Shownotes
On this week's Five Random Questions, Elsie Escobar, podcaster, community builder, advocate, and mentor, talks about missing the mom factor, the origins of excitement, a caffeinated ritual, and more. Let's jump in!
Answering the questions this week: Elsie Escobar
Elsie Escobar is a transformative force in podcasting, with over 18 years of experience blending innovation, advocacy, and community building. As the first Latina inducted into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame, she amplifies diverse voices and empowers independent creators. As Director of Content & Community at Libsyn, Elsie leads initiatives that foster connection and education, including creating and co-hosting The Feed: The Official Libsyn Podcast. Elsie works with podcasters at all stages, from new creators to seasoned professionals aligning with their values. She champions inclusivity through collaborations & support for BIPOC Podcast Creators, Afros & Audio, and Edison Research. Through her mentorship program, The E-League, Elsie helps podcasters achieve sustainable growth. Co-founder of She Podcasts, she created a safe, impactful space & stepped down from leadership in Jan 2024
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Transcripts
I love my children. I, you know, hang out with them. I mean, we are a family. I'm their mom, I mom them, I parent them.
But I don't, I don't wear my mother as a thing that I identify with first. And in the area where I live, I do feel there are a lot more moms that are very mom focused and I just don't.
Danny:Hi, and welcome to Five Random Questions, the show where every question is an adventure. I'm your host Danny Brown, and each week I'll be asking my guests five questions created by a random question generator.
The guest has no idea what the questions are and neither do I, which means this could go either way. So sit back, relax, and let's dive into this week's episode. Today's guest is Elsie Escobar.
Elsie has over eighteen years of experience blending innovation, advocacy and community building. As the first Latina inducted into the Academy of Podcasters Hall of Fame, she amplifies diverse voices and empowers independent creators.
She's the director of content and community at Libsyn, where she fosters connection and education for their podcasters and also co hosts The Feed, the official Libsyn podcast.
She champions inclusivity through collaborations and support for bipoc podcast creators, Afros in Audio, and Edison Research, and her mentorship program, the E-league, helps podcasters achieve sustainable growth. So, Elsie, welcome to Five Random Questions.
Elsie:I'm so happy to be here. Thank you so much.
Danny:You're very welcome. And that's quite the background. I mean, obviously you've been in the space a while.
You're One of the OGs, along with, you know, I think of like Rob Greenlee for example, you know, one of the OGs. You must have seen a lot of changes in the space over that time. What's the one biggest one do you think? For you anyway?
Elsie:For me, I think that I actually just commented on this, thinking back that folks, that there's another, has been another inflection point as of twenty twenty and that it seems like prior to twenty twenty there seems to be people not paying attention to what happened before that. The focus in podcasting is now from whatever happened from twenty twenty until now. It's as if the since two thousand and five to twenty twenty did not exist. So it's very curious to me.
Danny:Well, it always reminds me of, I'm from the UK originally. I now live in Canada. So my big sport, in a fan of sport anyway, is football or soccer for North Americans.
And in England there's the Premier League or Premier League, which is the top division for soccer, but according to a lot of TV companies, that's the only time thing. You should be looking at everything that happened before the Premier League came out, which was nineteen ninety two, if I recall, all of that history is gone.
Nobody cares about that.
And it sounds, you know, similar to podcasting, where since obviously there was a lot of interest because of the pandemic, a lot of money thrown into the industry in twenty twenty and beyond, nothing else, and all the pioneering work that went on before that, it sort of been given the old heave ho, you know, if we let it become like that, which is like you say, it's interesting to see how that's, you know, taking shape.
Elsie:Yeah, it is. It's both kind of astounding and at the same exciting. So it's sort of shocking. And at the same time, I see it that we're all beginning anew, right?
So I see that all of us are right around the same as we begin, as we continue onward. But there are times when I get frustrated, when I think about all of the legacy that is constantly overlooked. It's completely erased.
Nobody talks about it. It's all a whole new conversation. And that's got me having some very.
Danny:Big thoughts, which I know you've been sharing and I recommend anybody to follow you for that. And I would imagine as well, listeners of this podcast may not know about you, that one of your background is in yoga.
You were a yoga teacher or are, a yoga teacher still.
And I would imagine the like, the calmness and the zenness, but also the like, the dedication and, you know, stuff like that, that that must help you when you come up against really, you know, annoying things or, you know, industry things that just would make others pull their hair out.
