“I Have a Lot of Power in My Group Chats” | Causes, Community and Civic Duty
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Guess what, Will? What's that, Mango? I've been trying to write a promo for our podcast, Part-Time Genius, but even though we've done over 250 episodes, we don't really talk about murders or cults. I mean, we did just cover the Illuminati of cheese, so I feel like that makes us pretty edgy. We also solve mysteries like how Chinese is your Chinese food and how do dollar stores make money? And then, of course, can you game a dog show?

So what you're saying is everyone should be listening. Listen to Part-Time Genius on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. But it's not like a one ant builds that entire colony. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's every single one working together. More, more, more, more, more, more, better.

Welcome to More Better, a podcast where we stop pretending to have it all together and embrace the journey of becoming a little more better every day. That's Melissa Fumero. And that's Stephanie Beatriz. Yeah, here we are. We're just really doing it, you guys. Thanks for tuning in once again to the shenanigans here. What are you doing this week that's more better? Let's see. I'm trying to be okay with...

My snacking habits? I may or may not have had an entire king-sized Twix bar last night very late, and I'm okay with it. It just was something that I needed to do for myself. I love that. Yeah. It was good. I like Twix. Hey, man. They're a delight. I also did a late-night snack last week. It was a bag of chips. I thought you were going to say I did a late-night slut. I was like, tell me more. Okay.

No, it was a late night snack. And you know what? Sure it was. And I dragged my husband into it too. He had half the snack. Now this does sound like innuendo. Yeah, it does. He was like, that was fun. And I was like, it was fun, wasn't it? Sometimes those late night snacks are fun. Really, I'm talking about food. Yeah, sure. More, better.

Anyway, we're talking about something really important today with someone awesome who we both adore and look up to, I would say, for myself. We're talking about finding causes you care about and civic duty, which…

To me, I think I've always kind of gravitated towards, like, I don't know, causes or just, like, speaking up. But, like, it's also kind of sometimes you get, like, well, how can I be effective at this? And how can I do this more? And, like, just doing it online doesn't feel like enough. And you know what I mean? And so it's always been this sort of –

ever evolving kind of relationship that I think I've gotten better at as I get older, but I still think I could be even better at. And then, you know, and civic duty that one, I mean, you know, like voting's always been a big deal for me. I voted for the first time after September 11th and just always felt really, because that happened to be the year that I turned 18. And so I just, I've always felt really strongly about that. Um,

And I, you know, would say to people that I knew that, you know, decided to sit out a vote or something, I would just be like, well, then you can't complain. If you're not going to participate, then you can't complain. I literally just put my hands on my hips to do that. Yeah. What is what does it mean to you, Steph? Was it what's your been your journey with it? You know, that's such a good question, I think.

think a lot about this because the first time I heard about like when I was in Sunday school when I was a kid we

We read like a Sunday school book that was like the parable of the Good Samaritan. And if you don't know what that is, it's the story that Jesus tells somebody that's talking to him. He's like, what does that mean? Love your neighbor as yourself. Right. And the story is that there's a man that's walking down the road and he gets robbed and all these different people pass by him and nobody does anything like that.

a priest passes by, like multiple people pass by. And then there's like a person that stops who's, I think the Samaritan is like a different religion and he stops and he helps the person that's robbed. And I remember that making like a really big impression in my mind as a little kid. I was like, Oh, other people love other people as yourself. Okay. So that means I need to

That means, like, if I care about myself, then part of caring about myself is like caring about other people because we're all doing this, sharing this world together. We're all part of this community. But I have trouble with it because I don't know how it extends to, you know, as a woman. As a woman. It's not always safe for me to necessarily –

you know, for example, like get out of my car and help a person that has a flat tire. Right. It might not be safe for me to do that. Ted Bundy. You know what I mean? Like, so how do I do that? How do I do that in a personal way on a personal level? And like, how do I, how do I feel like a good person that's doing stuff for other people in our world?

How can I do that on a day-to-day basis? And, like, I don't always know the answer to that. And I'm trying to get better at that all the time. Some of that does include civic duty, like voting. Like, that's a really big deal because it helps make the world better for people. And other things are on a smaller, more granular level, like, you know, voting.

