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Unknown Speaker 0:00

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Speaker 1 2:12

Hello, good morning and welcome to very Detroit. Today is December Friday, the 21st I want to say thank you to all my listeners here in Detroit and around the globe. I also want to recognize the event we were at last night into the Light hosted by Kate Mack Roth was at the Detroit whiskey factory. And quite an event it was held during for the winter solstice which actually today is the eve of the winter solstice which will be our shortest light. And then every day going forward will be more and more light as we move forward. So folks, I want to mention some of the folks that will be on our show today. Later on in the hour, we're going to have mythical iski calling in from Washington DC from the United Macedonian diaspora. Before that, we're going to have an Azure Ray Eli I'm calling in. Also, we're going to have guests from the carpet guys calling in today as well. So just for a little opener, we're going to play a little music, just to kind of get us into the light a little bit. Thank you

Alright folks, thank you for that gypsy passion kind of wake us up here this morning on Friday, the 21st of December. Right now we have Joe Zago. From the carpet guys. Joe, are you there? Yet? How are you doing? Hey, good, Joe, thanks for calling in today, I wanted to talk a little bit with you about the carpet guys of the company you founded, how many years ago?

Unknown Speaker 6:11

Almost nine years ago,

Speaker 1 6:12

nine years ago. So what sets you in 2010. So what is remarkable to me is how you have been able to grow your company in such a short period of time? What's your secret?

Unknown Speaker 6:30

Really no secret. I took the best out of the things that I've learned from other companies that I worked at and discarded a lot of the things that I didn't really care for. As far as the growth I have the first year we're in business. We're just running it out of the basement of my buddy's house, and we use the garages as a stock room. It's funny the house is actually in foreclosure foreclosure. He was renting the house and the landlord wasn't paying the mortgage company.

Speaker 1 6:58

Oh, and so that wasn't only something

Unknown Speaker 7:01

it actually started in house. It was in foreclosure. While we were squatting in the house. It sounds embarrassing to say, but it's actually true. And we, when I first started the company, I I just I hit the pavement. I mean, I made flyers, and I went door to door, I didn't just put them on people's doors, I'd knock on the door. And I would talk to the people and say, hey, you know, you know, I been selling carpet for several years for, you know, at the time I worked for Empire Today prior to that. And another company out west called Express Home Services, express flooring. And I learned a lot from those two companies. But I when I was younger, I worked for Kirby selling vacuum cleaners. So I had the experience of going on people's people's houses that I didn't know and knocking on the door and just start stirring up conversation and talking my way into their home and, you know, finding something wrong with something they had and trying to talk them to something I had, right. And that's how it started. And you know, the first year I think we did about 300,000 in sales. And then the next year we did over a million. And then we did 3 million and 6 million 11 million and then 18 million and 20 million and then this year, we're gonna land somewhere between 22 and 24 million.

Speaker 1 8:08

Bravo for sure, in a couple of weeks. I mean, what I mean, I honestly though, let's let's let's think about this for a minute. There's a lot of different carpet stores, what sets you guys apart from how you handle your customers and how you've made that growth.

Unknown Speaker 8:24

I try to make sure that our customers are treated the same way that I would want somebody to treat my own grandmother. You know, it's not about getting the money and running and you know, a lot of a lot of sales companies, they just want to make a buck and you know, there's no service after that there's a lot of over promising and under delivering. When people call me I always answered my phone no matter what if a customer had a problem with a job. I remember the second year that I was in business we we subbed out some sand and refinish work. And we had a customer in Grosse Pointe that had an issue. And she was complaining about little bubbles in her floor and it was you know, she went on Yelp and made us have this horrible review. And I got it. Honestly, I was like 953 and I was at this lady's house by 1015 Yeah. You're like, wait a minute boxers ready to go to bed. It's just a matter of doing what other people aren't willing to do. Right? That's really all it is because most people there hate to say it but most a lot of business owners you know, they worked their butts off to get to a point then they become lazy. Once they reach their comfortability level, you know, and, you know, I

Speaker 1 9:27

wonder what's the difference? I mean, like, what, what happened in your life that shifted that thought for you?

