Taking A Leap With Lydia Hu
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Well, welcome to the Jason in the House podcast. I'm Jason Chaffetz. Hey, welcome to the new year, 2025. Boy, it's going to be quite an interesting year. A lot of stuff happening, but there always is. But certainly with a new president, an older president, but a new president all the same, 45 becoming 45.

47 here soon as President Donald Trump gets sworn in. So I want to hit some few things in the news. Then we're going to talk a little bit about the stupid because there's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere. And we got some good candidates for that. And then we're going to talk to Lydia Hu. And Lydia, you have maybe hopefully have seen her on Fox Business. She's a rising rock star.

in the fox news world um she's got a great story and so we're gonna have a little conversation with her and talk about her and how she got to where she's got to in her future and it's um i think you'll really like it you'll enjoy it so but i want to kick things off um by talking a little bit about what's in the news one of the things that's getting under my skin that just it just should never be tolerated by anybody i wish it was the lead story just day in and day out

which is about the unaccompanied minors by the tens of thousands coming to the United States. Now, on the one hand, I don't understand the mindset of a parent or a family that allows somebody at such a young age to be traversed across the border. The rape, the human trafficking, the numbers are stunning.

Now, I understand that the economic strife and life and difficulties of living in some of these other countries may be untenable. But the idea of letting your child go and paying some coyote who knows how much money to get across the border is just, I just can't even fathom that. Like, I really can't do that. Now, the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General, the IG, the

sent a report to Congress and they found that over the past five years, more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children, they call them UCs or unaccompanied minor children, 32,000 had not shown up for their immigration court hearing. So what does that tell you? That tells you that maybe who they're handing them over to, the so-called guardians, it's just a fraud.

Now, listen to this story. It was on foxnews.com. And this is from the Inspector General Report. During our ongoing audit to assess ICE's ability to monitor the location and status of UCs, the unaccompanied children, who were released and transferred from the custody of the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services, we learned ICE transferred more than, more than,

448,000 unaccompanied children to health and human services from fiscal years 2019 to 2023. 448,000. And they can't account, they can't figure out where a lot of these people are by the tunes of tens of thousands. And then those that are supposed to show up for a court hearing, oh, 30 plus thousand of those don't show up.

Now, most recently, the reason the story came out earlier this week is because you had these two young children, one age five, another age nine. The smuggler had taken them up to the border, got them over the border, and then fled back into Mexico. Fortunately, the Texas Department of Public Safety was there to recover them. The nine-year-old, in her hand, they have a picture of it. They've blurred out her face.

The girl was from El Salvador, evidently, and she carried a note and it only had an address and telephone number. And then they were referred to the United States Border Patrol. So what do you do with these two young children? Well, they're supposed to be capturing, doing DNA analysis. They're supposed to be making sure that the person that they're turning them over to is actually a relative of

And then they're supposed to be able to follow up. But this again, Biden and Harris and what the Democrats have done to the open borders is human trafficking. And it is at its worst. Now, hopefully these two young girls are OK that they haven't been perverted by some predator.

But we don't know. And the odds are that a good portion of them that have come across the border, you know, the 448,000 plus, that a lot of them have. And it's sick. It's disgusting.

And so when you hear anybody, I think, pushing back on the idea about locking down our borders, about making sure that you're putting tariffs in place. Don't I'm not buying any of that when you when you tolerate and you're complicit in actually moving people across the border, especially the unaccompanied minors.

It is not right. It should be universal in its condemnation, and yet it's not. I don't know how in the world we think in this country that this is still some sort of topic that needs the discussion. I don't know why we can't be united in that. Don't tell me that you need some bill that

That you need universal immigration bill. You don't. You just need to enforce the law and you need to have some moral compass to say this is fundamentally wrong. Not an AOC going down to the border looking at kids in cages and fake crying her way through it. That doesn't solve the problem.

Those are the fakers out there that I just don't buy their quote-unquote compassion because they don't understand the issue and they don't have a reasonable way to solve it. And it doesn't require any more legislation, quite frankly. It requires the political will that I think a President Trump, a J.D. Vance, and Tom Homan and others will have to put in place to actually make it happen. All right, topic number two, because you can see I get a little fired up about that one. Colleges.

This is the headline again on Fox. Class dismissed. College is expected to close as enrollment numbers tank.

The promise of the four-year college, the life of a four-year college has dramatically changed. I think people are coming to realize that they can get vocational skills that will be highly adaptable to their needs and good jobs and good income. I think people are understanding that they can go online or participate in the high-tech industry.

business and the economy and don't need a traditional four-year college experience, that maybe those dance classes and gender studies classes aren't really going to do much to get you a job and maybe aren't worth the tens of thousands of dollars you have to pay to do it each and every year.

And so they're having a bit of a crash. There's an enrollment cliff, they're calling it. This is part of the story that I saw on foxnews.com. The number of students enrolled in degree-granting colleges and universities fell by 15% from 2010 to 2021. And only 62% of high school seniors in the United States immediately go on to college right now. Now, for certain skills, maybe being an attorney...

maybe being a doctor, maybe doing some other things where your skill set is critical. Yes, those require college degrees and you want your person to have a college degree. If you're going to be in financial services, if you're going to be involved in maybe being a certified public accountant, those types of things require these types of degrees. But not every job does require that and not every good paying job does require that.

