[00:00:00] Cheers!
Let's get hella real. Grab your favorite drink. Cheers! Yeah, over a cup of coffee. That we're still really vulnerable with space. Of like, I am giving love. Stress how hard it is. And you're like, ooh yes.
Hey hey! All right! Cheers! Cheers! Bay Area mom talk in the house And let's get hella real hello real welcome to Bay Area mom talk, I'm Genna I'm Pauline and we are in Crissyfield in San Francisco the Bay Area Yep, doing it. Yes, beautiful day, by the way for our first And we're so excited.
Yes. And we are going to share a little bit about us and meet your hosts and who you're going to be talking to and listening to, uh, [00:01:00] over this journey. Yeah. So let's ask you some questions, Polly. Oh dear. Let's go. All right. Let's go. Let's get hella real. Yes. We'll do surface level first. Okay. So how many kids do you have?
All right. I have two. I have an 18 year old daughter. Yasmin. And she's currently in college and. San Diego at a Christian private school, and she's actually heading on a plane right now to come home for the holidays. Aww, yay! I'm super excited. That is exciting. Your baby's coming back. My baby! I was a baby having babies, by the way.
I had her when I was 20 years old, and then I hit the reset button once I remarried, so I am second marriage. and, uh, remarried and, uh, we have a seven year old together, a seven year old boy named Avery. And you started all over. I did. Yeah, she was 11. which was actually one of the hardest things. Like a teenager really [00:02:00] needs different things.
And a lot of parenting, like I feel like I had a baby and I had like this crazy adolescence that was like the worst time of her like childhood for me to experience, like that was the struggle was her like 11 year old, 12 year old version of her. So having a baby during that journey was intense.
Yeah. Oh, interesting. I know. Yeah. Yeah, but I have been married for about 13 years and, uh, 13 years. Yeah, it is. Yeah, uh, definitely. I feel like in today's world now, it's like, you know, when you reach past 10, you're like, wow. Yeah. You've been together for such a long time. I know. We're very proud of what we've built and I think we are closer than we've ever been before.
That's amazing. Yeah. You guys have grown closer. Yeah. And which is, which is great to hear. Yeah. Just journeyed through life and ups and [00:03:00] downs and, you know, we're currently in a really interesting season of our life and it's made us closer than ever. And at the end of the day, what do you really have?
And it's, you know, your family and close relationships. And so, yeah, that's a little bit about me. Yeah. And what do you like to do? I love to get out and do outdoorsy stuff. So hiking and gardening, playing sports, running around. not physically running. I'm not a runner. That's why you live in the Bay Area, right?
Because you get to do all of it. Dude. So I've lived here from San Bruno all the way to the East Bay. Sprinkled in San Francisco, Daly City, and Yeah, since I was a year old, throughout. So now I'm currently in the East Bay. and went to You miss living in the city? Hell yeah, I miss living in the city!
I, if somebody was like, here's your old apartment, I'd be like, yeah, let's do it. I do miss the city [00:04:00] very much. I hear that a lot actually, so I've never lived in the city anywhere, for people that live in the city and then going into the burbs, they said it's a, it's a transition. It is. It's way too quiet for us.
I would even say my daughter misses it. Yeah. Um, we used to live. Excelsior District and right off Mission Street. Okay. And right across the street from the Asian Market, right, the backside of the building was the freeway, and that noise is almost like white noise. And you don't realize it, like the hustle and bustle, the buses, the, you know, shipment trucks, all that stuff.
And then, when we moved to the suburbs, it was dead silence. And it was hard to fall asleep. It was weird to like, acclimate to that, um, sound difference. Yeah. And there's just something about waking up into the city. And there's just this vibrant energy when you step outside. That, like, crazy energy.
Wakes you up yeah See that I'd move back [00:05:00] We will yeah, I think one day even if it's like Oakland.
Yeah somewhere somewhere that's A little bit more city centric. Gotcha, gotcha. Yeah. Okay. So where you're from. Yep. What do you like to do? Yep. What do I like to do? I also like to garden. Which my gar I'm, I'm neglecting it so bad. 