Unknown Speaker 9:35

You know, I lost a lot in my life. I remember, I had a pool in this house that I lived in in St. Clair Shores back. When I was want to say I was probably 31 or 32. And I'm in the floating in a pool, saying man by the time I'm 40 My house is gonna be paid off. And I get this nice car. I have this ingrown pool. I've got life, you know, but you know, I've got life. This is great and You know, a couple years later, I went bankrupt. And I got I was careless and I was driving under the influence of alcohol, I blew a point oh eight, the limits point oh, eight I didn't feel like I was drunk, but I was I was drunk. That's the law and I and I will wind up losing my license. So if I lose, I lost my license. And the job that I had wouldn't keep me because of the liability factor of having a DUI. Sure, you know, I here I am, you know, just a few months prior thinking, Man, I have life, you know, in the palm of my hand. And now I lost my house, you know, I, you know, I have the apartment that I had also that I was renting in Arizona, I lost that I lost my job, my car got repoed, I went through a bankruptcy had nothing. Wow. And and I didn't want to

Speaker 1 10:39

nine years ago, again, just nine years ago,

Unknown Speaker 10:41

I didn't want to lose again. And I promised myself that no matter what. And there was another situation in my life, you know, and I was, I was engaged to a couple girls in my life. And the second one I was engaged to, in 2006 were together for three years, broke up for a year got back together for two years. And we were engaged and she got pregnant. And we both wanted to have a child. And, and about a week before the end of May of 2006. She says she wanted to abort the child. And I tried everything I could to try to talk her out of it. And every sales technique I could, but he's one years old, you'll you'll be thanking me for talking about I tried everything, and I couldn't talk her out of it. And then we you know, I couldn't we couldn't look at each other the same after she boarded the child. And I broke up with her a couple months after that. And she moved back to Chicago. And within just a few months she gets becomes pregnant by somebody else who at the time was married and had a child with somebody else. And she kept that baby. So that really that was back in 2006. And for the next several years, I really beat myself up over the fact that maybe I just wasn't mad enough. Maybe I wasn't secure enough. Maybe I wasn't consistent enough, you know. And so I wanted to make sure that, you know, when I hit rock bottom that when I started to build that foundation the next time around, I want to make sure I did a solid. Yeah. And I want to I didn't want to be in a situation where where it wasn't good enough.

Speaker 1 12:03

Well, you're definitely man enough now. Joe, you've really changed up. Really the marketplace here in Detroit. I mean, as far as carpet goes and your enthusiasm about what you do your passion, it shows 855 The carpet guys, right? 8554 my guys my way? Yeah, well, no 8554 My guys, well, I wish you the best of luck. I think you've done a great job, Joe.

Unknown Speaker 12:29

It's really been a joint effort. I've got a staff of 66 employees that are in my office every day and another 80 to 90 contractors between our sales and installation departments. And these people put their heart and soul so it's not me. It's having a good team of people that I work with every single day who are just as passionate as I am. And you know, really that's the driving force. It's not really me. You know, there's no way we could, you know, make the name that we have for ourselves if it wasn't for the team that I have.

Speaker 1 12:55

Well, great work of keeping your team together and coaching that team and putting it all together and being very Detroit. I think you're exactly what a Detroiter is like, good job, my man. Thank you for calling. I appreciate you and have a happy holiday here coming up. I wish everyone the same thing. Take care, Joe. Thanks for the call. Appreciate it. Thank you. You bet. Bye. Bye. All right. Um, thank you Joel from the carpet guys. Next, we have a visual artist. Her name is Nadia Ray. Ilan Naz. Ray, are you there? Yes. Hi. How are you? Hi. Yeah, good. How are you doing today? I'm doing pretty good. Good. Good. So um, tell me a little bit. You prefer to be called? Just Ray just easier, right? So Ray, tell us a little bit about your visual art artistry. Tell us a little bit about what you do.

Unknown Speaker 13:52

already. So I started off with custom paintings that do clothing and 90s visual, like literally 90s cartoon is my thing. So started with pocket in 2016 launched about in my bedroom. It really started off as a broke college student not knowing exactly what I wanted to do. And a lot of people can relate to that.

Speaker 1 14:19

Right? What what I mean, what drives an artist to do what they do?

Unknown Speaker 14:25

A lot of things primarily, like left pocket, it started off with the passion, you know, like I had fall into a deep point, then inspiration, all of a sudden came back. I just started painting all over again. I fell in love with art again and people wanted to buy my art. It kind of transformed from there.

Speaker 1 14:47

So I mean, you do all kinds of work, right? I mean, you do murals.

Unknown Speaker 14:51

Yeah, do murals, body paint custom clothing. Just recently got into tattooing. So that was pretty

Speaker 1 15:01

He said experience. Absolutely. I mean, so is there some underlying message that lent pocket? Does it mean something to you to others? What does it stand for?

Unknown Speaker 15:14

Okay, so as you seen the logo has $1 Say Euro, coins and peace. So LINPACK is pretty much just whatever you reach into your pockets at the time. That's what that's what kind of person you are. So whether you have a pocket full of money, or nothing but Lent and your peace of mind, you know,

Speaker 1 15:39

I gotcha. Yeah. So where were some of the different places that you have performed or have done some of your work? Right.

