What Do People Do All Day?
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Most of us say fine or good, but obviously it's not always fine, and sometimes it's not even that good. This is a podcast that gives people the space to be honest about how they really feel. It's a place to talk about life, the good, the bad, the awkward, the complicated. I'm Nora McInerney, and this is Thanks for Asking.

Hi, everybody. I'm Nora McInerney, and this is Thanks for Asking, the call-in show where we talk about what matters to you, or in this case, what matters to me. I am an incurably curious person. My job is many jobs. One of the jobs is this, which is making a podcast, just getting nosy with other people. But like many of you, I grew up

reading the Richard Scarry book, What Do People Do All Day? And believing in a world where there would be many bricklayers, mail delivery people,

what was another plumbers like there were only so many jobs that you could do and i was also raised by two people whose careers were very perplexing to me i'm talking about my parents my mom and my dad were both as it was explained to me freelancers i did not know what they meant by that nor did i ask any follow-up questions because parents are kind of boring kind of inherently boring to children and i really

just knew that they worked in offices where it seemed kind of fun. They both worked in advertising. My mother laid out catalogs for quite some time. That's not actually fun work. The offices appear fun. It's in no way any kind of fun work, which I found out myself when I ended up working in advertising, marketing, social media marketing, public relations, all of those things.

had the veneer of creativity, the veneer of something that would be fun. Oh, you work in beauty PR. Isn't that fun? I don't know. I've seen an intern have a mental breakdown, full-on panic attack, shaking, crying, throwing up in the bathroom because she did not get shampoo samples to Allure magazine in time to be considered for the best of beauty issue. This was a big deal in 2009 when

We were just starting to send things to blogs. The influencer culture was on its... We're on the precipice of beginning influencer culture, but it was all about magazines. It was all about magazines. It was all about stress. So I'm fascinated by what other people do for work. And for that reason, I am making this episode. I am going to call it, What Do People Do All Day? Because I don't really know...

what people do all day. And every time I ask one of you, I'm absolutely 100% fascinated. I'm fascinated by what you do or what you might be doing. So we're going to make a phone call. Hello. Hi, is this Kelly? Hi, Nora. It's Nora this time. I'm Kelly. Hi, Kelly. Hi, Kelly. How's it going? Good.

I'm so good. How are you? It's Tuesday, and I know what day of the week it is, and so that is a win in my book. Oh, yeah. That's where we keep the bar. We keep it low. As long as I know what day it is, I can consider myself kind of having it together.

So, oh yeah. Low bar, high achievement. How am I going? It's Tuesday. That's the best that I can do. Hey, how are you? It's Tuesday. It's Tuesday. Yeah. That's a perfectly acceptable answer. I'm at the airport right now. Are you able to like be, is this quiet enough for you? It's quiet. Where are you at the airport? It sounds great. I'm sorry. I'm at MSP. I'm in this food court area. Oh yeah. Honestly, I can't tell. I can't tell that you're in the food court. What are you going to get?

Um, a conversation with you. That's what I'm getting. That's all? Um, well, I got a Starbucks. Okay. Um, because it's the option here. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I ate lunch on my, before I came here. Oh, smart. That's a, that's a Minnesota girl. If ever I've, if ever I've had one, I ate before I got to the airport. I didn't get myself an $18 salad. I ate before I got to the airport. That is,

what I expect when I dial a Minnesota number. It's a person who's eaten before they get to the airport. Okay. It's economical. It also requires you to remember when you're flying and then remember to eat before you go. So hats off to you. So the theme of today is what do people do all day, a la the Richard Scarry book. And I really just want to

hear everything about your job or everything you can tell me about your job. What does Kelly do all day? I just can't tell you the name of my company. I would recommend that no one tell me the name of their company. Okay. That's perfect. I can tell you everything else. I would recommend nobody give me their actual place of employment and job title. That's what I would recommend. I'm only using your first name. Oh, but my job title is really fancy and fun. Okay. I want to hear it.

It's regenerative agriculture performance and data reporting manager. Regenerative agriculture dating. No, data reporting manager. Five word title is... Regenerative agriculture performance and data reporting manager. And data reporting manager. Seven. Seven.

Seven. Word. Title. That's an important woman. What does that mean? All those words combined. That's

That's a really good question. So the regenerative agriculture, we can go over in a moment and we can dive into like what does regenerative ag mean. And what the performance and data reporting manager part of it really means that I calculate greenhouse gas emissions from sustainable dairy projects and see which ones that our company should implement in order to meet our sustainability goals.

Oh, okay. Where are you getting this data? From farms specifically. So I am one step behind the farm. I know all of their data very well, but I'm not talking to them super often. So you're pulling data from farms to decide which ones your company should invest in,

And all of these farms are doing some kind of regenerative agriculture in the dairy space. Yes. Okay. It sounds like this is a job for good. This is a job for good. Even though it's very much corporate, it's like I make a positive impact on climate change. Damn. Thank you. Thanks. Thanks for that. Yeah. Thanks for doing that.