And so I think a lot of students and families are relooking at it. The cost of these universities and these experiences has gone up exponentially and certainly much, much higher than the degree of inflation that has been inflicted by the printing of too much money, by the way, by the federal government. And so the costs have just been going up the...

So far up. Let's also remember that the national birth rate between 2007 and 2022 has fell by 23%.

That's a lot. So this, again, from the story, the decline in the overall birth rate is why beginning next year in 2025, which is where we are now, and lasting until 2037, we're going to see a major decline in enrollment as 2008 babies begin to reach college age. Well, I'm starting to feel old, by the way, when you start talking about babies born in the 2000s.

let alone the 2008 babies. Yikes. I'm feeling a little bit old. But anyway, the world is changing. The world is changing. One other thing I want to talk about in the news, the passing of President Carter. Now, I think by all accounts, the Carters were good people. They cared about their country. They loved their country. And I would argue they were even better former presidents than he was as a president when he was president. He did some good things. He wanted to eradicate...

a disease he went after it was something that was dear to his heart and he did i think try to fight and make sure that we could do some good things there was something called the guinea worm now the guinea worm if you got it particularly in africa was horrific there was no cure it wasn't like you could take some pill or they get a shot or something like this

you had to really go and fight it over you know 20 to 30 day period is exceptionally painful it's it kind of the way i've read about it and heard it described it was very much the way it sounds a guinea worm just horrific right he decided to take that on last year there were a total of 11 cases in the world only 11.

And a lot of hats off to Jimmy Carter and what he did in that regard. But let's also remember that during the Jimmy Carter years, I think our world got more difficult. Inflation was rampant. There was a malaise. And our military was waning. And he just passed away. You want to say good, laudatory things. But I think history will continue to paint history.

the Biden years, much the way they're going to paint the Biden years. Carter years were a very difficult time. It led to the ushering in of Ronald Reagan and that whole revolution that where even the Californians of the world where Ronald Reagan, after four years in office, won every single state in the electoral college, except Minnesota, where his running mate was, where his competitor was from, Walter Mondale. And so I think...

The world can tip his hat, tip our hat to the Carters. And it is amazing to live to the age of 100. They did a lot for housing. They did a lot in health care after he was president. But his presidential years, quite frankly, not so great. But was he a good man? Did he care about his country? Yes. Biden, I think they're going to look back at the Biden years and say, not so good.

Inflation was rampant. They were lying to us constantly. They were dishonest in their dealings. They enriched themselves by tens of millions of dollars. They had severe ethical problems. Carter's never had those ethical problems. The Bidens did. And I think that's the way history will write the two. And sadly, I think the Biden years were horrible.

Even worse than the Carter years. And Carter years were pretty bad for the economy. I mean, interest rates were way off the roof. The ability to get gas was, people were lining up for gas. It was not a good time. So that's it for the news. But now I got to transition because you know what? It's always time to highlight the stupid. Because you know what? There's always somebody doing something stupid somewhere.

All right, I got two for you. One is Rachel Maddow. Rachel Maddow, she, I appreciate her candor. I'll give her an A plus for that. What she got wrong in 2024 was the question to her. And the answer was she thought J.D. Vance would be much more frightening to a lot of people. Now,

You know, there's this book, The Hillbilly Elegy, a movie that accompanied it, an American success story, a family that grew up and pulled themselves up by the bootstraps despite all the circumstances. The J.D. Vance emerged from that, went to Yale, served his country, served in the United States Marines, and somehow she thought that that was going to scare a lot of people. Well, it enthralled a lot of people. It excited a lot of people.

It provided the exact opposite of Rachel Maddow for saying that it was going to be bad. But you know what? I'm glad that she said it, admitted it. I don't know that she'll learn a lot from it, but I think he is one of the biggest political figures that will be here for the next 30 years. And we owe that a lot to Donald Trump for selecting him, making just an exceptional pick

to be sworn in here shortly as the next vice president of the United States. And the second one I want to highlight is what Joe Biden said about Merrick Garland. Now, this one, what's the big regret that Biden had? He regrets picking Merrick Garland as the attorney general. Now, a lot of us do, but his reasoning is just off the charts. I just can't understand it. He thinks that Merrick Garland was not tough enough on Trump

And too tough on his son, Hunter Biden. So if those are your two reasons why you disagree with Merrick Garland, I'm going to put you in the stupid category because, oh my goodness, that is just not something I can relate to. I disagree with him. I thought Merrick Garland, oh, thank goodness he never did get to the Supreme Court. But boy, was he just not good.

a good attorney general. I just, I think he was very targeted. I think it was overtly political. And, um, but boy, you know, Biden picked them. He had regrets too, but for all the wrong reasons. All right. Time now to bring on Lydia. Lydia, who is like one of the rising stars. You're going to love her. She's great. She works hard. She's perpetually happy. I've seen her on the set of Fox and, uh,

I had a chance a couple weeks ago to sit down with her. I'm just now airing this podcast. This part I just recorded, but my interview with Lydia was just a few weeks ago. She's a wonderful, wonderful human. You're going to hear a lot about her, I think, in the future. And I hope you watch for her on air. But let's bring in Lydia.