Unknown Speaker 15:47

Most recently, I've done some work at the changing gallery. The creative art center and Piatt has some features and dirty show at the Russell industrial. So just kind of moving around.

Speaker 1 16:01

Right? What are, look when you're doing live art? For example? What are some of the challenges when you're doing live art? So you're working on people, you're doing body artwork?

Unknown Speaker 16:13

Yeah. The most challenging thing is not not even the model, per se. It's just the crowd. You don't know how people are looking at you. You're basically on stage performing your art, you know?

Speaker 1 16:27

I mean, you're doing it live. And then are you feeding off the audience in any way? Or how?

Unknown Speaker 16:32

Yeah, definitely. It's definitely an environmental space you're in when your body paying the crowds moving about, you know, you have your breathing Canvas in front of you, he just, he just live off.

Speaker 1 16:47

Right? Do you go in with a like, I'm gonna do this, this, this and this, as far as my,

Unknown Speaker 16:54

um, sometimes is based off of the theme of the event, but most time is just freestyle vision. So a lot of abstract or when it comes to my body fan.

Speaker 1 17:04

Um, when it comes to your clothing, like what, what inspires you to do different clothing like this?

Unknown Speaker 17:11

Um, 90s cartoons, a lot of my clothing. I have a pair of Timberland boots with a hey, Arnold painted on own. That was one of my earlier pieces. And then I just started, take one day picked up a jacket and a denim vest and was like, Okay, I'm gonna paint on it.

Speaker 1 17:30

And then people started to enjoy it like it and wanted to make Have you made.

Unknown Speaker 17:37

Yeah, just recently, I did a chef's apron for a guy in New York. His name is Travis Maxwell. He is culinary art students. And he wanted a lit pocket logo on his chef apron that symbolized him so he had a chef's apron. Well, I mean, a chef's knife, he had DJ headphones, and then just started lot of stuff that represented him.

Speaker 1 18:03

And then you'll do this type of custom work for whoever reaches out to you. How can people find you?

Unknown Speaker 18:11

Primarily I am on Instagram at lamp pocket, just pretty basic, like pocket lamp backwards, if you can remember that. Facebook, you know, I'm pretty responsive to emails and instant messages, things like that.

Speaker 1 18:26

Um, where do you see your brand going forward? I mean, what do you what do you want to do with it? Where do you want to take it?

Unknown Speaker 18:33

2019 I intend on doing a whole lot of traveling, trying to get the brand in more, more major cities like I started off here in Detroit. And, you know, the Chicago's and New York's Dallas's and Los Angeles and all that. So I'm just trying to get out.

Speaker 1 18:50

Right? So how are you reaching out here in Detroit? I mean, how are you getting your stuff out?

Unknown Speaker 18:58

Literally make a post. See what my friends are up to? Because I have a lot of Archie friends. They do our shows in Detroit. So just ask, ask around and see what's out there.

Speaker 1 19:11

You're plugging you're plugged into the scene and enjoy art shows and are being invited all over and for different things. Yes. Um, let me ask you, where do you get some of your inspiration from your artwork? Like some of the stuff that I saw there was a big bad wolf. And there was some other stuff. I mean, where does that come from?

Unknown Speaker 19:32

Childhood inspiration. Like I said, I was primarily when not primarily but generally I grew up as an only child. So cartoons and art was my main focus. Literally started out with Blue's Clues, whatever Steve's you, that's how it came about, right? Eventually, I was drawn on the walls getting in trouble and my parents actually looked at him was like, wow, that that's actually something so

Speaker 1 20:00

Then then they then you follow that dream a little bit and

Unknown Speaker 20:05

yeah, get in trouble for drawing on my homework in school, right dragon kid, you know, like, it's really just drawing,

Speaker 1 20:13

it's great to hear that passion for artwork. You know, I think our city is a lot of the rejuvenation is because of the artists in our city. And I think that, you know, we always have to keep keep an eye on art, because it's such a gift to society when when folks make art, and they put their passion behind it. So

Unknown Speaker 20:37

right and it's basically as a gift to yourself, you're freeing yourself and putting it on paper rather than just holding it and you know, right on.

Speaker 1 20:46

So I think that every artist should keep on plugging away and doing and following their passion. And you and keep on going with it. So thank you for the call and we're gonna go to a little musical break here in a second. Um, you have a great day, nausea. Ilan, you can find her. You bet and you can find her at at lint pocket on Instagram. Yes. All right. Talk to you soon. Thank you.

Unknown Speaker 21:16

Thank you have a great day.