I mean, obviously we mentioned that you were the first Latina podcaster inducted into the podcast hall of fame and there's still a of, you know, male oriented or male skewed tech bros, if you like, or podcast pros that I'm sure you must come up against either events or online, et cetera. So how does yoga help you prepare for that kind of environment and the challenges you face there?
Elsie:I think that one thing that I noticed across my studies is that the same thing holds true all in everything that we do.
And doing my very best to find my foundation, which is the key to a lot of any kind of teaching, specifically within the yoga community or anything that has to do with a lot, particularly Eastern philosophy, is about finding that foundation, being able to understand what ground feels like underneath your feet, both physically as it is, right touching the earth, and also metaphorically, what is your foundation? Who are you at your core? And that work of foundation is pivotal in being able to navigate whatever comes first or whatever is thrown at me.
Because if we start to respond to the things that are the farthest away from the foundation, then we lose the foundation. And there is that sense of possibly being able to break. Right?
And you see it a lot in nature, especially with the hurricane just hit western North Carolina, which is an area where I live.
And I think the most astounding part of what I saw is that the amount of water that it got, it soaked into the earth destabilized these beautiful, strong, healthy trees, and they just fell. They just fell in.
You would have never in a million years thought that these trees would fall, not break, but come up from the earth, roots and all, and just fall over. It was amazing.
And that is really just a testament to having your foundation must up and destroy or destroyed in some way can really destroy giant things, right? So I always try to think very much, how do I keep myself grounded? Where who am I? How do I stay true to who I am? How do I move from that space?
And so I tend to love to respond when that is closest to my base versus something that's closest to the top part that's easily shaken, easily let go of. Right. Branches might fall off, that's fine. But that's not really messing with my core.
Danny:I did see some videos from that storm a few months back, and I was, as you mentioned, I was astounded at big, huge, massive oak trees and big, you know, century old trees just being uplifted, roots and all coming straight out of the ground. It was almost like a Lord of the Rings thing, you know, where, you know, where the trees are uprooted, you know, by the orcs and by Saruman, etc.
So, yeah, that was crazy to witness and show you just how powerful nature is, right?
Elsie:Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
Danny:Now, speaking, you'd mentioned, obviously about it's important to understand who you are and that's, you know, your foundations. So we're going to find out about Elsie and who you are with our five random questions. So I'm just. Are we ready for this, Elsie?
Elsie:Yes.
Danny:All right, I'm just going to bring up my random question generator. Let's just see what it brings up for the first question. Okay. I feel this is a nice, reasonably simple one to fire things off with.
Elsie, question number one. What is the best part of waking up.
Elsie:Oh, gosh, you know, this is going to be the lamest response. But I really look forward to my ritual cup of coffee in the morning. It makes me so happy.
I am not a coffee drinker in the sense that I need coffee to wake up. Like, I'm not that person. I don't use the caffeine.
The caffeine is not necessarily the thing that brings me to the cup of coffee, but the ritual of the coffee itself brings me such joy that there's been a couple of times where I look forward to going to sleep knowing I'm going to wake up and make myself a cup of coffee. So it does have that much of a pull on me. And yeah, it's the ritual of it all, me sitting down and drinking it.
And I think I did a little bit of research in the past because, you know, there's people are like, don't drink the coffee, don't drink the caffeine or try this, try that.
And as I did a little bit of research about coffee, specifically coffee itself and my heritage, meaning I come from Central America, I am from El Salvador. And the meaning that coffee had within Central America, the Central American region and the indigenous people that lived in that area. Right.
I just thought it always connects me with that as well. And I allow my affinity for the coffee to be that. That it brings me back to my culture way back in the day. Way back in the day.
So far back, like in probably the early seventies, which is when I was born, my grandparents had a coffee plantation in El Salvador and I remember visiting it a couple of times. I didn't go too many times, but I do remember walking through the coffee plantation and picking the coffee fruit.
And I have memories of having somebody who was there and I was able to like suck on it and stuff. And anyway, I just, I have these memories of this stuff and it just made me so sad to think that it's gone.
But also at the same time, that's why I think I love it so much. It holds a lot more than just a cup of coffee.
Danny:And is it just a morning routine? Obviously it's. The question is about waking up.
So do you only savor the coffee and save it for the morning or would you have a coffee throughout the day? But maybe not as good as that.
Elsie:First coffee or I actually don't have any more coffee through the day, just in the morning. I just like my coffee in the morning. I. And I will occasionally buy some coffee sometimes if it's prior to one pm, if I'm out and about.