Well, you're very kind to come sit down and go through this. Are you kidding? I want to know more about you, how you became you, how you got here, how you and I are sitting here together. We can talk about all of that. It's so unexpected. Sometimes when I walk into this building, I still pinch myself because as a kid, I remember my dad watching Fox News every night.

And... Now, where was this? Where did you grow up? Where were you born? I was born... I was actually born here in the city. I lived in Queens for the first couple of years of my life. But ultimately, we wound up in Maryland. And that's where really my formative years were. Yeah. I went to school there. I went to University of Maryland for undergraduate school. And then I went to law school there as well. And I met my husband there. So... Okay. So go back. Your dad, I mean, these early memories, he's always watching Fox News? Yeah, totally. I mean, so...

It was kind of like a soundtrack in my household, honestly. But I never really thought that I could be a part of the Fox family one day. So for me, it really is like a pinch-me moment. I can't believe I'm here at Fox Business. When did you know that you were like...

I mean, a lot of people want to do what you do, but you got to have a skill set. You got to be super smart and quick, especially dealing with breaking news and quick reports. And hey, you got two minutes and you got to do something exactly precisely like that.

But you also got to be able to speak. Yeah. Yeah. So what were you like when you were little? Were you, I mean, were you into athletics? Were you doing, I mean, what were you doing then? Not at all. I was definitely not into athletics. I remember when I was eight years old on a softball team and begging my mom if I could quit after I got a splinter from sitting on the bench. Like literally, it was not, athletics were not my thing. No, I'm...

As a kid, I much more gravitated towards student government. I was a part of the newspaper. I was always part of the planning committee for like homecoming or prom. So I think I was always seeking that opportunity.

wanting to participate, wanting to have that human connection, being part of kind of like the bridge between different groups. I remember in school, I was always friends with all the different groups, all the different kids, not clicky at all. And I think that is part of the reason why I love what I do now because it's so much of...

information, seeking out comment, trying to seek understanding, and then ultimately talking to our viewers, you know, and telling them what's really important about the world around them. Was your big school, small school? How many kids? I think there are about 400 in our graduating class. Graduated from a high school outside of Annapolis, Maryland, South River High School. So shout out to the Seahawks.

And it was a great experience. Yes. Now, that's a better mascot than most, the Seahawk. The Seahawk's pretty fierce, right? I'm not so sure we were... Usually we ask you. That's usually one of the hard questions, like what mascot is your... But that's a cool one. Oh, yeah. And you're by the ocean. It makes sense. It was a great... It was a really great area to grow up. So, I mean, were you...

Did you play instruments, music? Yeah, I did. Yeah. What did you do? I played the violin for many years. I was never good, but it was fun to do. And then I was also part of- Fun and violin in the same sentence? Okay. It was fun to try, I guess. I still have my violin. My wife is very good at violin. She loves it. And she does think it's fun.

It is a beautiful instrument. My daughter's now taking a lesson, so I hope that she'll do better than I did. How old is your daughter? She's five. That's cute. One child? Do you have more than one kid? I have two. Two? Yeah. A five-year-old and a... A two-year-old.

Oh, there you go. That's the all-American family right there. Well, they keep us busy. They definitely make the holidays super exciting and fun. How is it different than what you thought it was going to be? It's so much better. You had this like real negative, like, oh my gosh, this is going to be hard and awful. And you did this.

This is way better than I thought it was going to be. You know, I will be I'll be real with you. This is real talk right now. I, you know, I got married to my husband and at the time I was honest with him. I was kind of ambivalent about having kids. I didn't really know what I wanted and he was OK with that. But there came a certain point in time when he turned to me and he said, I really want to be a dad.

And I said, okay, well, that's a pretty big statement. And I had to take time to reflect on that. Ultimately, I thought, I love him so much. He has made sacrifices for me and supporting me in what I wanted to do. Right.

one of the biggest ways he supported me was supporting my transition from the practice of law into journalism, big risk. And he was behind me a hundred percent. So I thought I can either be the person that makes a dream come true for him, or I can be a person that stands in the way, you know? And I thought I will put my faith in, in that this is, this is what's supposed to happen. And I,

I thank God and him. I could cry every day that I didn't let my fears stop me. I was really worried about if I could be a mom and have a job and I really could cry. And it really is to anyone who's listening to this and thinks like, can I do it all? You can, you will. Everyone does it. And it will make life richer and better and better.

give you new purpose and meaning in ways you never could have imagined. No, that's very sweet. And you're talking from your heart, which is, I appreciate it. And you, um,

It's going to resonate with a lot of people because I remember it's been a while now because I got grandkids. I'm like way old. Wow. I'm way older than you. I never would have guessed that. Yes, yes. Wait, how many? My wife and I are blessed with three kids and now all three of our kids are married, not to each other, and we have six grandkids. Wow. Yeah. And do they all come to you for the holidays? Yes.

So Thanksgiving was an, quote unquote, off year, which was like, oh, this is not good. We don't like this. But Christmas is on. So it will have like a... But we're also very fortunate that they all live pretty close. That's great. But I remember...