Speaker 1 25:08

Hello, thank you gypsy passion for a little inspirational music on next up, we have metal Cholesky calling in from UMD United Macedonian dashboard from Washington, DC. Metal. Are you there?

Unknown Speaker 25:24

Yes. Dontre Hello, how are you?

Speaker 1 25:27

Excellent. Thank you for calling in all the way from DC. I wanted to start our conversation a little bit. You are the founder and the president of United Macedonian, Macedonian diasporic, right. Yes. What inspired you to create the organization?

Unknown Speaker 25:49

Well, I came down to Washington in 2003 years studying at American University at the time and interning at a think tank. And there's a lot of voices of other countries in Washington, but none for Macedonia. And so a bunch of my friends and I got together at a Starbucks, believe it or not, and brainstorm then founded what would become the United Macedonian diaspora, which is actually our goal. And that's to unite people of Macedonian heritage, not just here in America, but also throughout the world.

Speaker 1 26:33

That's a that's an interesting reason. But it was really inspired, maybe more. So was it inspired by a certain cause? That was happening around the world more so than just a voice?

Unknown Speaker 26:49

Yeah, I mean, yeah, of course, there's, you know, one of the, you know, every every day in Washington, there's something going on. And not just within within our affairs, but you know, security and stability and our interests and other parts of the world. And, you know, Macedonia, unfortunately, for over a century has been, you know, butchered by many of its neighbors claiming its name, its history, its identity, its language, its church, its, you know, its land, everything. And there were, you know, genocidal ethnic cleansing acts committed against Macedonians during the Balkan wars and World War One World War Two, the Greek civil war, and that's how a lot of Macedonians like my family, and perhaps yours and others. And actually, many Macedonians in the Detroit greater Detroit area came over as a result of many of those problems. And so, we wanted to make sure that Macedonians here and back home have a voice, a professional voice, a persistent voice, making sure that you know, Americans understand why it's so important to support Macedonia and the Macedonian people and their right to self determination and their right to call themselves as Macedonian and Macedonians

Speaker 1 28:27

um, interestingly enough, like the reason we wanted to have you on our show today is we're is the largest Macedonian population in America.

Unknown Speaker 28:38

Well, believe it or not, it is in Michigan. They estimate somewhere over 100,000 Macedonians reside in the in Michigan and what's great is that we've always had a base in in Michigan, believe it or not as UMD and we have a board member beside of their George Peters, we have a Michigan charity on the husky and they've been phenomenal to work with and they've actually been working with a lot of the Macedonian Orthodox Church communities and Orthodox church communities that Macedonians attend, and making sure that their voices are heard in the broader you know, Macedonian community and why Michigan plays such a huge role and I have to say as a result of many of the Macedonians in Michigan you know, huge fan of Michigan of Detroit have been numerous times Little Caesars Redwings Tiger is

Speaker 1 29:39

almost like your second city here. I see you so much in

Unknown Speaker 29:42

Exactly. Exactly. I love coming out to Detroit and you know what I'm kudos to everything that, you know, you and others are doing to promote Detroit and what Detroit has to offer and it has a lot to offer to To not only Michigan but to American culture.

Speaker 1 30:03

Yeah. And it's interesting because our show here is called very Detroit for a reason. And we are all are looking out for the diversity of our city. And we believe as our brand, that diversity creates this unique power that we have here in this city, part of that being the Macedonians that came over all of the different immigrants that have fed our engine here in Detroit, to make those cars to feed our economy to push that to the next level. You know, we're all a united force here as a city. And I just want to make sure that our diversity is respected as much as we can, you know, be aware of it. That brings us to this current topic that I was made aware of. Tell me a little bit about what has recently happened in Macedonia between the agreement that was reached between the Macedonian Prime Minister and the Greek Prime Minister.