I will buy myself a coffee. I think that's something I like. But I tend to stick to just having a cup of coffee in the morning. I don't really.
I'm not a coffee drinker through the day at all. I don't crave it, I don't want it. I don't. Doesn't. It doesn't. It doesn't hit the same.
Danny:And what's the one tip?
Because obviously, as you mentioned, for your grandparents, you have that affinity, you know, with the coffee from the very first step through to, you know, enjoying it as you sip it. What's the one tip that you would give to any person that likes coffee to improve their coffee drinking experience?
Elsie:Oh, my God, that is so hard. I am so. Well, I actually have one of those little plunging things. One of those little plunging things.
I don't even know what they're called, but I have French press. Yes, a French press. Okay, so here's a tip. I had a French press prior and usually you see these little French presses, and they are glass.
I don't do well with glass. Even though I love glass. I don't do well with glass. I will break the glass. I break glass all the time and I hate it.
And so I have one that is like a little silver looking one. I think it's. What? I don't. I don't think it's a. Aluminum. Is that how Mark would say aluminum? But it's not a. It's not aluminum. It's not that.
It is, you know, whatever. Stainless steel. It's a little stainless steel coffee press. It's only sixteen ounces, so it's tiny.
And I just make a little tiny French press every morning in this stainless steel. It's a little carafe. And that. It just makes it so great because it's small. I don't have extra coffee.
I have just enough coffee, just enough to put in my mug. In fact, it's like not this mug, but it's about this size. It's small. I'm showing Danny a little mug that I have.
It's just one giant mug of about sixteen ounces. And it's perfect and it's over.
And usually if I want more coffee, if I decide I want more coffee just because I like the drink of it, the fact that I have to clean out the press and reheat things up and wait makes me not do it. So it's great because it's not easy to redo the whole thing again. That's my tip.
Danny:Perfect. I like. And if you're listening to this episode over your morning coffee and you're thinking, this could be a little bit better. There we go.
Let's get yourself a press and try that and just limit it to the one coffee.
Elsie:So I feel that was a nice steel press. You have to get the. Yes. Stainless steel. Because if you get the glass one and you're like me, you're going to have to be getting a lot of glass ones.
Danny:Perfect. We'll keep that in mind. Alrighty, that was a nice gentle one to sort of ease into the morning, if you like, or ease into the questions.
So let's have a look then. Elsie, at question number two. This is a really good one for you. Elsie, question number two. Do you ever want to just walk away from technology?
Elsie:I do, I do, I do, I do. Like, one hundred percent. I. Yes.
I've been thinking long and hard about this, and it's such a challenge because my entire job is so tech centric, and even when I try to set boundaries around the technology, it is very challenging, very challenging to navigate the work and life of it. And, yeah, I would want to walk away for sure. I found that during the hurricane, we lost power for almost a week. We lost power for six days.
And we also had no cellular service. We had nothing, essentially. We could not consume anything because we were going to run out of the batteries.
And we really needed the batteries to do things that actually were very important, like texting people when we could, things like that.
And I found that our entire family would get together in the living room and we would listen to the radio, we would play games, and there was a sense of unwinding and darkness because it started to get really dark. And even at night, it got so dark there was no light anywhere. And it became so wonderful to not have to go anywhere to find anything out.
We actually had to talk to people, walk to places and talk to people if we needed to find anything out. It was just such a wonderful reset in a horrible circumstance. And it made me really think, wow, I would really love this.
I would love it if it was something that every evening it happened, all the power went out, nobody could talk to each other. I would love that.
Danny:Well, I know we are where we live. We are in a very small village. And so in the winter, there's like, frequent power outages, and it can be really short, like two, three hours.
Sometimes it can be two, three days. And like you say, it's.
While it's not fun, and I'm not even comparing it to your situation, you know, with the hurricane, it as you mentioned, it does let you reconnect, you know, because you are now having to be focused on the people in the room as opposed to the person that's on the screen, on a phone in front of you or whatever that you might be texting or, you know, exchanging a conversation online or whatever.
If you did have a choice of getting rid of one piece of technology or one facet of technology that wouldn't really impact your work, but it would make such a huge difference to the sort of maybe the work life balance or the connection. Do you have one that you maybe have in mind or one facet that you would get rid of and not really miss?
Elsie:What I would like to get rid of to the extent that it is taking over would be my smartphone. I think that that would be the one.