And I don't exactly know what those things are for me all the time. I think a lot of people are sort of like stuck because they don't know what to do. Like I said, particularly women, because we don't want to… Because it can be really overwhelming. Like there's so much going on. And yeah. And you're already busy. Your life is busy. Like how do you carve out time for that? And so I think that we have the perfect guest today to talk about it. Yeah.

Today with us is Elsa Collins. She is basically a professional doer. She's a mom, a humanitarian, and she's a founder of Poderistas, and this is about humanity. And we'll tell you a little bit more about those organizations as we get into it. But welcome, Elsa. Hi, Elsa.

Hello. Hello, mujeres. Hi. How are you? We're so happy to have you here. I'm excited to be here. Yeah. And I'm so excited to have you here. And I know you're super busy and I really appreciate you making the time, but I feel like you're the perfect person to talk about this because I feel like you do so much.

And also like you're a mom and you're three kids, you have older kids and they're like in sports and big schedules and like you're all over and like you get it done. You are a professional doer. It's amazing. Give us a little bit of like background, how you kind of first started, like how you knew this space was like where you wanted to like, you know, focus a lot of your energy and time into. Yeah.

You know, I would say that my journey to kind of the space I'm in honestly started when I was young. My mom was always someone who was taking us to volunteer. We were exposed to volunteerism like at a really early age. And so it's part of my DNA, I think. And then I think that when I started having kids, it kind of...

was reborn within me. You know, I've always been someone who's wanted to be in community, building community, sort of like an unofficial organizer. I think I've been an organizer since I was like 12, like organize my friends, organize things. And now it's like, so it's, it's come into fruition as a, as a full blown adult. But when I started having kids, it really clarified my,

for me at least, like, what is my purpose in this world? What is my purpose and my responsibility to others in my community? But it came from having kids and feeling like I needed to really get

focused on how I was going to make this world kind of a better place. I think, you know, 2016 was a really hard year for so many people. And for me, it was really the catalyst for thinking about this as actually as a profession and saying, you know what, I'm going to

I'm going to start a consulting company where we really focus on issues that matter and think about how people are using their voice and using their platform. Because, you know, it was a time where I didn't know what was going to happen in this country, what was going to happen with my kids, as you said, like I'm raising three kids or multiracial, multilingual. And

at a time where that may not have been looked at as a good thing. It's like a double whammy. They're half Mexican and half Black. And I thought, okay, I need to be as much of an advocate for them and for their existence as a whole. And that kind of was really what motivated me to look at this as something that I would do as a career.

That is really cool. Yeah. But I would go back. Let me go back to what you said at the beginning, Stephanie, because I want to say it before I forget it, which is sometimes you're like, I don't know what my role is in this space. And honestly, the first and easiest role is as a mother. And it's how we're raising our kids and how we're exposing our kids to sort of, obviously in an age appropriate way, but things that matter and things that are important. And when we look at what

is the biggest predictor of what makes a voter a voter. It's if their parents voted. So it starts from like us. And so I want to say that, you know, we may, someone may listen to this and finish the whole conversation being like, oh my God, there was so many things. I don't know what, it's like, honestly, even if you're an auntie, you're like someone who's in the village of somebody else or you're a parent, the

village of somebody else or you're a parent yourself, like you are having a very important role in creating like the next generation of change makers, upstanders, people who are going to say things, people who are going to like know what to do and know how to act. And so everybody who listens to this can start right there. Yeah, that's huge. It's huge. And it's part of like that responsibility or that...

I don't know, gift. It really feels like a gift to be able to vote for who you want to be in power, making laws, making choices, making changes. Not everybody gets that gift, right? And like my parents lived in the United States for a long time before they were allowed to have that gift because they weren't U.S. citizens. And when I became a U.S. citizen, it was like,

okay, this is huge because I could see how much it meant to my parents to be able to vote. It was a huge, huge, huge thing the first time that they got to do it. And subsequently, it's been huge for me every time since because I could see that it meant so much to them to be able to take part in something that was the vote for their representatives in the United States. And

And sometimes I think people can feel like their voiceless or what they want isn't accessible, but on a really, really, on a reachable level, it really is. Like, it is reachable. You can...