Thanks for doing that. Someone's got to do it. That's cool. Someone's got to do it, and it's you. So, okay. So one, tell people, me, what regenerative agriculture is.

Yes. So regenerative agriculture doesn't have a specific definition, but what it really is, is based on principles and practices. So it fits in really well with row cropping or like corn, soy, etc. So crops versus like an animal agriculture system. Yeah.

for the soil aspect of it. So it's focused on keeping plants in the soil and living roots in the soil. So it stabilizes the soil and sucks down carbon or carbon sequestration from the CO2 in the air into the soil and keeps it in the soil as soil carbon. That's really good.

Yeah, the earth is a miracle. The earth is a miracle. The soils, a teaspoon of soil contains like more microbes than we have in our guts or something along that line. Jeez. Jeez. I know. So in regenerative farming for...

dairy projects, what does that look like? Because, okay, so let me see if I think I understand this, which is like, is a form of regenerative agriculture like crop rotation? Yes. I learned about that in school. Okay. So it's going to deplete the soil if you're always growing corn. So some years you grow corn there and some years you grow soybeans there. Right.

And that does different things to the soil and keeps the soil healthier. And therefore those plants are sucking down the carbon and breathing out oxygen and just like being a miracle, which is so wild. It's also wild that we learned all this. Yeah. So that is a really big, important principle of regenerative agriculture. Another important principle of a regenerative agriculture. Well, it's really just like a fancy way to say sustainable agriculture at this point, but like, um,

Integrating animals into your crop rotations or your cropping cycles through things like sustainable grazing or rotational grazing is also super helpful. So some of our growers or farmers graze their animals because they're in this space too. Yeah. Or like geographically, it makes sense for them. But then many others have things like

animal welfare projects, such as cow brushes, because cows love to be brushed. Oh, really? Yeah, they do. It's so cute. Oh, I want to do that. I want to brush a cow. I know. I do. I know. It is a life-changing experience. Oh, that sounds lovely. Yeah. They're just like big dogs. It's so cute. How did you get into this?

honestly, I really needed a job after I graduated college. Um, so I started out working for the biggest agricultural company in the world, um, which not many people, most people should know because it touches 95% of our food supply. It rhymes with smargrill, right? It rhymes with smargrill. Um, and, um,

I did an informational interview with somebody on their sustainable protein team, and they said, we have an open, we have a need, and you sound like you fit it. So I learned how to do greenhouse gas inventories and reporting for this job. And

Just fell in love with agriculture. And I can't imagine myself doing anything differently at this point. What did you... Did you grow up in agriculture or... No. In college, I... So I'm from, like, the suburbs of Minneapolis. So very much, like, I know a red-winged blackbird, but I don't know, like...

Or like, I couldn't, I previously, I couldn't have told the difference between like a Holstein cow and a Jersey cow. But now I can. But in college, I really didn't want to work in agriculture because I thought it was just, I wanted to do something with like the Department of Natural Resources. Yeah. And what did you study in college? Environmental science. Okay. Okay.

Yeah. So I have that earth science background. That's so cool. Okay. So you just were like, look, I have to, I have to, I have to find a job. This one exists. And now you say you can't imagine doing anything else. What do you love about this job?

What I love about the job specifically is working with farmers. I think that they are the backbone of America. They feed America and food connects everyone. So that specific point of everybody eats food and it's so culturally significant to so many people. It's biologically significant to everyone. I want to be

impacting the thing that is most impactful to everyone. So food is it. And farmers grow it. And I love talking to farmers. They always want to be doing better and improving their land. And they're just, they love me. And I love anyone who loves me. So you get the data from them. You like crunch the numbers. How many Excel spreadsheets are you creating on a yearly basis? Yeah.

On a yearly basis, too many to count. But what I really use is Cool Farm Tool. That sounds like a Nintendo game that I would buy. Cool Farm Tool? Yeah, it's actually a little game within Animal Crossing. Yeah.

But no, Cool Farm Tool is a really, it's a global renowned greenhouse gas calculating tool for farming systems. That's cool. But it just has a really funny name. Yeah, that is a funny name. But I mean, it honestly makes like, probably makes like working like a little more fun. And you're like, oh, got to open Cool Farm Tool. Cool.

I mean, it's just like a little joke every single time I say it. Like every time I tell people I work in cool farm tool, they think it's a joke and it is. But it is based on intergovernmental panel on climate change or IPCC values. So I know those equations super well. And they are interesting. I know so much about manure. Yeah.

I talk about manure every single day, actually. And the solid-liquid split of manure, because it has both. And what do you do with the solids and what do you do with the liquids is different things. And then cow belching. It's not cow farts. It's called enteric fermentation. So cow belching. Okay.

Yeah, they do fart a little bit, but like that's minimal. And it's mostly the belching. It's mostly the burping. They've got GERD probably. It takes one to know one. They totally have GERD. It takes one to know one. They could really be on like a Meprazole or Prilosec or something like that. It's because they have too many stomachs. I say as a person who's never worked in any kind of agriculture and did not know that cows like to be brushed. They have too many stomachs. Four is a lot.