I remember each of the kids when they're born, but that moment, it just changes your life. And it goes by so fast. It really does. Well, your kids are five and two. And ours are like, our youngest is going to college. And she and her husband are married and doing great. But it goes by so fast. They say, oh, it'll go by in a blink. And then sitting where I am,

and remembering when I was kind of your age. I don't even know what age you are, but I remember having a five-year-old and a two-year-old. And it does, it's just something magical about it. And look, not everybody gets that experience. You know, some people pray about it, they want it, they don't get it. Or it's tougher and more difficult. Like everybody goes through challenges, you know, in life. That's kind of my philosophy is that

Anytime you bump into somebody, you don't know what their challenges are. Like sometimes you think, oh, it's all about me. How come they haven't called me back? How come they haven't done this? But more often than not, they got a lot of other things going on. But to have your...

kids, bless your family like that. It's just so sweet. It's such a beautiful thing. It really is. And the best part is seeing my kids with my parents, seeing my parents being grandparents to my kids. Right. There's nothing better than that. Because you get a break and you can go to the movies and...

Well, yes. Go out to dinner. Yeah, totally. Go out to dinner with your husband and not worry about it. Yes, that is the real unvarnished truth. It is funny to watch your own kids say now, okay, you got to do this. You got to do that. Are you okay? Like they don't, they don't ask questions.

my wife that question. They asked me that. Like, you remember, we have to do this. Like, you gotta, like, I got it. I did this for a long time for you. And they forget about that. Maybe that's why they're asking. Yeah. Well, yeah. They remember how bad it was. Maybe. I don't know. I wasn't there. Please. We don't want dad to make meals.

Right. Well, we all have our strengths. We all go to McDonald's is what we do. So, yeah. Okay. So, but I'm fascinated by people who can think and talk and present and do all that at the same time, because you had to have done something when you were young. It's like, oh yeah, you can do this. Like, when did you, you have to have this moment of clarity where you're like, yeah, I'm actually pretty good at this. So like, what's your superhuman strength?

Everybody has one. Everybody's got like the superpower, right? What's yours? You know, I don't really remember thinking, oh, this is my superpower. But I just remember there are two things that come to mind immediately when you ask that question in such a great way.

One is that I think my mom saw an ability in me to communicate when I was young. And she, of all things to enroll me in when I was 10 years old, was a public speaking class. 10 years old? 10. Yes. I've never heard of that.

I don't know where she found it. I just remember going to school and I think it was on a weekend too. And there were other kids of all ages enrolled in this class. So kids are even older than I was. Right. And they coached us on develop development of an idea, a concept, breaking it apart into different parts, figuring out what the most important parts were at 10. Yes. And developing a presentation, right?

And we met multiple weeks. And I remember I had to provide a speech or a talk on a process, like a how to do something. And I went home and I was trying to figure out what am I going to talk about how to do something. And we in our art class had just completed some segment on something called art.

Batik. I don't know if you've heard of this before, and I'm not an expert, but it's something about dyeing cloth and using wax to protect certain parts, and then you can make these beautiful creations that are multicolored and other oftentimes like large swaths of fabric. Anyway, I digress. I remember I gave a presentation about this using demonstrations and props, and I remember walking away from that thinking like, oh, I think I did that pretty well. So talk about...

mastery of a subject that you really didn't know a lot about, but speaking about it with confidence, having done enough research to feel like I can explain and answer questions on this. And so I think I started doing that when I was pretty young. You know, I think that's,

It's such an interesting point because I think this is what a lot of the younger generation, at least from my perspective, that I purge now, is they miss out on this idea that you've got to go out and try lots of things and you're going to fail at a lot of things. Like you may not be a really good softball player. You may not even be one that gets to get out there because your coach is going to put you on the bench because you were that bad. But if you have this wide array of experiences, then you're like, wow, I'm actually pretty good at that.

You know, I look at our son who's now a practicing attorney and somehow during high school he got into debate. Well, I know that the reason he got into debate is because his buddy,

His buddy's dad was an attorney and he wanted his son to go into debate, but he wouldn't get to do it by himself. He had to drag somebody else over there with him and he dragged our son over there. Ends up our son loved it. And the two of them actually ended up being attorneys. And it's kind of interesting because I don't know where he would have had that experience. I remember when he was very young, I hope he doesn't mind my talking about him so much, but

What we would say to our kids, and you got to ask your five-year-old, what do you want to be when you grow up, right? You always get these weird, funny answers. But I remember our son from a very young age when you'd say, what do you want to do when you grow up? And he said, I want to be a reader.

Like he just loved reading. And I thought, okay, so now he's an attorney. Like it's really complicated reading, right? So he's actually quite good at it and he loves it, but you got to find that passion, right? So you figured out at 10 that, oh yeah, I can do that. You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be back with more of my conversation with Lydia Hu right after this.

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What else were you passionate about? Like when you were, when you were young and you wanted to have free time and you weren't doing your violin lessons, then what, what would you do? Oh gosh. I don't know. Did you have brothers, sisters? Yeah, I do have a younger brother. He is, I'm so proud of him. He is a Marine vet. Wow. Yeah. Thank you for his service. Yeah. I thank him all the time. Yeah. He's a Marine vet. You know, he's out of the service now. He became a pilot and,

He was a medevac pilot for a hospital in Maryland for several years. Tough work, yeah. Yeah, and I hope he doesn't mind me talking about him. He works for the federal government for the FAA, so he's incredibly accomplished, and we need more people like him. We've got to introduce him to Sean D'Alessandro.