enact change in your community simply by taking the time to just a little time to get to know the candidates in your community, get to know them on a state level, get to know them on a, on a, on the United States level and voting. Yeah. And that, and that too, like I've, I've,

tried to be much better at, you know, educating myself about local candidates too, because I feel like that is really what affects like your day-to-day life. And it wasn't something I thought about as much as a young person. It was just always focused on like the bigger elections, you know? And, um, but now I think, as you said, Elsa, like since I've become a parent, I'm more focused on, and it just, you know, it doesn't take long. It's just like,

Sitting down, making a little time to just like get online and just like learn about who the local candidates are and like what they stand for, what their platform is, like read the blurb, read the thing, you know? And then it makes, you know, when you get that, you get to that booth and you got all those names. So much less intimate. So many names.

So many names. Sometimes you're the second circuit of what? I don't know. What does that do? Yeah. Yeah. Any tips? But we're so lucky because of the internet. We're so lucky because of the internet. Can you give us like, like,

I mean, for me, it's usually like, you know, I'm I'm I look for oftentimes there's websites that will break it down for you, like what candidates believe in the stuff that your values and your vision for your community aligns with. And then you can sort of see where they stand on different things. And from there you can vote as opposed to like.

having to sit down and sort of read a giant, you know, I mean, let's talk about, you know, we're all very, very busy. We're not, I'm, I am, I'm barely getting through my Us Weekly every week. You know, I'm not trying to get through like a treatise of what everyone thinks about every single thing. So. I mean, I would say two things to that. I would say, first of all,

Stop rating us weekly. No, I would say there are so many people who spend not even one tenth of the fraction of the time that we just talked about, who just walk in and are just like, now, great. The reason why I mentioned that is because I don't want people to feel like

If you're not getting a PhD in poli sci that you are not allowed in that, in that voting booth. You know what I mean? So like, yeah, very easy. I love ballotpedia. Like it kind of breaks it down for you. You can look, it'll tell you, you put in your address and it tells you, okay, this is what's going to be on the ballot. Yeah.

And even, I mean, I have voting, like get togethers, like even I will get together with our ballots and we'll go back and forth where we'll be like, yeah, prop, whatever. And we'll be like, yeah, yeah, it's yes, right? And then we'll read it and we'll be like, well, it's actually no. And then you realize it's written to literally confuse the F out of you. And you're like, why? And it sounds like, and then these people support it and these people are against it. And you're just like, oh my gosh. So I would say it's always a good idea to look at

you're always going to have a friend who's like way more into politics than you. I like looking at their sample ballot. Now I'm not going to take that and literally just go,

but some people do. And then I'll sort of look and I'll look at like Ballotpedia. I'll look at a couple different sources. Some of the, you know, whatever party affiliation you are, they will usually put out sort of like a recommended, you know, voters guide. So I'm pulling from like three or four sources to kind of come to a compilation. But I would say in every election, there's obviously going to be one,

more important issues or seemingly more important issues are on the ballot. You know, obviously coming up in this election, we have women's reproductive health is on the ballot in a couple of states. Obviously it's, it's a presidential election that's coming up, which is big, but as Melissa mentioned, there is going to be smaller, smaller,

amendments that are on the ballot, propositions, things that are happening literally in the county that you live in that can greatly affect your life, your public schools, how money gets distributed, how we improve our highways or freeways. So there's a lot of things that are happening at a local level.

That I think to your point may affect your everyday life more than kind of what's up here. But I think, you know, knowing that you can pull from different sources, you don't have to feel like the smartest person in the world to go in and do it. But knowing kind of where you sit and sort of your general belief system, I think is a good thing to have with you. And that's really all you need, honestly. Yeah.

That's so good, though. I never feel like the smartest person in the world when I go anywhere. So that's great. Just feel normal going into the voting booth. I love it. Sometimes I get nervous. Do you guys ever get nervous when you go in there? I'm like, oh, yeah. As if my fingers on the pulse of everything right now. But I guess it is. I mean, maybe that's why I get nervous because it is a very cool big deal that we get to do that.