It's very hard to say that because it does do other things like talking to other people on the phone and text messaging and the. There's a certain level of connectivity and ease of use that is. Would be a challenge.
But I do feel that there might be devices coming into the future where it really allows the machine to be exactly what that thing that it does is meant to be. Just that one thing which is more of a phone. I think that there is a phone. Actually we were looking at it.
I've been looking at it that it is a sleek device that still has a level of technical beauty to it, but it's very, very simplified. I cannot remember the name of this one phone. It would probably be that. Would I be able to manage my job?
I believe I would be able to do it if I had the option a fully stepping away from the social management. The social media management part. If I could do that, I would give it up.
And it's very challenging because social media is so integrated into working at almost any job. It just is part of it all.
And the social media companies, especially the newer channels are heavily reliant on the app experience and the app consumption. And so it requires someone to consume content in app and engage with content in app. Not in order for. Not just in terms of scheduling it. Right.
That's a whole.
That's a thing that can be done in a computer and there's lots of services where you can schedule things and put things out there and all that, but the optimization of content distribution within platform, the changes in ui, the way that we all need to look at what the content looks like in all the different screens. There's just so much and there's a lot of glitching. There's a lot of things you can only do on device.
Even if you can schedule stuff, you can't do the other thing. And it's, it becomes the. Every single time I go, you know, I'm going to remove.
I have removed the apps from my phone, all the social apps from my phone, and do everything on computer.
And then any time that I have to do an extra new thing, and there's always that thing where it glitches and I can't upload the video, I can only do it here, I can't respond to that person. I have to download the app because that's. That's the only place you could see this and not that. And that's the part that I would give up.
Danny:No, I hear you. I would love.
To your point, I would love for tech companies, especially like you mentioned social media platforms, to make an equal experience from the web version to the smartphone version. Then it would be a lot easier to take away the phone.
But as you mentioned, a lot of the times, and you even see it when you go to the web version and say, hey, you'll feel better using the app. Or if you open up the mobile web browser on your phone, it always says, hey, continue on your app.
Like if you open LinkedIn, LinkedIn mobile, it immediately pushes the message out, open up in the app for a better experience. No, you don't want to. You know, so, yeah, I completely. I'm with you.
But like I say, it's so hard because A, the connectivity and the interaction and the community, but B, mental health and sanity and where do you draw the line?
Elsie:Oh, my gosh. Yeah, I remember I was just starting to mess around myself with my own YouTube channel, and I thought, you know what?
I'm just gonna go test some things out. I'm gonna put this thing. I was just testing workflows, actually. I wasn't doing anything strategically. I was just testing stuff, right.
And putting things out and all that. And I went on to YouTube.com to look at what the video looked like just with just published cross posting, right? Because you always want to go check.
And I went and looked and I saw that the short that I published had the most horrible thumbnail for my video. Of course they caught you like, you know, mid blank with a weird face. And I thought, well, that's just not great. So how do I change the thumbnail?
So I'm sitting there doing all this research, trying to change the thumbnail, and then I found the little Tutorial, you have to go change the sub. The thumbnail on the phone. And I like. Great. It's stuff like that where you're. Why now? Like what? Why? So that's so frustrating.
Danny:And then we'd have it on the back end anyway. You know, you've got an option in the back end.
Just here's the square, here's your widescreen, and here's your shirt to choose your, you know, choose your. Your preference. That's. That's how it should be. Simple. So I hear you, I hear you one hundred percent on that.
Elsie:It's just so annoying because you do it for the regular videos. What's the big deal about being able to change the thumbnail over here? Right? And so it. Little things like that.
Every single platform has that weirdness to it. Every single one of them. Where you are going, why can't I just insert. Right. Whatever that is. So that's what I would give up.
I think if I were able to not be as involved in social for my job. Job, I would pro. I would. I would do it.
Danny:All right, well, I think we're both aligned on that. And since we love technology so much, we're going to use technology now and the random question generator and bring up question number three. Okay.
I guess sticking with the same technology vibe, what Question number three. I'll say, what's the most interesting thing you've seen online this week? And as we record this, it's November twenty first, so that'd be week commencing.
I don't know, eighteenth, something like that.
Elsie:I don't know. I think that the only thing this week I have been heavily more involved in Bluesky.
So that's probably the most interesting thing that I've seen online this week in the way that I fought it because I got a Bluesky account a long time ago. As soon as something comes out, I'm one of those early adopters that just opens up an account. Check things. I check things out real quick.