Duffy, our new upcoming transportation secretary. Yeah. He's got a job on his hands with the LFAA. But anyway, keep going. So excited to see how that unfolds. But you're right. I should. They should probably have a great conversation. But yes, lots of memories of playing with my brother and my cousins. It always seemed like I was involved in some type of school-related activity, to your point about joining, doing debate because you have a friend doing debate. Right.

An early lesson that I learned was when a friend invites you to do something, do it. Because the best things that are going to unfold in your life, I think, come from participating or joining or matching someone else's enthusiasm. And I remember I did something called Odyssey of the Mind. I don't know if anyone's heard of this before when I was a kid. No.

It was not me. Such a cool and nerdy, which I say with an endearing and affection. Yeah, it does sound nerdy. Yes, it was. But that took up a lot of time when I was a kid, when I was in middle school. It's basically a group of kids. They present you with a with some type of abstract problem and you have to come up with a skit and develop your props to solve a problem. So it is creative. It's kind of improv. You are contentious.

creating costumes and interacting with each other. It was so cool and so fun. I was always doing things like that or working on the high school newspaper or in the homecoming planning committee. I mean, I was definitely always involved with, with other people. So at some point you're getting through high school, then what'd you want to do? I always thought I wanted to be a lawyer, but I was also interested in the news. Why, why a lawyer?

I thought, you know... You're watching television and enthralled by... It's such a great question. You know, one of my earliest role models was Sandra Day O'Connor, the first woman to be appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court. I remember learning about her and I was always so moved by her story, the example that she set. And

I knew even at a young age that she lived the example. She didn't talk about the hard work before her shattering a glass ceiling. She didn't trumpet that as her success. She just did the work and lived the example. And I loved that about her. I think that's one of the best parts of her legacy. Um,

And so I think that kind of inspired me to explore the law. I knew no lawyers growing up, none. So that kind of seemed like a far off goal. But I think in the back of my mind, that was something I was always interested in. And I went to University of Maryland, right outside of Washington, D.C., surrounded by lawyers. And it all just kind of unfolded from there. I just started taking courses in government and politics and then took the LSAT. What part of the law did you gravitate towards?

- Well, ultimately I became a civil litigator. So it was a lot of, they call it corporate litigation. I practiced that for five years. - Speaking skillset along with a lot of reading and research and yeah. - Totally, yeah. - So how did you make the leap to Fox? You didn't come right from being an attorney to going to Fox. How did you, where did you go? - There were stints in local news that along the way. - What was the first one?

Shout out to Birmingham, Alabama. Now we like Birmingham, Alabama. That's not the smallest market out there. There's a lot of other super, super small markets. I know. How wild is it that that was my first TV stop? They didn't hire you in sports. So what did they hire you? No. And you'll appreciate that. I had to do a crash course on college football moving down to Alabama. I will confess that. Oh, well, that's...

A given, yes. Alabama, you better understand. Yes. I was smart enough to know don't take sides between Auburn and Alabama. Coming from the north, I was- A true neutral person. Yes. I was really neutral on that one. Yeah. I moved to Birmingham, Alabama, worked at WBRC, which still is a Fox affiliate. What did they have you do? I was a weekend anchor.

Oh, you got an anchor spot right off the bat. Job one. Good for you. Weekend anchor, nights, Saturday and Sunday, and reporting three days during the week. It started off... That's good.

I think it started off as general assignment reporting and then I moved into investigations during the week. And I was there for a little over two years. It was some of the best two years, I got to say. And can I tell you... It's a beautiful place. The viewers down there are so lovely. Some of them still keep in touch with me on social media, you know, still follow what I do because they're...

Fox News and Fox Business viewers, too. So we're so grateful for them. Some of the best people down there. So you're down there. You're in Bama. You're not taking sides. Not in the football. The football rivalry. Yeah. Yes. And then did you get an email? I mean, what happened? How did you get an email?

So from there, you know, I was thinking about my next stop. My husband had some job opportunities in New York. So you were married when you went down there? Oh, yeah. So we were long distance during this. When I tell you he supported me, he really supported this. So he was living where? He was between Maryland and Atlanta, Georgia.

And you were off in Alabama. That's hard for a young couple. Yeah. Yeah, it really was. Because, you know, these weekend anchors at Birmingham, Alabama make huge, huge money. Right. Right. I mean, you were living high on the hog there. Yeah. I mean, one of the hardest parts was the schedule because, of course, you know, my weekends were now in the middle of the week, you know, so it was always kind of a mismatched schedule. So it was a...

it was a sacrifice for him that he made. Kind of a sacrifice for you too, don't you think? Or no? Yes, but I don't know how to describe it. But at the time, it felt like the only thing I could do. I had no doubt. I have to, I credit my faith, really. I had no doubt that that's what I was supposed to be doing. So I...

