Of Course It Was Ricardo!

A random Wednesday night in Washington, D.C. can tell you more about how power works than a thousand hot takes. One minute we’re laughing about a Cuban dinner spot that secretly hosts a salsa class led by a guy named Ricardo, and the next we’re talking about what it really takes to turn early ambition into a job inside the federal government.

Transcript

Dinner Talk And Surprise Salsa Class

SPEAKER_00 0:12

Welcome to another episode of Rideshare Road Talk Conversations in Motion, a podcast where we create unfiltered talk space that examines the meaningful lives of my passengers while engaging in personal and topical discussions. I'm your host and driver, John Fodd. And we're cruising the streets of Washington, D.C. Buckle up. Let's drive. Where was dinner tonight? What'd you have? Anything good?

SPEAKER_02 0:38

Um, so Costa is there. It's a good Cuban place. Oh, nice. A lot of good tapas.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

Hmm. Okay. You said it's relatively new?

SPEAKER_02 0:46

Um, I don't know if it's new. That's only the second time I've been there, but it's a good little spot. That's cool. We didn't realize they had like a salsa dancing class going on tonight. So we like, when we got there, we're just having some like drinks and stuff, and there this guy named Ricardo came up to us, was like, I'm gonna be your dance instructor tonight.

SPEAKER_00 1:02

Of course it had to be Ricardo. Who else would it be?

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Oh no, no, no. We're just here for dinner. We will not be partaking in any time.

SPEAKER_00 1:09

That's great. Yeah, no.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

But a lot of people in there.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

The great byproduct of doing this is that you just kind of you just find out. You hear about all the spots. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

If you're ever needing some salsa dancing lessons, you know to go to Costa's on a Wednesday night.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Now I know.

SPEAKER_02 1:24

Gotta write that down.

SPEAKER_00 1:25

I do. I am. Ricardo and the salsa dancing.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

Ricardo and the salsa dancing. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:31

That's so great.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

It's very entertaining.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

Was it um was it well attended? Like was it packed or like so what's divided?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

Plenty, plenty of people. And it was all like in the main area of the restaurant. So if like you wanted to go use the restroom, you had to like walk through the salsa dancing. Oh like we were like on the patio area, like minding our own business, like just having like dinner or drinks. And I was like, oh my gosh, I have to go use the restroom, and I have to literally fight through a crowd of people doing like the two-step or whatever. Whatever.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

That's kind of like just like salsa dancing is like random club or house part that you kind of have to do that to get through.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

I'm also like after work, so I'm in like my black turtleneck, like in my slacks. Right. And I'm like, oh okay, this is like probably like the GW college kids like Wednesday night. They're like everyone goes to Costas. Oh god. And I'm like, I look like I'm literally coming from a business conference right now.

SPEAKER_00 2:23

Is it a pretty young crowd in there? Is that the scene? It's pretty young. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

I've been there once before though, and then I feel like then it was like a good mix of people. Yeah. But I feel like it's probably because it's like a Wednesday night in the city.

SPEAKER_00 2:34

I can hang and blend in anywhere. I clean up fairly well, but sometimes you young kids bother me.

SPEAKER_02 2:41

Um there was, I don't know, there was like a a wide range of people there. Okay. Okay. The ones dancing I would say was on the younger side.

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Okay. That's fair. I um I've been spending more and more time over what is going on here. Uh-oh. That doesn't look good. I don't know. It wasn't hidden. Oh, I saw it. Uh I don't know. Let's move on.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Not our business. Not our circus, not our monkeys.

From Ole Miss To Campaign Work

SPEAKER_00 3:22

No, I say that like every day. Um, so what's your story? Where are you from? What do you do? What do you know?

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Um, I'm from Charlotte, North Carolina.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

Oh, fun. That's a good food town I heard.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

Yeah, it's a lot of like breweries, so get your good good share of uh cheese and pretzels.

SPEAKER_00 3:41

Okay. If that's your thing, sure.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

Charlotte's great.

SPEAKER_00 3:46

And you're here for school?

SPEAKER_02 3:48

Uh no, I work here. I work um at the State Department.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Oh, okay. Are you a uh an admin person?