Four is a lot. That's called a rumen, in case you were wondering. But their stomach is? Or the fact that they have four? The fact that they have four is called a rumen. So they are ruminants. Ooh, R-U-M-I-N? Some of the other ruminants include R-U-M-E-N. E-N. Okay, okay. A rumen. A ruminant. Okay, what else is a ruminant? Goats, sheep, and that's about it, actually. Kind of all the best farm animals, in my opinion. Yeah.

I agree. They are the best farm animals. I love a pig, but they are stinky. Yeah. Pigs can freak me out. They are so smart too. And it makes me sad. Yeah. Yeah. There's something about, there's something about that. It just, it is, it's a little, it's a little much for me. You know, I think if we can take parts of an animal and then put them into our bodies, like some people have like pig ACLs, you know, it's,

It just kind of makes me think, Ooh, I don't know. Ooh. And I'm, I am an omnivore and there are times when I think, yikes, I don't know about that. I don't know about that, but I, you know, that's, that's a, that's a conversation for another time. Um, so are you, are you going on a work trip or is this a fun trip?

I am going on a work trip. I'm going to the Regenerative Agriculture Summit in Chicago. God, I love going to conferences. And I especially love going to conferences when I am not a part of a conference, but I just get to kind of like observe. I really do. I just love knowing that people all get together and care about like one thing, you know? And like this is like a big part of so many people's lives and I have no idea. What are you looking forward to at the conference? Yeah.

I'm really looking forward to the conversations that I get to have. I know a lot of the content that's going to be presented just because my company is super advanced in terms of project implementation. Like we fund our own projects and that is almost unheard of within the industry. So yeah,

I'm looking forward to the conversations with people of kind of teaching them what I do and then learning from other greenhouse gas accounting professionals, different

techniques, different ways to calculate greenhouse gas emissions, different ways to categorize manure. That's what I'm looking most forward to, categorizing manure. I love it. I love that you're out there doing this. It's so cool to me. It really is. And thank you for teaching us all of that. What is one thing that you want people to know that you know from the work that you do?

Oh, besides that's not cow farts, which honestly, that was a big, that was a big key learning for all of us. If I hadn't already said that, that would have been the thing that I said. Um, Hmm. I think learn where your food comes from is where is what I want to, the part I want to impart most on the listeners. Um, uh,

Even if you can just learn how a farm works or how the food supply chain like generally works of like farm to grain silo to processor to you, something like that, just being a little bit closer to the food system, I feel like really empowers you as a consumer. And really you get to vote with your dollar of what practices you want to see funded in the future. And how would you recommend people?

do that? Online research. Google can be a friend. But I would look at like

university extension website okay um yeah so those are the ones that like the university of minnesota has an extension program where they reach out directly to farmers and other gardeners really anybody working in agriculture big or small um and look at their pages see what they have to say maybe tune into like a little webinar on like gardening 101 yeah um

I think that just being more connected with your food beyond the fact that like it comes to you from the grocery store is extremely important and like understanding your place in the earth. That's really smart. Has this, has your work changed the way that you shop for food or enjoy food? Absolutely. Yes. I only buy organic for certain things because otherwise it doesn't really matter. Um, but,

And organic doesn't necessarily mean better for the environment. So that is another piece of wisdom I would impart on people. Just because it's grown organically, they still use chemicals. It's just like environmentally approved chemicals and pesticides. It's just less organic.

toxic and like crazy than like DDT was. Yeah. If you remember DDT. Oops. Yep. Okay. They were like, okay, sorry. Okay. We killed bugs and maybe we gave you all cancer. Big deal. Okay. Yeah. Stop being so mean to us. Don't have thin eggshells anymore. So enjoy the Eagle cam. Enjoy the, Oh, I love an Eagle cam. Do you know fat bear week? No, I don't. I should know that though.

Oh, you should look it up. Everybody look up fat bear week. Um, it is in the October every year. It's where bears go, um, get really fat before they hibernate off of salmon and this river in, uh, adding it to my calendar, adding it to my calendar. That's perfect. Okay. So you were going to say one other thing that you wanted people to know. Oh, how I shop differently. Yeah. Um, uh,

I try to buy meats that are pasture-raised, if possible. I spend more in groceries than the average person because of what I know, but I'm willing to spend more in groceries and flex less in other places just so I can vote with my ethics. Yeah, I love it. I love it. Vote with your dollar. Know where your food comes from. Just get a little more dialed in. And I actually am going to look up some gardening webinars because that sounds...

kind of fun too. Like, but also a very like social point. If you can't afford to pay for more expensive groceries, that's so okay. Because really the environmental impact of the environment is the world is coming from like major companies. So like,

don't feel like you have a personal failing because you can't buy organic or pasture-raised. Right. Don't fret, my pet. We're doing the best we can and we just need bigger companies to do better. So thank you for being a part of that. That's really, really cool. And I'm so glad that you were out there doing that. And I hope you have the best time at this conference. I hope you learned so much about manure. Thank you. And let me know what else we need to know. But thank you for doing your work.