Unknown Speaker 31:08

Yeah, so there's been a Macedonian name dispute so called Macedonia named dispute since the early 90s. And Macedonia declared independence in 91. Greece put an economic embargo on Macedonia lasting for three years draining Macedonia's entire economy and about 70% unemployment rate at the time, and now it's about 28. So you can imagine how long it's taken Macedonian society to rebuild after that drastic economic embargo. And Macedonia was forced to join the UN, under the name The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and I cringe, you know, the thought of having any other name button Macedonia, right. And so they've both governments have been trying to resolve this issue for for years, and Macedonia has been knocking on the door of NATO membership for about 1011 years now. And Greece blocked Macedonia from joining NATO in 2008. Macedonia brought Greece to the International Court of Justice. Macedonia won that case, unfortunately, there's no mechanisms to keep Greece accountable, and nobody bothered to, to say anything. And so Greece was, you know, left to slide on this and Macedonia suffers because it, it needs to do this according to Greece's demands, and I don't know if you know, and your audience, NATO works by consensus. And so if one country says no, you can't join, and even though NATO is a US led Alliance, America, unfortunately, you know, you know, they try to convince their allies and partners, but it's very difficult and, and, and Greece has been very difficult to budge on this issue. And so, back in June, after some debates at the UN and discussions and whatnot, Macedonia, the leadership currently in Macedonia agreed to rename the country to Republic of North Macedonia and put it up by in a referendum among the people. And in order for a referendum to be successful. You need a 50% turnout. Well, interestingly enough, the referendum question was not phrased. Are you for changing Macedonia's name to Republic of North Macedonia to join, you know, NATO? The question was, are you for NATO and EU membership agreeing to the solution between Macedonia and Greece? So people are kind of misled with the question. And interestingly enough, we had a gala in Detroit in September, right before the referendum, and Macedonia's president came out, came out to that and use that as a platform to say that he would boycott the referendum and something that the Macedonian community worldwide was encouraging. And we're glad that he decided that but the referendum actually did for a fail 38% turned out. So that's, you know, 1.2 million people did not so in the referendum, and since then the Macedonian government doesn't listen to what's going on. And so they've been bulldozing changes to Macedonia's constitution, all that and, you know, at the demise of democracy and rule of law and and all that. And what's frustrating is that this is being sanctioned by the current Trump administration as well as European leaders because what they're trying to do, you know, they could probably care less about the issue. They're just like, you know, resolve it. We don't care how you resolve it. And we just want this offer backs. We don't want to focus on it. And yes, as an American, I agree we don't want this. We have too many other priorities to focus on. But then aren't we the forefront of democracy? Aren't we at the forefront of human rights worldwide? And if we allow Greece to just, you know, dictate what another country's name should be? And yet, there's no guarantee Macedonia is going to be joined, joined into NATO and EU and then, funnily enough, earlier this week, the noble one of the former Nobel Peace Prize winners from Tunisia decided, well, she's going to nominate the current prime minister of Macedonia and Greece for a Nobel Peace Prize, which was met with laughter through how many media outlets and

Speaker 1 35:51

reality but it's a reality i I've read it over and over again, which is so confusing to me. Because A, there hasn't been peace created. You're taking the name of this people this ability to self determination, and awarding something that isn't even happened yet. How can that even be?

Unknown Speaker 36:24

You know, it's, it's, you know, I, first of all, I mean, we're not, yes, the Greeks have been blocking our paths and all that stuff. But we're not, you know, physically at war. Yes, we're at a diplomatic corps. Yes, there's an information war. You know, Greeks are various no phobic on this, they have their own Macedonian minority that they've been discriminating against. So this is a wider, wider implications. And with disagreement, what Greece is trying to do is they're trying to whitewash 100 years of genocide, ethnic cleansing, cultural discrimination and whatnot against the Macedonian people. And that's just not acceptable. When this Nobel Peace Prize will sanction that as well, they will then basically they're they're acquiescing. And they're there they are, they're a party to Greece's, you know, 100 years of history against the Macedonian people.

Speaker 1 37:22

So how does that work as an American? How can I support this? Because what we're what we're saying to these Macedonian people is that you're not going to be able to call yourself what you have been calling yourself for 1000s of years, how is that democratic?

Unknown Speaker 37:40

It's a nod. And you know what I mean, I remember during the campaign season, at that time, you know, candidate Donald Trump had said, We will not meddle in the internal affairs of other countries. And so, you know, the Trump administration recognizing this Prespa agreement between Greece and Macedonia, and then actually pushing this forward, it goes against the very principles, one of what President Elect or the candidate Donald Trump at the time stated and what his goals are for American administration, but also goes against the very American values. I mean, we've been the protectors of democracy and freedoms and human rights around the world. And if we're going to pick and choose where we tackle human rights issues, and you know, because it suits our, you know, the given agenda at the time, you know, so that's where I think, you know, we as an America as Americans can definitely, you know, you push the Trump administration to I think Congress can play a bigger role in this issue by really standing up and saying enough is enough. And calling on NATO partners to say enough is enough, like Germany, like France and other countries. Well, there's,

Speaker 1 39:08

I think there's a long standing history of, like you said earlier is a the country was cut up into sections, then there's been questions of its religion, being connected to the Orthodox Church, and then its culture. From all sides. We've been as as, as a people been really kind of, like you said, kind of butchered it up and everything else. Where do we go now?