I'm like, where is all the stuff? How do people do whatever? And then I exit, right? I usually just. I'm there to claim my space. And so I had, I had passively gotten a Bluesky invite.
And for those of you who are listening, maybe by the time this comes out, maybe, who knows, whatever. But Bluesky is a like the. What I would call the cool girl currently in. In the social media space. It's kind of like a little Twitter clone that was.
That actually came out a while ago. It's not a new. It's not a new thing.
It was invite only for a long time, and it was during the time where there were all kinds of other Twitter alternatives coming into the scene. And it was one of those ones where I finally thought, I just don't want to sign another one.
And somebody sent me an invite and I just clicked through, opened up the account and left it. It was. I didn't even, I didn't even go in it just like that. But after seeing so many people post about it and I kind of was.
But because of the amount of folks that have moved over to Bluesky, that's really when the system starts to work a little bit.
The social system of it starts to work a little bit more, where you start to see people that you actually know in a platform that it starts to pick up steam a little bit more steam here and there. And I had been getting incredibly frustrated with algorithms, which is another thing that I am constantly talking about how I don't.
I'm not too much of a fan of the algorithms that other social platforms are throwing my way. I like to curate my content. I like to explore content that people that I follow share.
Like, I'm that person that if you tell me you should check this out, I will more than likely check that out than if something comes up in my own feed. Like, I don't want to be manipulated that way.
And I have really seen a massive change in the algorithms online lately because again, it's part of my job. So I observe a lot, I'm behind the scenes a lot, I watch a lot.
And I can see how things are just not in, quote, working on social like they should be. And when I went into Bluesky, it just made me feel like old school Twitter. Just seeing a timeline with no random algorithm things.
People are posting stuff and it comes up when they posted it and it's not showing up two and a half, three days later when you just told somebody when you needed help because, you know, used to, I remember on Twitter I would say something like, hey, I need a recipe for blah, blah. And then you would get a lot of people responding within that time.
I needed it because I was making dinner that evening versus having people respond to it five days later. And I'm like, well, that's, it's, that was a while ago. And I'm not making dinner anymore. I'm doing something else.
Danny:It's interesting. Bluesky, I've, I, I think I got an invite a while back on my other email address. I've got an account now that I've got a different email address.
And I'm loving it. Like you say, I joined. I joined Twitter Back in two thousand eight, I'm going to say originally, and obviously you know yourself, it's changed so much.
Not always for the best, but now it's very algorithm driven, much like most other platforms.
And Bluesky at the moment feels different, feels fresh, feels like what it used to be like on Twitter back in the good old days of just, you know, conversations and recommendations and community. So hopefully, I mean, that stays the same. I know the founders and the people behind it now, like, Jack Dorsey isn't involved anymore. So it's not.
It's with different people and they're very much saying the right things about what they want it to be. As more people come on board and maybe more funding starts to get thrown. And I don't know if things will change.
So it'll be interesting to see how that goes. But at the moment, like you, I'm really enjoying it.
Elsie:I never know, like, in all of the things that I've tested out, because I did go into other apps as well, like Be Real, Spill and Mastodon for that matter. I did go into Mastodon for a while. And I think what was challenging for me about Mastodon was that there were so many.
I think they're called, Is it instances. I don't really know too many of the language around Mastodon and I really enjoyed it for the content of it. It was really great.
I felt great going into Mastodon.
I loved the types of conversations that were happening there, but I think the fact that everything was in all of these different places felt I got a little overwhelmed, especially when there were people who were opening up. One that was all about fountain pens, and then there was another one that was all about pkm, like personal knowledge management systems.
And I wanted to join all of these, but then I had to keep switching into all the different things and it became a little unyield. Like, yeah, yeah, I just, I couldn't. I couldn't deal with that. And then I've just kind of stuck with threads. I'm. I'm much more.
The point of friction for me is the text of it. The text is the easiest. And I don't like multimedia too much for social engagement. I really lead more with text.
It's easier, I find, to engage via text, less friction to just go and think.
And I do enjoy Instagram also, and I used to enjoy it so much more prior to the algorithm of it all and the reels and all of that stuff, when it was just images, and it was a lot more real time. I really, really. That was my favorite one. But now I don't particularly like it as much because there's always a sense of friction.
Even when I want to share something, where am I going to share it? Like, I don't have a picture. I don't want to take a selfie right now. It seems bizarre. And I don't want to take just a rent. I get.