Yeah. Thanks so much, Nora. Thanks for having me. Bye. Thank you. Bye. Okay. I love that. That's so genius. I just love knowing that there are people out there studying manure, uh,

is studying the way that our farms work, how we can get the food that we need in a healthier way for us and for our planet. That is so cool. Thank you, Kelly, for the work you do and thank you for sharing it with us. Now we know in our own little Richard Scarry universe, there is somebody out there who is a greenhouse gas accountant, but I already forgot her title, regenerative agriculture data scientist.

something, something manager was seven words. It's quite a lot to remember.

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Hi, Laura. Hi, Meg. So sorry. Also sorry to the person that I called who was not you, but has a very similar phone number. They're going to be like, what? And I also texted them. I texted and called them. They're going to be like,

This is a phishing call, you know, it's a phishing call to be like, hi, does now still work? Can I call you? Like that's phishing. That's phishing. That's phishing. That's amazing. Anyways, what do you do all day? What's your job? So I am a oncology nurse and I do like phase one clinical trials for cancer patients.

Okay. My hands are sweating all of a sudden because I get very emotionally overwhelmed by –

The fact that there are people like you out in the world doing this. So thank you so much for doing this with your life. Truly. Like, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I mean, I, um, I feel like I first heard like of your work, um, around the time that I was losing my dad, you were on NPR talking about like how you were going out and finding your dad's friends from Vietnam. So, um,

Yeah. Oh, what a journey. What a journey. Yeah. It's like you lose your dad and like you're an adult. But then I truly think that losing a parent makes children of us all over again. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. What got you into the work that you do?

Well, my whole family has worked in healthcare. So it's kind of just following like that course. Yeah. But really what I wanted to do was to like go into the research side of healthcare. And we in our country, we do a lot of research in oncology.

So I started doing that a few years ago, mainly in like breast and gastrointestinal cancers. And then I just started a few years ago working with phase one trials, which is when I

drug companies are kind of investigating new drugs to see if they are the same as or better in terms of like treatment for like what we call standard of care for like a variety of cancers. So do you work for a hospital? Do you work for a drug company? Do you work for a third thing I've never heard of?

No, I work in a hospital. Yeah. So I work like with medical oncologists. So we see patients in our clinics, like when people get diagnosed, they usually go to see a medical oncologist first. So we're with all of those. You know, each doctor has like a specialty. And then we are kind of people's

you know, after they've had a few different types of treatments given and maybe there's nothing else that we would recommend for them, then they would come over to the phase one group and we would see if we have anything for the type of cancer that they have. Oh, okay. So you're kind of like matching people with what they could qualify for. Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

This feels like it would be very emotionally difficult work.

I think it was when I started, Nora. Like, I think I was having maybe a little bit even of, like, maybe remembering, like, my own family's experience, like, in this space. But kind of after a while, you just really see that it's kind of like a special time to be involved in someone's care in this way. People really do these things.

these phase one trials, not knowing if there's going to be a benefit to them and kind of take a very big risk and a very big leap. And it's just kind of a brave population of people in our country just, you know, trying to

to get a little bit longer with their family and friends. So it's kind of a beautiful place to work in the same light. I think that's a beautiful way of thinking of it. And that's kind of how I think of it too, which is you're buying a lottery ticket, but also knowing that if it's not your number that wins, you're hopefully like increasing the odds for somebody else. Yeah.

Exactly. And it's honestly really moved me that a lot of people that is part of their kind of incentive to stay

to sign up for this phase one trials are a little bit more intensive, even in terms of like the amount of visits and monitoring that like a normal cancer treatment protocol would have. So it's like asks a lot of them. And then you can imagine like how people are already feeling health wise, like when they get to that protocol,

point in their care and for them to be making like extra trips and like extra visits they have very long days when they're here it's just it's really like just like a nice thing to to see people very invested in not only their own health but hopefully for like future patients. Yeah that's really beautiful what do you want people to know about your job that they might not?

Um, I guess I would just say, um, we were just talking about this yesterday. Like our whole team is, um, you know, we have our physicians and our nurses, but we also have a lot of clinical research coordinators. Um, we have, um, people who work, um, more like in our labs and do like, um, you know, kind of the, um, blood draws and maybe EKGs, things like that. And the amount of, uh,

like care that everyone has for the patient is maybe sometimes not seen by the patient and their family. Maybe they only see really like the nurse or the doctor, but there's like

There's just so many people behind them, like really, really trying like their best every day for them and really advocating for them. And I just, I hope that they feel like the amount of love from, from everyone on the team. That's really beautiful because I think it is hard in our American healthcare system to, to,

not feel like you're just sort of a number on like an actuarial table, uh, or, you know, you're just get sort of like lost in this like big system. But inside of that system, there are absolutely people who really, really care and are bringing heart to something that is, um,

you know, as a system heartless, but on the personal level, extremely, extremely heartfelt. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, um, I think it's just, um, you know, and obviously our patients are always incredibly gracious and thankful for everything as well, but it is just, um, there's a whole lot of love in the room all the time. And I, I think I'm really, um,

kind of constantly, you know, I can rededicate myself to kind of working as hard as we do because we have something like that. Yeah. So what are you, like, what's your role every day? Like, what was your Tuesday like?