Well, it's interesting because Mexico just had their election and, you know, they, and this was the first time that people abroad could vote. So at all the consulates, at all the Mexican consulates, there was like hours long lines for people who were trying to vote. I think people in Paris were waiting up to like six hours. In LA, the line was about three hours. But two things that really made me, um,

sort of reflect on it was a, we hold our elections on a, I say we, cause I'm a dual citizen, but we hold our elections on a Sunday where it's easy for people to go vote. It's not that easy here in the United States, you know, the elections on a Tuesday, we don't know how late the, the, you know, the boots going to be open. So, you know,

part of why it's really important to vote is because sometimes there are people who try to make it harder for people to vote, working people, people who have multiple jobs. They don't necessarily know where their election is. Can they vote outside of their district? You know, how easy are we making it? So that's one of the things that I really appreciated about the election yesterday was it was on a Sunday. People

People know how important it is. I mean, they waited in that line and we want to make sure that in our election coming up in November, that the same thing has happened, that people really take advantage of what is such a privilege to do in this democratic society and to not have anybody make them feel like they're not worth it. They're not worthy and they don't deserve the access and that they they're able to do it in a safe, in a safe way.

100%. Yeah. It's so important.

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For decades, the mafia had New York City in a stranglehold, with law enforcement seemingly powerless to intervene. It uses terror to extort people. But the murder of Carmichael Ante marked the beginning of the end, sparking a chain of events that would ultimately dismantle the most powerful crime organization in American history. It sent the message to them that we can prosecute these people.

Discover how a group of young prosecutors took on the mafia and with the help of law enforcement brought down its most powerful figures. These bosses on the commission had no idea what was coming their way from the federal government. From Wolf Entertainment and iHeart Podcast, this is Law & Order Criminal Justice System.

Listen to Law & Order Criminal Justice System on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. In a world where TikTok didn't exist yet, las películas no tenían color. The comedy of a genio mexicano across borders conquistó the heart of America. Top Top!

And his catchphrases are part of our culture, but...

Sonoro y iHeart's My Cultura Podcast Network present Nace una leyenda. Chesperito. I'm Felipe Esparza y te llevaré de viaje por la obra del super comediante Chesperito. From his television debut hasta la cima del éxito. ¡Síganme los buenos! Listen to Nace una leyenda. Chesperito. As part of My Cultura Podcast Network en la aplicación iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.

Thank you.

Want to know how to leverage culture to build a successful business? Then Butternomics is the podcast for you. I'm your host, Brandon Butler, founder and CEO of Butter ATL. Over my career, I've built and helped run multiple seven-figure businesses that leverage culture and build successful brands. Now I want to share what I've learned with you. And on Butternomics, we go deep with today's most influential entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders to peel back the layers on how they use culture as a driving force in their business.

On every episode, we get the inside scoop on how these leaders tap into culture to build something amazing. From exclusive interviews to business breakdowns, we'll explore the journey of turning passion for culture into business. Whether you're just getting started or an established business owner, Butternomics will give you what you need to take your game to the next level. This is Butternomics. Listen to Butternomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What?

We didn't talk about how we all met. Oh, yeah. I don't remember. Well, I want to hear it. I'm trying to think. Well, I do. I don't remember either. I just feel like Elsa's always been around. Of course, Elsa knows. Elsa knows how we met. Let's go. Okay, so let's go. So in 2021,

we, and I say we, me and eight other Latinas started Poderistas, which is a nonpartisan community that focuses on Latina civic engagement. Now, in its origin in our minds, this was going to be like in person. We were going to be hitting the road from the beginning, but obviously, you know, difficult year COVID happens. So we've got to pivot. We've got to make this community digital first. And so we organized a

a Zoom call with a lot of our sort of like Latina friends. And I was sort of the, as I said, I've been an organizer, like basically from the womb. So I organized this call, get all these Latinas being like, hey, this is why we need to show up. We need to use our voices. We need to use our platforms. And we kind of motivated them

all of y'all and thank y'all for for coming on to get involved and get engaged and then basically out of there the friendship of a lifetime flourished and uh and you guys and now i'm just like do you want to do this do you want to help me here and you guys are so lovely you've both come to the border with me you've both done stuff around elections so that's kind of how um

how it happened. But I think that the important thing to know is even though all the things that, that we do are serious and, and important, but getting engaged and being involved is fun. And it's great to be around other people who want to be in community and want to be doing things. And I think that's one of the things that, um,