There's too much thinking. Every time I'm going to post over there becomes a little too much. So that's why I like it. I like it just because it's easy. Text, Boom, done.
Danny:No, one hundred percent. And I feel that goes back to your point about switching off. You know, having the opportunity to switch off and just talk to people away from phones.
Obviously, the algorithm wants us to watch the next video, click the next video, share the next video. So, yeah, one hundred percent with you there. And I, like I said, I hope that's what Bluesky continues to do. Keeps it nice and simple.
Yeah, we're crying out for something that just wants to be social. And that's it. No fancy gimmicks, just social. Let's go with that.
Elsie:Social. Yeah.
Danny:Well, speaking of algorithms, there's no algorithm on this show. It's purely random, which is always fun. So let's have a look at what question number four is going to bring up. Okay, so here we go.
Random generator, question number four. In what situation or place would you feel the most out of place? In.
Elsie:Out of place in. Oh, I know this is going to be. This is what first comes to mind. And I'm feeling so sad about it, but it's. But I got to own up to it.
I'm not particularly fond of hanging out with moms. I'm not. I don't like it. I feel really awkward. And usually I have no mom friends.
Like any mom thing, like getting the kids together and all that stuff. The moms hang out in a posse.
And I'm usually completely in a completely different place with my computer, with my listening to podcasts, walking around. I just feel so awkward and weird. I don't like it. I love my children. I, you know, hang out with them. I mean, we are a family. I'm their mom.
I mom them, I parent them. But I don't. I don't wear my mother as a thing that I identify with first.
And in the area where I live, I do feel there are a lot more moms that are very mom focused. And I just don't feel comfortable talking about mom things. I don't have the mom. Like, I don't want to talk about mom stuff. It's not. It's not a thing.
And so I do feel quite out of plate all the time. I just had that happen. We went to a. Because my children are also homeschooled. And to his. To. My husband is such. Such a wonderful human, mind you.
He is the one that takes care of all of the things that usually moms are supposed to do. Because again, in terms of gender dynamics, the mom's the one that makes the calls to the other moms. The moms that you make the play dates.
The moms do the play date stuff. The moms are the ones that drive. The moms are the ones that get them together. The moms are the ones that make the schedule. The moms.
That does not happen here. I am not that person at all. He is the one that does it. So he calls the moms, he texts the moms, he.
And then there's only been one time where he has said to me, it feels really awkward. I really would love it if you did this. Because it is weird that I am the only guy who is texting these women of. When we get together, I hate it.
Danny with a passion. So the man has taken it on like a champ. And he makes the plans and I just follow. And so when he's like, we are going to go to the park.
The kids are going to go here. You're going to hang out with kid number one. I'm going to take kid number two here. And I'm like, okay.
So we just went and had a homeschooling get together at a place called well Played, which is. It's got all of these, like, games, board games, where the kids get a chance to play board games and then you can take them out.
And it's like, you know, five dollars for the homeschool. Whoever. Whoever's playing games. You can play whatever games, and you can just sit at all these tables and play.
And I was there for two and a half hours and there was a posse of moms, and I did not talk to one other person. I was just totally antisocial. And I feel so bad saying that, but I feel so out of place with other moms. I don't like it.
Danny:Is it just a lack of shared interest, you think? Apart from. Is there any interest that you share at all, apart from your children's connection? Or is that.
Elsie:I think maybe that's it. I think it's Maybe. Yeah, it's sort of like it's. Yeah.
Well, because maybe I'm making the assumptions as well that a lot of the moms that I see there are all more stay at home, more homeschooling moms. And if they do work, they are doing different types of work. They're doing their work that is a lot more.
I don't know, I wouldn't say that like selling things that they've made. Right. The area around. I think Asheville is very much earthy, organic, anti establishment. I don't even know how to say it.
Like lots of flowing clothing.
Danny:Would it be almost like a commune?
Elsie:Maybe it's kind of that vibe. Yeah, everything's like that type of a thing. And not to say that I don't like that I actually. Hence we live here too.
And I always have been a little bit of a anti establishment type of a person, which. Fine. But I am also on the other side of things which because of the tech of it all and the.
I work in technology, essentially I am more of a corporate environment type of person. And even if I. If you took the corporate out of it, I'm still.
I've been working online and selling things and doing entrepreneurial things online almost since the inception of it. So I have the ability to just sell anything online and build a business online. I've been doing that for so long that it.