Well, so today, like we have people coming in to see our doctors in like a clinic setting. So they would come into the office. And really what we're doing every time they come in is, you know, making sure everything in terms of like their organ functions and just like their, the symptoms that they express to us that they have are like very well addressed and

that they feel well enough to continue with their treatment. And then we would kind of send them over to where they would get their treatment. And then they have like their therapy given to them there. And we're just really kind of going back and forth, making sure everything looks good for everybody. And they're still, you know, feeling like they're committed and that they want to continue.

And we're also doing a lot of things with like coordination. So people calling from home and saying like, you know, we just were in for treatment and now we're not feeling that good. Like, can we get anything kind of sent in to help? So we're doing a lot of that as well. And then I think another big part of our jobs in phase one is that we are doing a lot of

building of clinical trials into like our actual electronic health records. We're actually like building orders so that like when patients come in. Yeah. So there's like a whole different side of kind of extrapolating something from like a clinical trial protocol. That's probably like

between like 150 or 300 pages. And then we're kind of trying to take it out as nurses for what our clinical team is going to need. So like every visit, if there's labs, we're kind of building that. And then when you get

you know, do sign up for a trial, we are just kind of putting in, you know, that you're on a trial and then everything would kind of populate for you. So you would know when you have to come in next and kind of how long we're looking like in between visits, stuff like that. Yeah. Making that part easier because it's so... Yeah. Yeah.

It's exhausting. And I mean, it's like exhausting even if you have like all of your, you know, faculties, which is, it's, you know, and you're not being like drained from chemo and all these other things. It's just like to keep like, like, for example, I am not getting chemo and I called you 23 minutes late and after, after texting and calling the wrong number.

Okay. Well, and, and like, that's what I always say to my patients. They're like, I'm, I'm a little bit tired and I'm like, I am tired right now too. And there's no excuse for me. So yeah, it is. Yeah. It's just so much to ask for them. Um, we try to do an awful lot behind the scenes to make it as, um, as

easy for them. So they're not like on the phone. We will schedule everything for them, move things around a hundred times, try to like accommodate for trips and, you know, changes in their schedules and stuff like that. So they're never doing anything like that. That's beautiful. I'm so glad you're doing that. I can just tell you have like the most beautiful energy.

Like it's very, honestly, I do love it. And I've been a nurse for a long time and it's, um, it's a really special place. And I don't know if that's because like, I know what it feels like to be like in a family where that's like the main thing happening, but I'm really, um, I feel really lucky to be able to do this for other people. And it's something I want to keep doing. I actually, um,

signed up to start my PhD to like study how we can like maybe do this better for our patients to see if I can like actually research like what do we know about this patient population and kind of like what do they need from us that would make this better for them. You are so cool. That is so cool. That is so, so cool. Heck yeah. So you'll be, you'll be doctor. Yeah.

We'll be calling you doctor. I will. Yeah, yeah. And I don't want to hear whenever people are like, oh, no, it's like, you know, I got a PhD. If you go to that much school, you better be – I would be making people call me doctor in casual conversation. So, you know, if Dr. Phil can make people call him doctor, okay, like then I think Dr. Jill Biden can be referred to as –

as doctor. Okay. And that's my rant for the day. I think I'll do it like Dr. Jill. Like I think I'll go Dr. Meg. Yes. I know. Cause I think it's just so chic, you know, it's like, totally. I like that. I like that. Meg, thank you so much for what you do and for taking the time out of your day to explain it to me. Yeah.

And again, if you are a person who has a number similar to Meg's but ends in one different digit, I'm sorry. I swear I looked at it like 19 times. I texted not you at the time and I was like, oh, this thing is going late. Can I – and then – I just tried to text you because I'm like, wait, is it her time? I'm like, maybe this is at 4.30. I don't know. And this is the problem with daylight savings. And can we just –

Can we reconfigure all of this doge energy into simply ending daylight savings? That's all. That's what I need those nerds doing. Okay. Add that to the list. Just add that to the list. That's not efficient. That's not efficient. My God. Oh,

Oh, God. Well, Meg, thank you. Let me know how the, keep me updated on this PhD thing, because that's very exciting. And I love people going back to school. It's amazing. Heck yes. Oh, I love it. Love it. I love it. All right. I'm so honored that I got your time today. Thank you so much. Yeah, absolutely. All right. Bye, Meg. Thanks a million. Bye.

Okay, the number of times that I've accidentally called the wrong number or texted the wrong number, the number of people who have voicemails from me,

it's going to be somewhere on the internet where someone's like, I got a phone call from this woman saying she was Nora McNerney and we had a phone call. Anyone else get one of these? And then it's all going to culminate in people believing, which they have believed before, that I am in the Illuminati. And if I was in the Illuminati, trust me, I would not have the kitchen cabinets that I have right now. I'll tell you that much right now. I would not have crusty

dilapidated kitchen cabinets. If I were in the Illuminati, I assume they give you a stipend. I assume they give you, there's got to be some kind of perk and I would translate that perk into better kitchen cabinets.