I would love to see like more of just in general as people really reconnecting with each other. You can be doing good and having a great time. You can be hanging out with your friends and going to vote. Like I said, even I have like voting parties. Like, so we,

I think that's one of the things that I would love for people to walk away from is like, you don't have to do this alone. You know, you don't have to be like the lone person out there trying to make a difference. There are so many people out there who are every day trying to organize and just looking for people to get involved.

That is such a great point. I also want to ask you, everybody's busy, right? And like, we all like, we work full time, we have kids. How do you choose your cause? Like, sometimes it just feels like there's so much, you know, like, I care, you know, like, I care about women's health, and I care about social justice, and I care about the environment, and I care about, you know, and it's,

And, but like, it's impossible to like give time and attention to all those things. So like, how do you go about choosing causes? Like what, how do you decide what to give your time and energy to? Does that make sense?

Yeah, it makes so much sense. I think, I mean, I would just go back to what is present in your life, you know, what are things that either you have gone through, family members have been through? What are things that are, that are speaking to you as, as a human being that feel,

easy to get behind or like a natural connection. Because as you said, you know, of course, we all care about everything, right? We want this planet to be better. We care about climate change. We care about the oceans. We care about, you know, asylum seekers. We care about people who are food insecure. Like we care about all of these things. And so I think, but

Sometimes when you look at the landscape, once we've listed out every single thing there is to care about, you're like, well, I've frozen myself into paralysis and I can do nothing because how can we even start? Like, holy moly. So I'm like, the good news is no one is expecting you to do it all, right? We're only, and I say we in terms of people who are like in this work,

We want things that feel either like there's an easy entry point and it makes sense because it's convenient because the community service opportunity is on the day you're free. Like it can be that, but it can also be

you know, something like, for example, with This Is About Humanity, you know, I'm from the border. I grew up on the border. This is an issue that I feel very connected to. And so it's easy for me

to, to show up and it's easy for the organization to provide opportunities to others who may or may not have any connection to the border or any connection to asylum seekers or refugees. But guess what? You know, we have like a pride bus coming up and that's around, you know, LGBTQ asylum seekers. So if someone is really passionate about the LGBTQ community, there's an entry point there, you know, or, um,

A lot of the asylum seekers that we're seeing coming through have had to come because of climate change and because of the lessening of opportunities that they have in their own home country. And so if you care about climate, like there's an entry point for you. So I think there's a lot of ways to find connection to causes, but for someone who...

maybe like you've never really gotten behind anything or you've never had the time or you're just sort of starting out in this. Maybe you just had kids and you're like, I want to be finding a way to be more engaged with the kids. I always say, you know, look around your local community to like what is happening and

And that's why local journalism is so important because this is where we read about stuff that's happening in our neighborhood. We learn about what kinds of decisions are being made about schools and parks and access to different services and things like that. So I think

not feeling like we all have to be superheroes and attack, you know, tackle everything, but just starting with something that's like really, you know, feels close to your heart, I think is great. Yeah. That's such a good tip. Like just start small.

♪♪

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We strive to bring out the best in each other and set each other up for success. If we do our job right, you come away entertained and inspired. Hi, I'm Wilmer Valderrama, and whether it's my work on TV, film, or even standing up for causes important to me and my community, I make sure to be present and be prepared. Starting with that work ethic only brings out the best performances.

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For decades, the Mafia had New York City in a stranglehold, with law enforcement seemingly powerless to intervene. It uses terror to extort people. But the murder of Carmichael Ante marked the beginning of the end, sparking a chain of events that would ultimately dismantle the most powerful crime organization in American history. It sent the message to them that we can prosecute these people.

Discover how a group of young prosecutors took on the mafia and with the help of law enforcement brought down its most powerful figures. These bosses on the commission had no idea what was coming their way from the federal government. From Wolf Entertainment and iHeart Podcasts, this is Law & Order Criminal Justice System. Listen to Law & Order Criminal Justice System on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Thank you.