 I do not like to garden. It's okay. I, I might grow into it. I go over Genna's house and then I like judge her on all her plants and say, what are you doing? Well, we have any water. I like my inter plants.
I mean, you know, we go through our, our lulls of like, taking good care of our plants, and then it's like, on the way of dying, and then we just revive it. Yeah. You're just, oh, testing the, the cycle of life. Will you die? What if I water you three weeks later? What is your threshold? If I left you, if I went on vacation, maybe that's what it is.
Yeah, you [00:06:00] wanna You know, I wanna go on vacation for three weeks and you're like What's a real sturdy indoor plan that will survive my travel? Yeah. Pretty much. Um, okay, awesome. So that's me. I love it. That's me. Okay. You, darling, go first. Yeah, so 
I have three kids. Ten, eight, and four. And my oldest is a girl and then I have two boys.
So that's a very fun chaotic home. That's right. Yes. A lot of energy when you get in there. I know. A lot, a lot of energy. It's crazy. They're all like athletic. So they're constantly moving. Oh my gosh. They're not like, they're not like iPad kids, I don't think. I mean they definitely can be. Yeah, but. But they're definitely not.
Not by nature. Yeah, yeah, not by nature. Yeah, they love to move all the time till they get in bed. It's so funny. And even still. But anyways, so three kids [00:07:00] and I have been married for nine years. Yeah. Going on ten next year. Crazy. That's a big milestone. Very exciting. Yeah. Yeah, you know. We have our ups and downs in our marriage, but we're still going strong, which is right, which is great.
Um, and then I am originally born and raised in Guam and moved here when I was moved to the States when I was 12 moved to Northern Virginia, um, and went to middle school high school there. Southern Virginia, I went to college and then lived in Mississippi for grad school for a year and a half and then New Orleans for eight years.
And then I'm in sunny California now. And I love it. She's never gonna leave us. Yes. I planned, I never say never, good gracious, because every time I say never, it happens. Don't. So, [00:08:00] without saying that. Okay. That. Take it back. But, I would love to be here for the long term. Long term. Um, till my kids go to college, that would be great.
You know? And hopefully they go to Stanford and Cal Berkeley. On a gymnast scholarship. Yeah. By the way, that's where my kids said they want to go. Stanford. Just little babies claiming their future. I know. It's okay. So cute. I love it. Um, Cam has, so my second son is, which is how we met, but he has the Stanford banner in his room.
He has a Berkeley one. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. That's right. I love it. Um, but yeah, so I'm a photographer here and In the Bay Area. Very good one, by the way. Yeah, and I do social media content Creation and yeah what I do for fun. I I love traveling. I love [00:09:00] Exploring the city that I'm in because I feel like I didn't do that when I was you know You know, I feel like I lived in really cool places and then every time I left, like, people would say, Oh, where are you?
You know, where did you live? I'm like, Oh, I lived close to DC like, Oh my gosh, I love DC. I love DC. I'm like, Oh, man. Yeah. Great. I know nothing about DC, which is really unfortunate. I, you know, I explored it when I first moved there, but it wasn't the same, you know, as an adult. And then I lived in New Orleans and, really explored.
The last couple of years that I left, but it's still, I feel like I should have explored way more. So yeah, so that's my goal. Now, well, let me tell you, since I've met Genna and being friends with her, this girl has brought me to places and little treasure troves of, trails and, viewpoints in the, even within the city of things I've never seen being local from the Bay Area.[00:10:00] 
And whenever she's like, Hey, we're going in the city to explore. I'm like, I feel like a tourist. But I'm like, I know she's gonna show me something good, so I'm going. Yeah, yeah. I love it. And I can't wait. We're gonna, continue this podcast outside and outdoors. So, we're gonna show you parts of the Bay Area.
That's right. And, um, yeah, we're gonna continue to just explore other cities. And you get to explore it with us, too. That's true. So that's really exciting. It's gonna be fun. Yeah. Alright, let's talk about how we met. By the way, we both have colds. And, uh, it's just cold season. I usually don't sound like this, so.