I feel a little like out of place where I'm just. I just feel like I wouldn't know how to like we would have nothing in common. I think that that's what it is.
Danny:So there we go. Mums. If you want to be friends with Elsie, you need to turn up your smartphone and a Tascam field recorder or I assume H6.
Elsie:Exactly. The minute I see you with like. Yeah, with those kinds of things, I'd be so curious. I'd be so curious. I'd probably go be very.
I would probably like move up to a mom that has a laptop with a Mac laptop in front of them that's wearing like an, like a, you know, on Apple Watch Ultra on her wrist. And I go like, oh, that's my people. That's my people. Yeah, like I'd be a little more curious about things like that for sure.
Danny:Awesome. Perfect. Well, I'm curious. That's four questions down and dusted. I'm curious about what question number five is going to bring up for us.
So let's have a look. See we're in the final straight here. Okay, this is a nice one to finish off. I'm curious about this one. So question number five.
I'll say, what is your first memory of being really excited?
Elsie:Oh my gosh. I think it was my grandmother. I used to call her Bella. That was like the one my dad's mom. So yeah, my dad's mom. I loved going over to her house.
Not that I didn't love my other grandmother, but this was the grandmother that I bonded with early on. And hanging out with her was so magical. And being excited to know that I was going to go to her house. Usually it was on Saturdays.
We would go to her house on Saturdays and I knew that I was going to her house and anytime that she would come and pick me up and take me to run errands and get ice cream and things that I wasn't supposed to be getting, right? The level of excitement that she brought to me, the joy that she gave me was, is everything. Because everything was so kinesthetic.
Giving her hugs, she was like really full and she had bosoms, she had big bosoms. And so I remember giving her a hug. I felt so cozy putting my head on her chest and she's squishy and it was the best feeling.
And also the food that she gave me was so good. It was the best food ever. And of course, anytime we went anywhere, I got what she used to give me.
That this was ice cream that did not give you a cold. This is how she framed it for me and for my mom, that it was ice, but it was soft serve ice cream for whatever reason that didn't give you a cold.
And so we would, we would do that. And so, yeah, that was my first memory. So since I was a teeny tiny, teeny tiny, that was the most excited I was.
Danny:And obviously you're a mom now.
I always hear the saying that it's easier for grandparents because they can give the kids back so they can do whatever they want, give whatever they want, load you up with sugar, give you treats, you know, spoil your rotten. Because then it can hand off the kids back to the parents at the end of the day or whatever.
Are you finding that now as a parent yourself with your kids, grandparents, is that the same kind of dynamic there, do you feel or is that not quite or.
Elsie:I think it is. I think that I can see now the same sort of let go from my children when they hang out with their grandparents. It's a.
They don't have to be so buttoned up, right? Not that they are around us. We're pretty chill as parents, you know, but, you know, there's a lot of no's that come out of my mouth.
I would say seventy percent of whatever happens that the things that they ask me for, I will say no to. And that's. That's not the experience they have with their grandparents. Their grandparents has a lot more yeses, right?
And it's a lot more, sure, let's do that. And there's no friction. There's no like. Because usually my children brace, right?
They will go, like, mom, do you think that I can have, you know, whatever it is. And then they're bracing for the no. They're. It's like always, okay, all right. You know, sometimes they're fine with it.
Sometimes, of course, they get angry about it. But why. But still, they're bracing for it because their experience is that I'm probably going to say no. But the grandparents are not that they get.
They get a lot more yeses to a lot of things. So.
Danny:And obviously your kids, once they. And it's funny how, like, life swings like that. I'm sure your kids will be thinking, well, mom's a bit strict because she says no so much.
But then when they get to become a parent themselves and now their kids are coming over to say, hey, asking for X, Y, Z, I'm sure they realize, wow, I actually have to say no quite a lot. And it's natural. It's. It's normal.
Elsie:Yes, yes, absolutely. I'm. I was floored by that, so.
Danny:Well, we've got to the end of the five questions there, Elsie and I thank you for being open and sharing. You know, the, the randomnessity, if that's even a word of the questions, because I know something's gonna throw for a loop. As is only fair.
This is a part of the episode I always throw over to my guest to have you ask your own random question to take the heat off you a little bit. Because I've had you on the spot for the last forty minutes or so.
So just to take the heat off you a little bit now, be not the parent that says no, so to speak.
Elsie:All right, well, what I want you to know, I want to know what that little green guy is behind you.