And now looking back on that years later, yeah, it is kind of like, wow. I mean, we made it. Yeah. Yeah. It was it's I'm so thankful that it worked out the way it did. So, yeah. So I had a great time in Alabama. We wanted to get back north. My husband had an opportunity here in Alabama.

in New York and I do what one does. I start looking on LinkedIn for job postings. Did you really? Literally, yes. I mean, I was, I thought, you know, going and staying in news, going to New York, the number one news market in the world. Yeah.

I wasn't quite sure how I was going to make it happen. I saw a post for a job opening at New York One, which is a 24 hour local cable news station here in the city. Reddit thought I can do everything on that list. I'm going to apply. And this is job advice for any young person who's listening to this.

I didn't just apply. I then made sure to reach out to every person I knew that had a connection to New York One. And one person led me to another person, to another person until I got...

someone who could get me a meeting with the hiring manager. And I got a meeting with the hiring manager like that next week. I said, I will be in the city. I will make sure I'm there and I'm going to stop by to talk to you because I knew I had to make it happen. And then the rest is history. I got to New York one. It was an incredible experience. Awesome opportunity. I worked there for about two years. And during my time there, they asked me if I wanted to start filling in for the business anchor, filing business reports and,

And I said, I really don't know a lot about business news. And they said, that's okay. We're going to teach you what you need to know. So by being willing to say yes and learning something new, it opened up a whole new world for me because that's what led me to Fox Business. So you're there. And then did somebody see you over there? Did you watch for openings at Fox? You know, this is the part where having a great experience

comes into play who sees the opportunities on the horizon and can help you connect the dots. Oh, that's good. Yes. So that's why when you asked me, how did you get here? It really was a series of

a little bit of faith or I should say a lot of faith, trust that I was doing the right thing, being willing to be vulnerable and learn new skills along the way, starting with knowing what I'm good at, I think, which is communicating, figuring things out. And then,

Having enough confidence and not knowing too much about what you don't know. Right, right. You know? Being naive is probably pretty good. A hundred percent. Yeah. So that's how I'm here sitting with you. And I'm so grateful. Well, you got to have talent. You're very good at what you do. You're very good. That's so nice. Yeah. I love it. What's the hardest part? The hardest part is probably not just this job, but it's the balance. You know, the news never stops now.

And you go home and you're trying to be present with your family. And that's sometimes a challenge depending on the news cycle. But that's a skill that I'm working on is learning when I can, when to pump the brakes and when to slam on the gas. And I don't really have a good answer for that. If you have any advice, I'm all ears. It's so hard. It is that balance. And you kind of do have to do a little bit of both. I mean, it's okay to do a little bit of both. I mean,

That's what families all across the country are doing. I mean, you happen to be very high profile, you know, in the news, that kind of thing. All the time people see you in their living room. But I bet mom and dad are proud. Oh, I hope so. I think so. You know, there's not a day that goes by that my dad doesn't text me and he has...

So he should critique me, but he always is just like, that was the best news report I've ever seen. You know, or of course, it's only dad can see. Yes, that's awesome. Yeah. So, yeah. So what's your dream job? Like, where do you want to go? What's next? When people ask that, I maybe it sounds silly, but I don't know how to answer that because

When I look back 20 years ago, if you had asked me what my dream job was, I never would have said Fox Business because that would have felt so far and out of reach. I mean, I really feel like the sky's the limit. Like why set a limit on it by forcing me to answer now? Like sometimes I think anything's possible. Yeah. There's a lot of truth to that because I think if you're open to possibilities and try things like you mentioned earlier...

My experience in life is those little things that you say yes to and you just give it a go for a moment, they have been the biggest inflection points, like the biggest alteration in my life that like, oh, that took me over here and totally changed my life.

And sometimes you try a lot of things and they don't go anywhere. You're just like, ah, that was a total waste of time. But that's, you know, it's kind of what you go through. Yeah. But you have the confidence now that that wasn't for you at that time. You know, you check it off the list. You know, I'm a big believer in don't live with any regrets. Yeah. What is the best advice you've ever gotten? That was on my list of hard questions, but we might as well tackle it right now. The best advice...

You know, probably it goes back to my father. You know, he has such an incredible story. The best advice from him was just do it. Well, you got to tell me the story if he has an amazing story. His advice was always just do it. He immigrated to this country, to the States in the 70s, the late 70s. He came from Taiwan.

He moved straight here to New York City, lived on the Upper West Side on Broadway and pursued his American dream. It was a bumpy, twisty, turny road. It led him to meeting my mother, who is... Did he speak English when he got here? He says that he didn't, but I'm pretty sure that he did speak some. Not a little bit, enough to get by to... Yeah. Yeah. But he says that...

watching television. I think he watched Three's Company is what he told me. That helped him. The Ropers is a great way to learn how to speak English. Yes. So when I was growing up, we had the old TV guides, you know, or the so-called free one that would come in the newspaper. Older people remember what I'm talking about. And my dad, I still remember he would take that newspaper and the TV guide or whatever. And the very first thing, because he usually arrived on like Sunday or Monday,

He would take this felt tip pen and he would cross out all the shows that I could not watch. Wow. Okay. So I was supposed to only watch the shows that were not blanked out.