Unknown Speaker 39:36

Well, what I'm what I'm optimistic about is one, you know, I see the Macedonian communities worldwide, and they're becoming more and more united around this. I mean, I saw in Detroit, you know, our three church communities that you know, are not even within, you know, a 50 mile radius coming together. and honoring the Macedonian president, a local business woman, Evelyn Denio. And two members of Congress, Paul Mitchell and Debbie Dingell, who are of opposite sides of the spectrum, right. But these two members of Congress are supporting the Macedonian American community and Macedonia's right to self determination, which, you know, I'm glad that we have friends like them. And I hope to see more. And I think that we have to constantly keep pushing, but I think it's important and that's why I'm so glad that you brought me on your radio show. Our honor, thank you educate thank you and educate non Macedonians of why this is so important, why they should care. Yes, there's so many other issues in the world to care about. Yes, Macedonia is a small country, FISA for moms, but it's the birthplace of Alexander the Great the birthplace of Mother Teresa. We have beautiful, you know, landscape, it's a crossroads in north, south east west, and, you know, we can't allow it to go into disarray, just because one country seeks to block, you know, its path in NATO and EU and that sooner or later, people are going to start asking questions. Well, why? Why should we, you know, is this too big of a price to pay? Just to join NATO and the EU with no, well, surest assurance?

Speaker 1 41:30

The other thing that's confusing to me, um, you have countries pulling out of the EU, like England, and there's obviously some some issues within the EU. Why? What are we going to gain? What would Macedonia what would America gain by?

Unknown Speaker 41:50

Well, the EU? It Well, obviously, the EU is America's number one trading partner and the UK, and obviously, the US UK have a special relationship, you know, spanning for 200 plus years, right. However, you know, the EU works in favor of the bigger countries and the smaller countries, unfortunately. You know, yes, they are equal on the table, perhaps, but we know how, you know, interests work, and it suits those like Germany and France, and it seemed like it wasn't suiting UK. And so the people just decided that it's time to, to leave. I think one of the bigger problems of the EU and long term is the fact that they have been putting kind of, you know, the, the cap on the bottle for such a long time on so many problems, migration issues, economic issues, poverty, you know, whatnot, that people are just becoming more and more frustrated. And that's why you're seeing a rise of nationalism, literally, to the point of, you know, pre World War Two, to a certain extent in some countries, because they're saying, Well, yes, we thought that the European project is going to work, but it seems like it's it's not, and America's goal has always been a Europe whole free and at peace. And so, you know, it's not clearly is not happening. We have so many problems in Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe, and then obviously, with Russia, you know, the Ukraine, Georgia, you know, Kosovo, Serbia now, the whole entire goal of the EU to have this land swap between Serbia and Kosovo, which will, you know, be very, very bad for the region, because if you start dividing lands or giving lands to other people or taking away lands from people, then you're going to create a mess for other countries like Macedonia, like Bosnia and other countries that have minorities in their lands.

Speaker 1 44:02

Well, um, the, the interesting fact is with those economic embargoes, and not being allowed to trade as a free country for all these years, it's it's caused economic hardship. And interestingly enough, when you squeeze somebody economically, I think they're people just want to eat, they just want to live they just want to, but I think more than that, let's say if I'm from Macedonia, what do I say now? If we change our name, I'm, I'm what? What am I?

Unknown Speaker 44:39

Well, you know, what I've been noticing on a lot of media outlets, the Twittersphere social media, other websites, they're starting to refer to us as North Macedonians. And so you know, it's, it's really, it's gonna be a very negative thing. I get a trend moving forward because I'm not in North Macedonia, and I'm a Macedonian, and it's my right to call myself as Macedonian. And so, you know, other countries now and others that are going to start referring to us, I mean, it's going to become even more and more difficult what I think is, you know, if it should this happen, you know, and it goes through eventually, despite, you know, the the serious concerns on, you know, democracy, rule of law, and human rights, then the Macedonian people, you know, really have a decision to make, and obviously, this government and current government in Macedonia is going to face some problems in the next elections, but then, you know, who comes into power? And that's the problem is that, you know, you have to come to, you know, enough is enough. I think it's, that's, that's the point. I mean, back in the day, we would encourage, and we still encourage, you know, don't negotiate your name. And unfortunately, we were put on this table with Greece back in 95, you know, saying that, you have to resolve your differences with your neighbors, yet, we're not the cause of those problems. You know, we, we've existed for centuries, I'm sorry that you don't agree that I'm a Macedonian, or that my homeland should be called Macedonian or Macedonia. And that's why so many people came to the United States, and thanks to the United States, you know, for welcoming so many, you know, hundreds of 1000s of Macedonians over the years. You know, and we were very fortunate, but we want to see America, stand up for those values, and and make sure that this does not happen. And let's hope it doesn't happen. I don't like to talk about scenario, should it happen, because my goal isn't that it doesn't happen. But we'll find out over the next course of the next three, four weeks.