Want to know how to leverage culture to build a successful business? Then Butternomics is the podcast for you. I'm your host, Brandon Butler, founder and CEO of Butter ATL. Over my career, I've built and helped run multiple seven-figure businesses that leverage culture and build successful brands. Now I want to share what I've learned with you. And on Butternomics, we go deep with today's most influential entrepreneurs, innovators, and business leaders to peel back the layers on how they use culture as a driving force in their business.

On every episode, we get the inside scoop on how these leaders tap into culture to build something amazing. From exclusive interviews to business breakdowns, we'll explore the journey of turning passion for culture into business. Whether you're just getting started or an established business owner, Butternomics will give you what you need to take your game to the next level. This is Butternomics. Listen to Butternomics on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

In a world where TikTok didn't exist yet, las películas no tenían color. The comedy of a genio mexicano crossed borders y conquistó the heart of America. Sus personajes acompañaron las tardes de millones de latinos. Es que no me tienes paciencia. And his catchphrases are part of our culture, but... ¿Cómo logró un escritor mexicano convertirse en un símbolo de televisión? No contaban con mi astucia. No contaban con mi astucia.

Sonoro y iHeart's My Cultura Podcast Network present Nace una leyenda. Chesperito. I'm Felipe Esparza y te llevaré de viaje por la obra del super comediante Chesperito. From his television debut hasta la cima del éxito. ¡Síganme los buenos! Listen to Nace una leyenda. Chesperito as part of My Cultura Podcast Network en la aplicación iHeart Radio, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you stream podcasts.

How do you, Elsa, avoid just getting burnt out too? Burnout. So I always know in the morning, I'm going to get my workout in. I'm going to have my coffee. I'm going to do my routine that really sets me up for success. So even when I do a trip to the border, I'm getting my workout in. I get my things because that way I can be a more effective giver.

That's the first thing. So I try to unsubscribe from mom guilt and do the things that make me truly happy. And that way I can be a better, you know, better service to others. Second thing is, um,

I stopped trying to make sure everything I was doing was at 100% because it was just impossible. So I feel like I'm kind of doing everything around like 40%, but it feels good enough. And nobody seems to be really clocking that it's that. But I think that's...

I remember you saying like, yeah, I just wanted to, I wanted to make sure that I showed up to like an event. You were like, I wanted to make sure I showed up. I can only stay for this amount of time, but I wanted to make sure I showed up and say hi to the organizers and say, I appreciate being here and appreciate this is happening. And then you bounced. And I was like, that's genius because like, I don't have to stay for the whole thing if I can't hack it. Some

Sometimes I cannot hack showing up, but like sometimes I can just hack showing up. Like I could do that. Thank you. And yeah. Just show up. Just show up. That's actually one of my, that is one of my life hacks. Like just show up. Yeah. And sometimes we don't show up at all because we think we have to like give the whole thing, give the hundred percent. And like, that is such brilliant permission to just like, no, it's the showing up that's important. Yeah.

And that goes really far. That goes really far, especially in the like organizing space, you know, with grassroots organizations, with, you know, nonprofits, with charities. It's like, you know, we don't want to disqualify ourselves before we even gave a little. And I think we do do that a lot. We're like, well, it said seven to 10, so I can't. Yeah.

you know, and these organizations would love even just like a little, just one half a

half an hour or half a day. I think they've really tried to... When you look at, for example, people who canvas, right? Canvas is when you go and you knock on doors for either an issue or a candidate or whatnot. They've got it down to like, hey, just give us a shift. It's just an hour. Knock on 20 doors. Call or text 20 numbers. And that's the other thing. Not everything has to be in person. There are so many things that have moved

to the internets as I like to call it because of the world we live in today where you can be, you know, VoteRiders is a great org where you can call or text people to let them know what ID they need in whatever state they live in to be equipped to show up and vote. And so, and that can happen digitally. You can be logging on from your computer

And so I think that there are so many opportunities that don't actually require your physical presence. That's also a version of showing up. And so I think that mom guilt is not just for moms. Maybe we have human guilt. And so I think people sometimes feel like, well, if it isn't good enough,

you know, maybe I'm not the right person to do this or I can't really get involved. But like, you're the only person judging it. So like, cut yourself some slack and just show up a little bit and you can be making a difference in so many ways. That's really cool.