But, you know what? We got goals and we gotta stick to them. And we got an episode to launch, so. Suck it up, Buttercup. Let's talk about how we met. Yes, how we met. We met from our boys. So, her son Avery and my son Cam. And Cam is 8. And then Avery is 9. Seven. So they're a year younger. Yeah. You're younger. But we met through gymnastics.
So both of our boys do [00:11:00] competitive gymnastics. And they have been doing it. Avery was five. Yeah. And Cam was six. So a couple years now. Yeah. This is their third competition season. It is. Oh my gosh. That's so crazy. And they're, we can't wait to show you some videos. And they're, they're amazing.
Yeah. But yeah, so gymnastics and it's such a different dynamic from any other sport because of our boys Training way longer than any other sport, you know at that age, right? So five six years old training two and a half to three hours two to three days a week. Yeah, this was a lot intensive Something that they chose by the way, they like tried it out and absolutely loved it.
I mean, I know Cam did yeah Yeah, Avery started with like rec and then just kept going. Yeah, and so, you know, we didn't want to leave our boys. A lot of the parents, there was a big group of us. There was about nine boys in the team at the time and [00:12:00] none of the parents, you know, there was at least one parent there at the gym and we sat there.
Yeah, together. The entire time. Because we didn't want to leave her a son. They're too little at the time. Yeah, too little. Now we just drop them off. Yeah. See ya. They can handle it. Yeah. We're going to dinner. Bye. That's great. And, yeah, I mean, we got to have a different connection than I feel like any other parents, you know, and their kids playing sports.
Yeah. So. Yeah. Yeah, it's not an hour long. It's there are some different like quality time you got. We got to know each other really well quality time multiple times a week. I mean, the times that we like couldn't see each other every other day type of thing. We're like, Oh, my gosh, I feel like I haven't seen him in a week.
Right? Like that's so crazy. Um, so, you know, I think having your kids playing sports was such a great, [00:13:00] um, such a great way to meet other parents. But I think for us, We definitely did, definitely had a different dynamic. Yeah. Just to be able to get closer in such a short amount of time. Yeah. Yeah. So, we got close for sure.
Yeah. Yeah. And, yeah, now we do life together. We have the moms of the gymnasts started the Bay Mom Talk. That's right. T O K. T O K. On TikTok. Yeah. And, uh, there's about, uh, nine families or so, give or take. Um, nine of us that just. authentically do life together. So the kids get along really well, the siblings get along, the husbands get along, the husbands get along.
It's crazy. The moms are so lucky. Yeah. It's been really awesome. I think this is kind of where it, you know, ignited this idea of, starting ourselves a [00:14:00] podcast and, realizing what we have is super special. and that we found a group of. of families, or in our case moms, that are willing to get real and that are willing to like be vulnerable.
I mean we travel together, um, we hang out on the weekends, we, I choose to do my birthday with you guys, and just, I really value the friendships and like relationships that we've developed, uh, with all the parents, really. we're all really different. We all have different backgrounds.
Yeah. Different ages, different ages. Yep. And we respect each other really well. And we, it's been really cool. seeing that and hanging out as much as we do and the things that we do together, even the dads were just kind of like, how do we broaden this? And how awesome would it be to start a podcast and an online community presence [00:15:00] where it isn't superficial.
We can actually get real. We can be vulnerable with each other. We can provide grace, support, advice, or just be a soundboard, a listening board to, other women. Yeah. And, and do life with each other that way. Yeah. Cause really, for me, I didn't have this huge community in, when I was, when I had kids, right in New Orleans, it was really hard for me to find a community there.
Um, which is really unfortunate. I mean, I ended up finding community probably the last two years that I was there and it was, It was rough and I wish I had that and you know, and then being on social media and Seeing people's comments and women's comments like man. I wish I had friends, right? It's like as much as we have technology as much as we have all of this opportunity to connect with so many different people even outside [00:16:00] of our area, it's like we people still feel disconnected.
For sure. People still, women still feel as if they don't have support. They're alone. Which is really unfortunate and I've been there. Yeah. and so to now be in a place where I, I do have that support, and then also see, even some of my friends struggle that are, that live in other states and have kids now You know, I, I feel bad.