We get support from Skims, and I personally am always supported by Skims. Look, not all of us were gifted curves. Some of us, like myself, were given their father's body, okay? I have as much curves as the late Steve McInerney, except for when I was a kid.

I am wearing the Skims Ultimate Push-Up Bra. I have always needed a push-up bra. That is just a fact about my life. But the Skims Push-Up Bra is so incredible that when I wear it, I get, like, people look at my boobs, okay? My best friend, Caroline Moss, said to me, it looks like you got a boob job. You know why she said that? Because I was wearing the Skims Ultimate Push-Up Bra.

It's so comfortable. It's not heavy. It's not bulky. It just truly gives me the curves that God and my mother simply did not. There's a reason that everyone loves Skims, and it's because they just make amazing stuff. Also a huge, huge fan of their triangle bralettes.

That's what I wear pretty much every day. But when I want to look like I have gazooms, a word that Marcel has begged me to stop using, and I simply cannot, it's because I'm wearing the Skims Ultimate Push-Up Bra. They also have a strapless, which I really like. Finding a strap.

Annapolis push-up bra is probably the eighth circle of hell because they either mash you up or they give you four boobs. This one is great for summer because, you know what? I'm a tank top girl. I live in a place where it's over 100 degrees. I'm probably not going to be wearing a lot of sleeves. And also, I'm just over the age where I want an exposed bra strap.

Anyways, enough about me. I want you to go check out Skims. Shop the ultimate bra collection on Skims and shop all of their stuff, honestly, at Skims.com. And now, look, I know this is cumbersome, but when you place an order, they have a way to let them know

that you are coming because of this show, which like helps support our show, helps support your boobs. So you select podcast. Like they say, like, how'd you find out about this? You select podcast, then you select thanks for asking in the dropdown menu. And so that's just like a nice way to like support the show. And also again, get yourself a great bra. That's skims.com. Enjoy.

Hi guys, it's Nora. If you like what we've done here on Terrible Things for Asking, you might want to check out our YouTube channel. We have two new videos going up every week over at youtube.com slash at feelings and co. That's feelings and co. There's a link to it in our show description. So see over on YouTube if that's what you're into. What a sales gal I am.

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All right. On to the next call. All right. I think this is our last call of the day. Hello? Hi, Isabella. It's Nora McInerney. Hi there. Also, I go by Iza. You do? Okay. Wait. Say it again. Iza. Iza. That's so beautiful. Thank you. That's so beautiful. I thought you said Eva and I was like, okay, tell me how we got there. But Iza, that's gorgeous. I love that. Oh, that's so cute. That's so cute. Iza, I want to hear about your job.

Okay, so I work at a yarn store. Like I said, Corelli only, but I work at a yarn store and it is great. I do not knit all day as much as people think you would do if you work at a yarn store. I primarily work on the floor. So dealing with customers, it's like a mixture of chatting with our regulars and them showing off their projects and helping people with knitting questions or crochet questions or having...

Sometimes we get calls, like I've had calls where people are like, do you guys have wool? And I'm like, yes. Yeah, and you're like, do you mean just like raw wool? Or do you mean as a, yeah, tell me more about the wool you seek. Right? Like, tell me. And then I had one person one time be like, do you have brown wool? And I'm like,

Can you say more? They're like, well, a friend of a friend is going to knit me a hat. And I need brown wool. And I'm like...

Okay. Okay. Friend. Yes. Yeah. Friend of a friend is going to knit you a hat. She gave you the Vegas, like, cause wait, like wool or yarn, you know, and I'm not the best at these arts. So I really do bow down to you. I think it's, I think it's cause I'm left-handed. And so people, you know, kind of struggled to teach me, but you use both hands for knitting. And if you knit continental, yeah.

then you use your left hand more than you do your right hand. The issue is that a lot of people teach left-handers how to knit English and not continental. Oh my God. I don't know. How did you get this good at knitting? I've been knitting since I was like eight. Yeah. I'm in my late twenties now. That'll do it. I also knit. I'm a supremely fast knitter. I knit a sweater every week or two. You knit a sweater every week or two? You try to say casually? Yes. Wow. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Last year, I kept a record of how many days a year I wore my knits. And I think it was 349 days of the year I wore my knits. Do you make lightweight knits for the summer? I'm assuming. I do. What's your favorite item that you've knitted that you like to wear?

Um, oh, I have some sweaters that I really, really love. Um, there's a company in Portland called Woolfolk that makes like the softest yarn in the world. And I'm part of their testers program. They just send me free yarn and I knit their sweaters and it's great because their yarn is expensive and I adore them and they have are like the best people in the world. So I love their sweaters. I also made a pronoun sweater last year. Um,

I used they them. So I made a sweater that says they them. Oh, cute. Yeah. Like on the back or the front or both? All around. Oh, all around. Yeah.