Yeah. It's not like, I mean, to use a terrible metaphor, simile, don't know, but it's not like a one ant builds that entire colony. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, it's every single one working together to build all those tunnels to build that huge, you know, I'm thinking about the fire ant pile in my front yard right now. That's what's on my mind. Gotta get rid of them.

Scary. I love that you talked about online activism because I do think a lot of people want to do things and it feels like that isn't, like you said, it's an easy entry point, especially for young people that like, for the youth that spend a lot of their time online, it's

do you feel like in general online activism works? I would say that you, you do. Right. I do. I think that there's, well, I mean, think about young people. Where are young people finding young people? And honestly, it's online. You know, I think that like, I look at them and I think, guess what? People like you guys, you're amazing because you, you can amplify a certain type of situation and help more people find things out. But when you look at actual influence, you,

The person who's on that group chat of 17 people, who's like their friend groups, not alpha, but just the person who makes suggestions or is encouraging or whatever. That's the person. So I'm hoping that person sees you and thinks, okay, I'm going to influence my circle of friends that we're all going to go vote this year. Like that individual person, this individual person listening right now has all the power. Oh, Elsa, we're so glad you were here with us. Wait,

I came away from this realizing that I have a lot of power in my group chats. Yes. That's such a big one. What did you take away? My takeaway is, oh my God, unsubscribe from mom guilt is going to be my new catchphrase.

In general, in life, especially with this topic and also just the like showing up at whatever percent. It doesn't have to be 100% that those two really hit me right where I needed it. Do you feel more better, Steph? Yeah, I feel more better. I started this by talking about how can I Good Samaritan myself.

And I realized, like, I can do stuff without getting out of the car. Yeah. You know, I can...

I mean, sometimes I do need to get out of the car. That's the other thing. Like sometimes I can get out of the car and help. And, but being able to know that I'm not failing, I'm, I'm just doing it in different ways. I'm doing it in the ways that I can with my limited time and access to, you know, a open schedule, a completely open schedule where I can do this every day. It's like,

And also I kind of learned that like, ah, maybe I want to do like more stuff around. I mean, I used to do a lot of like stuff around dog adoption, particularly like older dogs. But like that's something that's like really close to my heart. And like that's something that I could incorporate in this. Get back. Yeah, get back to. It doesn't have anything to do with like voting or anything, but it's something close to my heart that I care about.

Mel, do you feel a little more better? I feel way more better. And I feel like pumped. I feel like you're amped up right now. I am. My energy went up through this conversation. And I'm doing a fun event with Elsa this Saturday in Arizona for abortion rights and women reproductive health. And I am very excited now also because I get to spend the day with

with Elsa. It's going to be awesome. We're going to have a great time. And I think, again, look, look around your community. Don't be afraid to like, be the one to make, make a suggestion to your group chat, your group of friends. Yeah. You're going to feel more better if you, if you show up even a little bit. Yeah. Oh, classy, classy way to drop the, the title of the pod right there at the end. Yeah.

First of all, just spending this time with you has made me feel more better. Whenever I'm with you guys, I feel more better. And I hope that's how everybody feels when they hear your podcast. Aw, thanks, friend. Us too. Us too. Thanks for stopping by. Thanks for coming on the pod. Thanks for being here, everyone. We love you all. We love you, pod people. Okay, bye-bye. Bye. More, more, more, more, more better.

Do you have something you'd like to be more better at that you want us to talk about in a future episode? Can you relate to our struggles or have you tried one of our tips and tricks? Shoot us your thoughts and ideas at morebetterpod at gmail.com and include a voice note if you want to be featured on the pod. Ooh,

More Better with Stephanie and Melissa is a production from WV Sound and iHeart Media's My Cultura podcast network, hosted by me, Stephanie Beatriz, and Melissa Fumero. More Better is produced by Isis Madrid, Leo Clem, and Sophie Spencer-Zavos. Our executive producers are Wilmer Valderrama and Leo Clem at

See you next week. Bye.

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