But come on, a young kid? Those are the shows I wanted to watch. And Three's Company was always blacked out. And he would black this thing out like I couldn't read through it. It was light enough that I could actually see what it was. And I knew what time and what channel because, you know, I used to be in this world. My kids just laugh at us, you know. You had to watch a show at a specific time. I'm like, yeah, you have to watch it at the exact right time or you miss it. You walk in late, you miss it. You go to the bathroom and you can't push pause.

Anyway, Three's Company was on that list of you better not watch that show. So how would you sneak it? Oh, he wasn't always there. Yeah. You know, it's like I could tape it. You have to sit right next to the TV and turn it on really low. No, I just watch it. But if he's not home, you know, I just like I like and at night, you know, sometimes I

We had a little tiny television that I would sneak into my room and plug in and put the covers over and just watch. I don't know, stupid stuff, but innocent enough. I bet they probably knew I was doing that kind of thing. But, you know, the love boat or something like this. See, I'm really dating myself now. But Three's Company was on that list. I'm sorry. I totally got off on that. No.

But that's how he learned to speak English. Yes. You know, and he worked in the restaurant industry and, you know, met my mom. And then he ultimately worked as a banker in Maryland. I mean, he has such an incredible life, but he,

Sounds like we need to have. Yes. Yeah. Dad. Stan. Lydia dad on the podcast. He's a gem. But when I think about, you know, leaving everything that you know for a life that you believe is going to be better than your pursuit of the American dream. That's really got jumping into the deep end, isn't it? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I.

I think that doing that now myself, leaving everything I know to pursue something on my own in a new country by myself, that's incredible. That is. And so growing up with him,

He always made sure that I knew that this country is amazing. This country gives you, you know, protects your freedoms, your rights, your rights to be who you are, your rights to your freedom of speech, your freedom of thought, right? Never let people take that away from you. It's worth fighting for. He always believed that. And so, you know, when you talk about the best advice, I don't know that I'm really answering what the best advice was, but

these ideas of working hard to forge your own path was always, that is so innate in my identity. I can tell. Because he made sure I grew up with that. You don't ask for anything. You earn what you're going to get. And then you celebrate when you get it. Celebrate your successes. So when he used to tell me when I was a kid, I would always kind of

him and Han, you know, I was sometimes indecisive or I'm not sure I can do something. He would say, just do it. Don't worry about the outcome. Just do it. Give it your 100% best effort. Caught up in all the negative of everything that could go wrong. Every reason that it would be awful. Yeah. Think about what if it goes right? Yeah. Yeah. Be motivated by that. Oh, that's good. You're listening to Jason in the house. We'll be right back. Stay with us.

I can say to my new Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, hey, find a keto-friendly restaurant nearby and text it to Beth and Steve. And it does without me lifting a finger. So I can get in more squats anywhere I can. One, two, three. Will that be cash or credit? Credit. Galaxy S25 Ultra, the AI companion that does the heavy lifting so you can do you. Get yours at Samsung.com. Compatible with select apps requires Google Gemini account results may vary based on input check responses for accuracy.

All right, I got to ask you the tough questions. Okay. Are you ready? I don't know. Yeah, you'll be all right. As my dad has suggested. We already asked you your high school mascot, but what was the first concert you went to? Oh, gosh. The first concert...

You know, I'm not sure if it's the first one, but it's the first one that I vividly remember. And it's funny. Do you know the band Blink-182? I do. Okay. Pier, I think it was a Pier 6 or Pier 7 pavilion in Baltimore, Maryland, I believe. Yeah. You went to a Blink-182 concert. Yes. Yeah. I was in middle school. I went with friends. And yeah, I... Your mom and dad let you go to that in middle school? They did. I think my friend's mother was with us.

But I even met the band. They were signing autographs. We got there early enough. And I just thought that was the coolest thing. I love the alternative music space. But yeah, that was the first one that I remember. All right. Blink-182. Okay. That's impressive. Bigfoot. Do you believe in them? No.

No. Is he alive? No. Daryl Bigfoot? No. You don't think he's real? You know what's funny? I'm absolutely not even curious about. You're not curious? Are you? This interview was going really well until this point. Oh, my goodness. Are you curious about Bigfoot? Oh, anything about Bigfoot, I just smile and laugh. I just think it's the greatest story. And I love that people started calling him Daryl. I just think that's the funniest thing. Maybe it's a West...

Intermountain West thing because we got a lot of national big forests and all that. But the whole idea and concept of Bigfoot just totally makes me smile. If somebody thinks they have like a show on it, and I've asked a lot of guests on the podcast, I've said, what would you ask Bigfoot if you met him? And they have to think about that. And I've thought about it too much. And I thought, yeah, you know, I would show him some videos and say, is that you? Is this one real? Do you remember this? Yeah.

You know, that kind of thing. Is there a Mrs. Bigfoot? That's so funny. Maybe I need to spend more time contemplating Bigfoot. I don't know.

Yeah, I think it's more of a West, Intermountain West. East Coast people don't think about Bigfoot as much as they should. So do you think Bigfoot is real? I'm not saying that. I'm just saying it's a funniest concept legend. They make shows about him, make movies about it. Everybody knows what he looks like. Yeah, it's true. It's like one of the most famous Americans. We don't even know if he's real.

