wow. Yeah, you could tell too when you read it, it feels like refreshing, like, oh, this is like a really cold, fresh glass of water and it's, it's fresh and it's not like tepid. And I feel that when I see it. I— kudos to you. Because it's, it's almost like an old art. So yeah, don't lose it. And your blog mirrors your week, which is so much fun. So how, like, do you just remember after the week? Are you writing it down somewhere, your lessons, the funny moments?

So I am writing down in my phone if I think of a blog topic or someone asks me for a topic, I write it down in my phone to refer to it. But like today, Ella had me read her Teenage Tuesday about her play. So sometimes Ella inspires me, and sometimes I don't want to write about what Ella wrote about. But this week I was like, you know what, there is so much to write about from this weekend. Like, it is a no-brainer. Between the cheerleading competition and 3 shows, there is so much content that I have to pull out of myself. I have to go do that. I started it, but I like, I'm just at the beginning. There's so many lessons. There's so many lessons for me, and there's so many lessons that I can give to others by, by teaching myself.

I love this. I, I, I, you're just so amazing. Okay, here's a tough one, because if I say this all the time, oh no, you have to go see the Whiny Palooza, and I always spell it out, W-H-I-N-Y P-A-L-U-Z-A, but, um, I'm also like, okay, there's 500 episodes. So, so I, I, you know, if I know them, I'll say the ones that I, I know that I love. But what episode or blog do you tell people to start with? What, what is— is there one particular one that best captures your kind of whole journey?

Okay, so what I usually— the question is usually around a topic. Okay, so What people don't realize, and I need to really repeat this frequently, is that if you put in a topic— anxiety, depression, marriage, um, teenagers— if you put in a word, a search in the search bar, it will bring up— like, you can search for a certain word. So a lot of people want help with anxiety. I mean, there's so many episodes on anxiety. So for me personally, in my journey, people have asked me for a certain subject But what the 500th episode is inspiring in me is I'm gonna write, okay, so whatever, probably next week, I'm gonna write a blog that explains the community. And the blog is just, the blog is just gonna be like, this is the Winey Palooza world, okay? So that's what's coming. And I'm gonna explain what it all is. And then I'm gonna go live and talk about it. And I have to do, I have to do that more frequently because people don't know.

Yeah, yeah, I agree. They do. They need to understand what it is that you've built. And then you're looking ahead. Sorry, Rebecca. Let's look ahead the next 500 episodes. I want to be right next door to you, right, right by the side of you, not in Buffalo because it's, I couldn't live there because it's cold. But what do you hope Winey Plousa becomes like for you, your family? We'll be watching you have grandchildren. Children, your— all your marriages. Like, what are we going to get to watch? What's in the future for us?

Well, so, okay, so obviously everyone's gonna follow my journey. So, you know, I have to remember, um, I'm gonna be real again and tell you, I have to remember to go back to the young kids because people need content on young children. So I don't want the content to just be where I'm at in my life. Because right now I'm in teenage land and I'm in college land. Like, I, I want to expand to what people— like, people really want narcissism, so we need to bring some more narcissistic experts. That's like a hot topic that people ask me for. So I will continue to listen to what people want. I will continue to take them on the journey of where I'm at in my life, and I honestly just hope my audience grows and And not, you know, the main purpose is to help people, but the other purpose is to provide for my family. So, you know, there's multiple purposes to doing this. Like, I get to contribute. I wanna, I wanna help pay for things.

I love that. I absolutely love that. By the way, Deborah Mallow said it perfectly. She said, you built something so special a community that feels seen, supported, and a little bit saner thanks to you. What do you really hope that every listener feels when they hit play on a Winey Plousa episode?

I hope that they feel how I feel when I listen to someone. I feel like a friendship. It's so odd that when you listen to people, you feel the love and through the technology. I hope they feel the love, they feel the support, they get ideas to help them in their life, and they know that I'm there for them. I'm, I'm authentically there for them because not only can they listen to me, they can reach out to me. You guys can always, you know, through Facebook, Instagram, my email— my email is whinyplusamom@gmail.com. You can find me and talk to me, and I will be there for people.

I love that, Rebecca. So Rebecca, congratulations on 500 episodes. From Teenager Tuesday to Whiny Palooza Wednesday, from your Friday guests to the moms who gather in your online community, you have built something extraordinary. So I'm gonna take a drink of water to the next 500 episodes of laughter, learning, and love. I love how you end it. Thank you, Rebecca. This was an amazing interview. I loved our conversation.

Thank you. And thank you for doing it. And thank you for being my producer.

I love it.

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