Danny:Oh, this little dude. That's, so I'm a huge Star Wars fan and that. This dude here is Boba Fett. So he's like a bounty hunter. He made a big appearance in the.
The original Star wars trilogy, and he's like a really cool bad guy. And my wife does a lot of craft and she's got a Cricut and other stuff. So she'll. You ask her to make something and she'll make something, you know.
So she made that. For example, the kids will ask for stuff at school.
She's going into school, my daughter's school, anyway, because my son's in high school now, my daughter still in elementary.
So my wife's gone to my daughter's school next week, I think, to spend a day there and help the kids there make a bunch of crafts for their Christmas fair, et cetera. So, yeah, that's what that is. It's just like a little. Basically it's a card. It's not even a card. I don't know what the material is. I apologize.
It's just like a little Star Wars character that's just stuck on my sound blanket behind me there.
Elsie:It is so cute because it's so small. And so I was thinking the cuteness of it was very cute. It reminded me, obviously I know who Boba Fett is in terms of looking at it.
And because I look like it was the Mandalorian, because it's the same thing, basically they are the same, but it was green. And I like how cute it is. And so I appreciate you sharing that with me. So why Boba Fett?
Danny:He just. He's my favorite character. I think it's because he made such an impact with such a small part in the movies. Like, he didn't really speak.
It might be, I think it maybe three lines in the original trilogy. He got wasted, unfortunately. His character was really mistreated in the third move of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi.
How he met his ending, if you like. But I just like what you said. He looks cool. So when I saw him on a movie screen, I thought, wow, that guy is really cool. So, yeah, I just.
Boba Fett is my dude.
Elsie:Okay. I love that.
Danny:But I'll have to get some more up there and just like stick them on the background and just have little characters. I've got a whole bunch on my window that you can't really see. It's just off of frame here.
So I've got a bunch of characters lying in the window ledge. And my wife made a whole bunch of similar to that characters. So BB8, for example, from the new trilogy, and then other characters. So, yeah, I.
Stuff like that I just like have hanging about just to say you mentioned Elsie way back about finding your balance and finding your place. So just me being surrounded by Star Wars things, kind of my place.
Elsie:I love it.
Danny:Well, thank you for the question. So I'll say I really enjoyed this and as I mentioned, I do appreciate your time. I know you're a super, super busy person.
For anybody that wants to check out your podcast that you're involved in, check out more about yoga, check out all the amazing stuff you do in the industry and learn more about your mentorship and anything else associated associated with Elsie. Where's the best place to A, connect with you and then B find you online and listen, et cetera?
Elsie:Yeah, so I think that, well, currently I'm only producing one podcast, The Feed, the official Libsyn podcast and that one comes out two times a month. But if you follow me online on social channels, I really am trying to find the solution to my problem which I'm having right now.
So but I would meaning how to be present and also not so it's, it's two things I'm trying to solve at this point.
But given that if you follow me online, I'm at TheElsieEscobar on I'm generally on Threads and LinkedIn, Instagram and now on Bluesky and you can find me fairly easily and all of those places stay tuned because I might just share how to connect with me so that you can get all of the bits of me that is doing work out there. Because I do realize it's kind of hard to find my stuff because it's so in different, so many different things that I'm involved with.
So I have hands on so many different things and I just don't have the time sometimes to promote my own self, you know, I just can't do it.
So I'm doing my best to see if I can find a home that can just cross post to all the different places places and I can just stay on track doing the work that needs to be done.
Danny:Well, I will be sure to link out to all the places that I can to make it super easy in the Show Notes.
So if you listen on your preferred podcast app or even online FiveRandomQuestions.com be sure to check out the show notes and you'll be able to find and connect with Elsie there. And I can attest I've met Elsie in person. She's a lovely, lovely person. She's great online, really smart, super kind person person.
So please do check the Show Notes out and connect with Elsie.
Elsie:Thank you.
Danny:You're very welcome. And thanks again for appearing today.
Elsie:You bet.
Danny:Thanks for listening to Five Random Questions.
If you enjoyed this week's episode, be sure to follow for free on the app you're currently listening on or online at FiveRandomQuestions.com. And if you feel like leaving a review, well, that would make me happier than the time I realized that podcasting could be an audio online medium and I didn't have to show my face unless really necessary. Trust me, it's for the best. But seriously, if you wanted to leave a review, that would make my day. Until the next time, keep asking those questions.