Probably not real. Probably not. Yeah, I think I'm going to stay in the camp of probably not real.

Pineapple on pizza. Yes or no? Oh, 100%. Yes. We were rolling. You're no? The judges hate that answer. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Every time. Why would you do that? So much so that I tried to introduce it to my children and they rejected it. So I know I'm on an island. Good. Little Lydia kids. Those are good. Good answers. Maybe they have better taste than I do. Oh,

It's just, it's a good fruit. It's just not meant to be on a pizza. But what's meant to be on a pizza? Pepperoni.

But who says who? Oh, the gods of pizza. I don't know. I think I'm redefining it. The Italians, for one. The rules. This whole idea of pineapple on pizza. You don't go to Italy and Napoli and find... Hey. Okay, true. You don't see on the list. You see sardines. You see pepperoni. But you don't see...

Well, in New Jersey now where I live, we see plenty of pineapple on pizza and I'm here for it. Do you know how sadly disappointed I am? We don't know each other really well, but I'm sadly disappointed in you.

I can think of other things that I would not want on my pizza. Like never come at me with pizza with olives. Olives on pizza. Black olives? Oh, no. Oh, yes. Never, ever, ever. Oh, gross. We are not very compatible with our food, our palates. And my wife always complains. She said, you've got to get rid of your 13-year-old palate and grow up a little bit. There's other foods out there besides pizza, cheeseburgers, and, you know.

But nothing worth eating. I'm with you. I like sushi. Oh, sushi's good. I like sushi a lot. I had that last night here in New York City when I'm away from my family. There's a little place I found that I go and eat sushi. Good. There's things I like. I'm just not a big salad fan, though.

Oh, maybe. And it's supposed to be really good for me. I used to go to McDonald's. I'd order two Big Macs, not even think twice about it. Really? Oh, yeah. But now you get older and you're like, you can't do that anymore. Yeah. I mean, if I'm going to do fast food, you'll find me at Chick-fil-A. Yeah. And there's one close to Fox. Yeah, there is. Yes, there is. Do you have the app? Oh, I ordered the app. And by the time I get there, it's ready. And I turn around and walk right back to Fox. So beautiful, right? Yes. Yeah.

So, when you talk to people who see you, I mean, I asked you about what best advice you got, but what advice would you give to other people? Like if you saw a 13-year-old girl, she's trying to figure out life and growing up and who she is and where she wants to go and what she wants to do.

She sees you on television. I want to be like you. What would you tell that little girl? Well, if 13 year olds and if middle school is anything like it was when I was there, probably a lot is different now with social media and phones, but there probably a lot is the same, which is meanness. You know, people want to talk about other people or tear other people down. And I would say, you know, keep your eye on the prize, which is focus on what you can make of your life.

What about the person who's like, I don't know what I want to do. Yeah. I don't know where I fit. I don't know what I'm really good at. Like, how am I supposed to figure that out? Don't worry about it. I would say, don't worry. You don't have to know the answer to the big questions right now. Just focus on doing your best, being the best version of yourself, learning as much as you possibly can, which is such a clear, I sound like my grandmother right now, but it's

It's true. When you are young and you're in school like that, your only job should be to learn and have fun and grow. Well, you can follow your passion, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like that's interesting thing. Keep, go with it. Keep going. Totally. And that's all you have to do. The rest of it will fall into place because the beautiful thing is when you find out what you love and you find out what you're good at, that's when your confidence comes. And when you're confident about something that you can do, that's when the opportunities will start swirling that you become a magnet for

for what you are supposed to be on this planet for. And it will, the plan will just start falling into place. So you don't have to worry about the big picture stuff. It will happen for you.

Well, you got your game. You're so good at what you do professionally. I don't know. And I can tell in your heart you care about you, you know, love your husband, care about your kids. And, you know, that's that's living the American dream and living it to its fullest. So 100 percent. Congratulations. Oh, thank you. Glad you're in the Fox family. Good to spend some more time with you. Me, too. This has been great.

Can't thank you enough for joining us, hearing us out and listening a little bit about Lydia, the news and the stupid. I hope you continue to join us throughout 2025. I'd appreciate it if you could rate this podcast. That would be really helpful. And you can subscribe to it. I want to remind people you can listen ad-free with a Fox News Podcast Plus subscription on Apple Podcasts. And Amazon Prime members can listen to the show ad-free on the Amazon Music app.

Thanks for joining us. We've got some good guests coming up this year. We've got a lot of fun people on the calendar. Looking forward to it. Continue to join us. I remind you that you can go over to Fox News Podcast Network at foxnewspodcast.com. Foxnewspodcast.com. A lot of good ones out over there. And join us again or look back at all the ones, the library of stuff of people we've interviewed because there's a lot of very interesting people there.

It's going to be a great year. Tumultuous, yes. A great year, yeah. I'm as optimistic as ever. So thanks for joining us. I'm Jason Chaffetz, and this has been Jason in the House. I'm Dana Perino. This week on Perino on Politics, I'm joined by former GOP strategist and host of The Rich Zioli Show, Rich Zioli. Available now on foxnewspodcast.com or wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Must listen to podcasts from Fox News Audio.