Speaker 1 46:58

Well, thank you for trying to keep self determination at the forefront of the world, as far as this is concerned, are the Macedonian people and their right to exist? You know, another thing I just wanted to mention. You know, one of the largest business owners here in Detroit, is of Macedonian descent. I mean, those are some of the things that Little Caesars owner Mike Ilitch and their organization, have been a part of the Macedonian community here in Detroit. For so yeah,

Unknown Speaker 47:35

definitely. I mean, you know, God, God bless his soul and Australia, and Mrs. village who, you know, our role models for not only the Macedonian community, but also the the American dream. And right now what Chris Ilitch their son is doing, you know, the rebuilding and helping to rebuild Detroit and, you know, the very fabric of

Speaker 1 47:58

they were there, they were there in Detroit before and, and there along the way, and really were a big part of this. So I think going full circle, I just want to thank you mental for calling into our show. Our audience, I want you to look at how can someone get awarded a Nobel Peace Prize when there was there wasn't a war, and then to use a model that eliminates a person's right for self determination? doesn't really make sense to me.

Unknown Speaker 48:31

Man, I agree. Thank you, Don Joe, and I'm looking forward to very DC coming to Washington very soon.

Speaker 1 48:37

Absolutely. Thank you, sir. And we will talk to you again shortly. In another time. Take care of metal definitely. Bye bye now. Bye now. All right, thank you from DC. Next up, we have Stephanie from neki. Butter. Hello, Stephanie. Are you there?

Unknown Speaker 48:55

Yeah, I'm here. Good morning.

Speaker 1 48:57

Good morning. How are you today?

Unknown Speaker 48:59

I'm doing awesome. How are you guys?

Speaker 1 49:00

Oh, great. So are you into the light. Now after the event last night.

Unknown Speaker 49:05

I planted my seeds in the darkness. And I'm ready to let the light grow that seed. Excellent. Excellent. Love it. Yeah. It was a great time last night.

Speaker 1 49:13

Yeah. Thanks, again, Kate Makarov for putting on the event into the light. Um, so tell us a little bit about what neki butter is.

Unknown Speaker 49:23

So for those who don't know, make you butter. We call make you butter spreads with benefits? Because she's good. I like that. Yeah. So we call our spreads spreads benefits because each nut butter spread has held specific benefits. It's there, you know, our first debut product making butter IQ is a peanut butter, cacao raw spread that has MCT oil at it as well as 10 grams of plant based protein.

Speaker 1 49:58

What is what is it What is that oil and what does it do? Could you tell our listeners?

Unknown Speaker 50:03

Absolutely. So MCT stands for medium chain triglycerides. Now medium chain triglyceride oil is derived from coconut oil. So everything has short, medium, long fatty acid chains. This is just the medium chain. Essentially, it is a highly concentrated fat that our brains can use as energy. The second we start eating it, it gets absorbed to the bloodstream rather than having to be digested. So essentially, it just gives our brains a boost of power instant as soon as we need it. Yeah. Wow. Clinical trials where doctors are using MCT oil with Alzheimer's patients and the effects of their Alzheimer's are being reduced through the implementation of MCT oil. Oh, and you can buy MCT oil just on the shelf. They sell it at Whole Foods as a whole really healthy stores. It's honestly it's a great product just to have a home cook with or to take a shot of each morning

Speaker 1 51:06

MCT oil product Okay, so how big are is your basic product? What does what does it look like for our listeners.

Unknown Speaker 51:15

So making butter IQ comes in a five inch pouch by by two inch pouch

Speaker 1 51:21

so it's on the go kind of thing. It is it's like

Unknown Speaker 51:25

it's only 1.16 ounces. So it's kind of just like a quick shot of nut butter. You can just have one single serving you can have it on the go. People like the parent was toast oatmeal put into their smoothies we even have Detroit foundation hotel who seems a packet of neki butter into their neki butter Lasha if people can get their you know they're 10 grams of protein as well as their shot of MCT oil and chocolate and peanut butter. Right and they're like say that was yeah,

Speaker 1 51:58

nice to see just drink your your healthiness and exactly. So you got me started as a Detroit bass handcrank Hamtramck based company, right? Where do you make your product?

Unknown Speaker 52:11

So yeah, so we started making the product at revolver in Hamtramck and which is a you know, the restaurant where chefs are revolved in and out. So set menu. It's kind of just like a communal eating space. It's a really cool spot.

Speaker 1 52:28

Well, yeah, it's like special for certain chefs that come in from different cities even and whatnot. Want to debut a night?