Like I feel, I feel really lucky, but I also feel sad that my friends don't have that and other women don't have that. And so I think that's where we wanna come in. Yeah.
And provide that for, for other women and for other people to have a really safe environment and community and. You said you loved on non judgmental community. Yeah. Where we can be able to get real, you know? Yeah. Cause I'm tired. Honestly, I'm like tired [00:17:00] of having those conversations of like, Hey, how are you?
I'm good. I'm good. Like, no, I know you're not good. Yeah. like one of the gym parents, I was exchanging a plan. I was having a really rough day yesterday and she walked through the door and, She's like, Hey, how are you doing? And I just said, I'm not doing good. Yeah. I'm really not doing good.
And I, she sat with me for, I just needed like 15 minutes to let it out. And she authentically like genuinely cared about it. So. You're right. And we need that. We all need that. especially for new moms that don't have that. Right. you just need someone to vent to and to listen to you and, understand.
Where you're at in this, season of life. Yeah, I'm excited to share, advice, support, laughs, cries. I want to see it all. I want it to be raw. I want it to be real. Yeah. And I think we're going to meet [00:18:00] some really phenomenal people and build some great relationships.
Even more amazing relationships. Oh, yeah, and and we're gonna get real because we want other women to get real We want other we want and that's the whole thing, right? Like a person is not gonna get real until that other person gets real. Yeah, so we're gonna get a hell of it You're gonna get to know us and we're gonna get to know you, you know So and I I love the fact that we're we're not gonna stay in our bubble.
Obviously, we're outside You We don't got no podcast room yet, uh, to, to come later and much later, which is fine. Yeah. We're going to just do this and, and hit up local businesses and, you know, just wherever our friends, the friends call us, we shall show. And, what's going to be really different and unique about our podcast is that we're going to provide this, this place.
And it's not just like, come [00:19:00] listen to, you know, advice. Or, you need help with this, there's the answer, right? It's action. Which I think, which I think is fine. We're going to do some of that. But. Which I think is fine for other people to do. Yeah. To listen to, right? Yes, totally. But, we do want to provide.
This is not what we're doing. Yeah. We want to provide a space where you can, where you can talk. Where you can share. Yeah. Where you can let it out, right? It doesn't necessarily have to be to us. It might be in the community that we create. It might be, maybe in a, like a live coffee chat that we have, right?
 Yeah. So it's not just gonna be a podcast show. It's going to be, you know, how are we gonna open those doors?
Not only in person, but uh, virtually, where virtually can be very superficial, very like. You only see what you show type of thing. And so giving people an opportunity to, join us virtually and to [00:20:00] build that community, not just in the Bay area, but truly beyond. And so that'll be really exciting as you guys see us Branching out and expanding that space and yeah, I'm doing some really cool things in the community Yeah, and hopefully doing like meetups and I'm connecting women out there.
Yeah, right So it's like how can we again take our podcast show and really do that outreach, right? Yep So I'm excited more to come. Yes. Yeah, and some really phenomenal guests that will be joining us and You And if you want to be a guest, you know, check out our website, click on that link to join our community and be our guest and, be ready to get hella real.
That's right. And hey, we only grow if we're a little uncomfortable. True. Yeah. So as much as it might be hard to talk about it, just know that. We'll love on you, and this is a dope spot [00:21:00] to do life with. Actually, it was funny. I was watching a video, and it was more about like an educational thing for photographers But I think it really just resonates any To just a person right?
So it's like you can only grow if you get weird That's true. So it's like You're not gonna like grow if you don't try new things. Yeah, you're like, you know open up, right? So We're doing it. We're calling all the people to join us and we are growing because that's right This is definitely not in my forefront of things to do.
No, but we are going but I I'm excited and I definitely want to create this community of Women to have that support. Absolutely. Let's do this. I have it. She has it and you need it. That's right here That's right. We'll do it. To [00:22:00] a mom talk. To a mom talk. To an area mom talk, y'all.