Oh my God. I love it. You want pictures? I want pictures of everything. I want pictures of literally everything. I give you my Instagram and then you can tell me which pictures, if you want me to hire red, hold on. I'm going to open up Instagram quick or slow.

I don't follow you from that account because I follow you from my personal. It's okay. I'm not offended. I wouldn't even be offended if you didn't follow me on anything. I've been following you since 2018 when my chosen brother died by suicide. God. So I've been following you a long time. We've really been through it together. Wow.

We've really been through it. We've been through it. And I, like, for years, want to talk to you. And I've been like, oh, my God, I should reach out to Nora because I feel like I could be an episode on TTFN. Yeah. And now you're an episode on TTFN. We're talking about your job and we're talking about knitting. And also, now we're talking about suicide. And that's what life is like. Okay? Right. That's what life is like. Because when someone comes in with a knitting project, you know, like, you don't know what they're going through. No. And my, you know, my grandma died with unfinished projects. Like, you know.

You know about Loose Ends? Yes. Oh, no. Tell me. I thought you meant like emotionally do I know about Loose Ends? I was like, yeah, I live in them, baby. Okay. Yes. Okay. Loose Ends is a nonprofit that's specifically dedicated to finishing projects from family members who passed or who are unable to finish projects because of, you

illness or disability variety of reasons. So that exact thing exists for that. That is so beautiful. People are so wonderful. People are so wonderful. They started in Seattle and then started nationally and now they're international and they just pair crafters with the families to finish projects. Okay. I love this. Okay. What's your, what's your knitting Instagram?

It's four finger fiber. Four finger fiber. Nope. Okay. Fiber. Fiber. Yeah. My, oh gosh. There we go. Okay. Okay. Oh my gosh. I love everything. Wow. Oh my gosh. The, they, them shorts. You didn't mention it's a short sleeve.

sweater it is a short sleeve that's cute and I wear it 340 isn't the bonnet that was for a colleague of mine who had cancer so I made her a little bonnet oh my gosh I love it that is so cute yeah you are you are you're knitting you're knitting everything you're knitting everything all the time

all the time like I said I knit a lot of clothes wow wow wow okay yeah you're good so what do you love about working at the yarn store I love the community that's like number one thing um

We, so I live in Seattle and there is a very large, there are many local yarn stores in Seattle, which is not common in every city, but Seattle has a very large connection, large collection of yarn stores. And the one I work at is called Acorn Street and the community, it's the same yarn store that I've been going to since I was a kid. That's so cute.

I know. Like all through my teenage years, I've been going there and then I started working there years ago. And it's a really, really special community, both in terms of customers, colleagues, the bosses are incredible. It like as a queer and trans knitter and person that exists in this world, it's really hard to find safe, clear spaces. And

while where I work is not perfect, it is hands down the safest place in the Seattle yarn community as a queer person. And that I have both experienced myself, and I've done a lot of work at the store to do that. And I also hear that from queer knitters regularly. And there are so many queer knitters and queer crafters that it's been really important to me to cultivate that and to really try to make it a safe place because obviously, you know,

We don't need community. There's also something great about not, I used to work in education and that's not possible with my mental health and the state of public education in this country right now. Yeah.

And there's something so different about just working actively with people and people coming in and being like, I need help with my knitting project. Or one time I had a customer come in and he like sees me and he just immediately burst into tears and he was apologizing. He was an older guy and having this moment of connection. And he's like, I just lost my wife and she made me this sweater and it has holes in it and I want it repaired.

And he's just like, hobbing as he's telling me this. And he's apologizing. And I'm like, you don't need to apologize. We can just be here in this. And there are so many beautiful moments of connection. And I've made some of my closest friends through the Dane community.

and just like being there with people. And I had another, like one of our regular customers, she throwing off this cardigan that she was almost done with. And I had almost, I was going to make this cardigan. And then I found out later that, um, her son died, her 15 year old son died last summer, um, in a, he drowned in Montana on a vacation. Um, yeah. And, um,

she made this color in green because that was his color and she wanted to have a hug from him whenever she needed it um and I told her later it was like so sweet and I told her later I was like my I was going to make this cardigan anyways and now it's going to be my Toby cardigan with my brother that died and I was like there's something about and she was like oh so you get it yeah I was like

Yeah. Yeah. You get it. You get it. And you just never know. And like how lucky when people walk in to just to meet you. That's so cool. Yeah. And I think there's also something really different about just making connection in such a human way. And also not being in an education system where I am actively responsible for someone else. I can still make those connections and I don't have to hold back.