Unknown Speaker 52:35

Yeah, they shine spotlights on a Detroit chef.

Speaker 1 52:39

Oh, love the name. Yeah, the name love the kitchen. I was there. I visited with you folks.

Unknown Speaker 52:44

That's right. That's where we first met. Yeah. So we were starting to produce that revolver. And we just made a move to Nash pit Detroit, which is also in Hamtramck. So essentially, we just packed up our, you know, big piston filler and our big mixer, and we just went down the street and moved into Nashville. We love the team over there, Karen, from Nashville. It is just an amazing woman. And she's really got a great thing going on over there. And it's 100% vegan vegetarian restaurant, so that aligns perfectly with our products, which is also vegan.

Speaker 1 53:17

Yeah. Yeah, that's perfect. That's a perfect match. I I think what you're doing and what the product stands for, and the passion behind it with your founder, Evan, that I've met multiple times. And that that passion just kind of spreads everywhere. When when you when you meet someone from your team, which kudos to you guys for believing in your product and having that passion to drive it. How many states are you guys in now?

Unknown Speaker 53:48

So we are officially in four states? Probably our Thank you. We're in Hawaii, nice in Tennessee, in New York, and in Michigan, which is where you'll find most of the products in the Detroit area. Yeah, it's their market every Saturday and now every Sunday. Okay, so any markets going?

Speaker 1 54:10

Alright, so they can get to you at Eastern Market, pick up some Nike butter. Try it taste it at the Eastern Market every Saturday and Sunday.

Unknown Speaker 54:21

So they did the holiday markets. This past week. The tech couple weeks. Yeah, they did it Tuesdays and Saturday and Sunday. Okay. But Saturday Eastern Market is guaranteed. All year round. Right. You'll find all your favorite Detroit vendors, including Nikki butter.

Speaker 1 54:37

Good, good. And yeah, I recommend checking it out. Lots of lots of great folks there. And Stephanie, thank you for calling in and letting our listeners know about neki butter, and I'm really proud of where you guys have taken it so far.

Unknown Speaker 54:52

Thank you so much. Yeah, we're glad to call you part of the tribe.

Speaker 1 54:55

You got the tribe. All right. Yeah. No. All right. We'll see you thank you stuff. All right. Then you bet. Next up, we have the wizard. Hello, wizard. Hey, being how you doing? Excellent, excellent. How are you today?

Unknown Speaker 55:10

Oh, doing all right, good little bit stuff

Speaker 1 55:14

to be expected. I love ending our show here with wizards wisdom. Tell me your wisdom for the week wizard.

Unknown Speaker 55:26

I appreciate being able to share. Last week we talked a little bit about working within your circle of influence. This week, I just want to talk a little bit about working within your circle, or Locus of Control, which is recognizing what you have control over and what you don't. And most people spend their entire lives trying to grasp control of things that they'll never have control over. And but the things that they do actually have control over run wild. And most of the things that you have control over has to do with you, and have to deal with your internal state, and how you're choosing to interpret the things that are happening to you. And so as you learn how to take control, the things that you actually have control over is a very empowering thing. Because then you actually see the results of what you're doing when you're hitting your head against the wall, and trying to control things that are going to be out of your control, frustrating. You're only gonna frustrate yourself as that's what you're destined for.

Speaker 1 56:31

So, for our audience, what, how could they test what they have control over or question themselves.

Unknown Speaker 56:42

I think the thing to realize is that you can't control the things that happen to you, you can't control people outside of yourself, as much as it seems like you can. Anything that lies with outside of yourself generally is outside of your circle of control. And, in my opinion, was better to kind of just ride with it and try to force it to be as you want to be uncertain. So I guess the wisdom here is, you know, learning to appreciate things as they are. Is, is the core of being able to appreciate this because when you're appreciating things as are people as is, then you're not trying to make them how you want it to be to make yourself happy. You're just happy with the way things are. Does that make sense? It's kind of a switch around the way of looking at it, and then

Speaker 1 57:43

And just to reiterate, it's about like, really following your own personal intentions and knowing that that's where what you have control over is yourself and how you act in this world. Thank you so much wizard. For those pieces of wisdom. We appreciate it.

Unknown Speaker 58:02

Thank you. Thank you appreciate you. Alright,

Speaker 1 58:04

take care. Next, I just wanted to shout out really quickly to our friends, M dash 60 nine.com products for being on our show and being a supporter. Also teasers boutique avenue of fashion Thank you cars owes over on avenue of fashion ngModel dress Henry the Hatter and everyone else that's reached out to us and being a part of our show. Thank you for listening. We'll see you next week very Detroit God God man times shy No sir.

Unknown Speaker 59:32

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