All of that. Cause it's a lot. All of that. Cause I don't have to hold the safety of everyone. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. It's a lot. And especially like with the current state of our country. And I think also just like being like,

in the knitting world, I've always wanted to do something social justice related. And for a while I was like, okay, I'm just going to work at the yarn store because I'm mentally ill and I don't know what to do. So I'm just going to do this. And as time has gone on, I've also been able to shift my perspective on what making a difference can look like. Um, and last summer I partnered with a friend who's a yarn dyer. Um, my partner and I partnered with our friend and, um, to

to put on his booth at a festival and my pronoun sweater is out of his yarn. So a queer dyer dyed the yarn and it was at his booth and the amount of people that came to the booth specifically because of the pronoun sweater and the community created through that. Um, and I'm in process of releasing with another business, um,

pronoun chart so that people can make their own pronoun sweaters with any form of pronouns and socks and cowls and they can do whatever they want with it. And I think I've also come to realize the different ways that we can make change in our communities and that it doesn't have to be on at the level of education or the medical system or any of those, because those just

they're not sustainable right now. Yeah. It could be anything. It could be anything. It could be yarn. It could be a sweater. And thank you so much for making the time to talk to me today. Yes. I truly like I treasure it. And guess what I'm going to go do. I'm going to the yarn store.

Do it. I'm going to the local yarn store right now because guess what? They're only open Tuesday through Sunday. I always forget that. And today is Tuesday. So I'm going. I'm going today. You inspired me and I'm very excited. Thank you so much. Bye. Okay. Do you see why I love this?

Okay, look at all that you can learn. Look at all that you can learn by just asking somebody what they do. This is why I advocate for small talk. This is why I advocate for being nosy. I love knowing that amongst us, there are truly some, I mean, incredible people doing incredible things, doing jobs that I didn't even know were jobs. So I'm going to, I know I'm going to do another episode like this.

I just know it. I want to hear about your job. You better call me right now. I don't care if you think your job is boring. I don't. I actually love your job and I want to know more about it. So our number is what? It's 612-568-4441. This is thanks for asking a call-in show about what matters to you and also whatever I'm interested in. So thank you for participating. Thank you to Marcel Malakibu for producing this episode and Grace Berry for coming back. She went to corporate America. She said,

I don't like this. And I said, babe, come back. Come back to us. We missed you. We missed your creative energy. We are an independent podcast. So you being here, sharing this, listening, just generally, I mean, it makes a big difference. Like, I don't want to be a part of a big company. No offense to them, but no thank you. I really like the way that we get to do things. I like our little community. And I want to thank our supporting producers who are the people who...

Have signed up at, there's a few levels over on my Substack. I just decided we're going to put everything all in one place. We're not going to do it on Apple anymore. We're not going to do it on Patreon. It's all on Substack. I write a weekly essay. We have all the archives of TTFA there. We have new episodes when I decide

decide to make random podcast episodes that don't fit into anything, they go out there. And it's noraborealis.substack.com. It's linked here. It's linked kind of on my Instagram. You can join monthly. You could join annually or you could join as a supporting producer, which is just like naming your price above the annual membership. So pretty cool of all these people. And now I get to read their names, which is like pretty much the only benefit of being a supporting producer. So I really, I

I just appreciate it and I'm having one of those days where I'm just like humbled like look at this

Look at this world. It kind of sucks, but this part doesn't. So thank you to Ben. Thank you to Jess. Thank you to Michelle Toms. Thank you, Tom Stockburger. Thank you, Jen and Beth Derry. Thank you, Stacey DeMauro and Emily Ferrizo. Thanks, Stephanie Johnson, Faye Behrens and Amanda and Sarah Garifo. Thank you, Jennifer McDougal, who writes her name in all caps, Elia Feliz-Milan.

And Lindsay Lund, thank you. Renee Kepke and Chelsea Ciernik. Carpan, Algie S., Stacey Wilson, Courtney McCown. I lost the tune to this, but let's keep going. Kaylee Sakai, Mary Beth Berry, Joe Theodosopoulos, Matt Abbey, Elizabeth Berkley, Kim F. Melody, Swinford Val, Lauren Hanna, Katie Jessica Letexier,

Crystal Mann, Lisa Piven, Kate Lyon, Christina, Sarah David, Kate Byerjohn, Erin Johnjoy, Pollack, Crystal, Jennifer Bovelka, Jess Blackwell, Micah.

Jessica Reed, Beth Lipum, Kiara, Jill McDonald, Jen Gremlin, Alexis Lane, David Bingley, Kathy Hamm, Virginia Labossie, Lizzie DeVries, Jeremy Essin, Andrew Brzezinski, Robin Roulard, Nicole Petey, Monica, Carolyn Moss, Rachel Walton,

Our opening theme music is by Joffrey Lamar Wilson. His band is Lamar. You will love them. Look them up. Closing theme music is by My Young Son Q.

Those are all our thank yous. Marcel said, wrap this up quickly. And I said, what if I made up a song instead? So Marcel, as always, I'm sorry. And I appreciate you. Bye. See you next week.

Hi guys, it's Nora. If you like what we've done here on Terrible Things for Asking, you might want to check out our YouTube channel. We have two new videos going up every week over at youtube.com slash at feelings and co. That's feelings and co. There's a link to it in our show description. So see over on YouTube if that's what you're into. What a sales gal I am.