SPEAKER_02 3:54

I am.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

Okay. So I just had this great conversation with somebody. And a secondary conversation I had uh with my own work during the week. Um I run a film production company in the real world. And I had a client shoot at a hotel conference, and HHS was they were putting the whole thing together. Gotcha. And so there's lots of folks like you who came in uh with this administration, and I'm always fascinated about that trajectory as to how that happens. Um, some people coming from legal places, some people come from uh whatever their school programs or whatever it was. What's your story? How did that happen for you?

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Well, so I I graduated in 2024. So I went and immediately started working on the campaign. Okay um in West Palm. Okay. Um I had didn't I had done an internship. I went to Ole Miss and I had done an internship.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

My uh nephew goes there. Oh really?

SPEAKER_02 4:54

Toddy. It's a great school. Oxford's such a great town. It's so fun, so fun. But there's a big Mississippi pipeline to DC actually. Okay. So I I had always like thought about it. I was I was like poli sci major, all that.

SPEAKER_00 5:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

And I had done an applied for an internship at the RNC um my junior year of college, and then I ended up working here for a summer, I think at 2023. And I basically just met everyone that I worked with, and I kind of became close with them, stayed in contact with them my whole senior year of college, and I was like ready to move back to DC when I graduated and get a job working there. And they were like, Okay, how would you feel about moving to West Palm Beach? We're gonna be working on the campaign. And I was like, Oh, okay. And I was like, Well, I don't really have any ties to anything in my life right now, so I might as well go move to West Palm Beach and work on a presidential campaign. We have work for you. Exactly. I was like, yeah, well, I'll take a job anywhere. If it's by the beach, I'm not gonna complain. So I ended up um graduating and moving directly to West Palm. Okay, and then I worked there um until November, obviously, with the election. And um it was made my job was mainly travel because I worked on the finance side, so we were doing a lot of fundraiser, fundraisers all over the country. Okay. So I did like West Coast focus, so I did a lot of California, like Utah, Colorado, all those places, um, fundraising events, donors' homes, and all that stuff. So we did stuff with the president, with the vice president after he was picked, um, and a couple other like different elected officials who were up like operating as like surrogates for the campaign with like PR. So we did a bunch of events with them, and then that job when we won the campaign transitioned into me working on the inauguration committee.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 6:29

So doing the same kind of thing with finance, working with the same donors to fundraise for all the events that happened inauguration weekend. So it was that, and then that parlayed into kind of like if you were on the campaign, you were like in a good slotted position to like apply for different jobs in different agencies and departments. Of course, yeah. Obviously, a lot of people want to work in the White House, but you obviously make more money in the agencies. Yeah, yeah. And I was always pretty interested in foreign policy, so good for you. I was interested in going to the State Department, and you kind of get connected with the different um people who are appointed to be like the White House liaison for that um agency. Yeah, and then they kind of help you guide you to where would be like a good fit for you within the agency. Because I don't think I really fully grasp how large these departments are. Oh yeah. Yeah. How many different like bureaus and divisions? It's like an iceberg. You only see the same thing. And you never really know what you're signing up for. Of course. Like half the jobs I thought I was interested in at the State Department. Now that I work there, I'm like, I would be a terrible fit for that, or I would never want to do that. Um so I ended up working um now. I work in protocol. Okay. So we do a lot of like kind of more like the event planning side for like diplomatic engagements. Of course. Which is very cool because I did finance on the campaign, was a lot of event planning, so kind of good precursor to what I'm doing now.

Politics Evolve And Work Stays Neutral

SPEAKER_00 7:50

Well, sure. And the here so here's my next question. Well, I have a lot of questions. Um we can go backwards though. So, did you find yourself navigating this path out of personal politics that you found like a passion for? Because we can open up that can of worms if you want, but I'm gonna leave it alone, respectively. But was it a personal thing? And this is just the path that you chose for yourself, and it's opening up these doors, or is there an end game where you're using this opportunity to plant those seeds in finance or hospitality, and you have this in your back pocket that you were with the administration? You see what I mean? I yeah, I know. Or do you want to be a career kind of just public servant?

SPEAKER_02 8:36

To start off 100% personal politics. Now, not so much. I'd say it's more for me. I would say, like, while I was on the campaign, it was personal politics because you do get kind of wrapped up in it and you feel like you're part of something. Of course, and you're like, oh, I'm working towards this stuff and I really believe in X, Y, and Z. And then I think now I it's very much more for me. Like I look back on things and I'm like, well, I don't know that I agree with X, Y, and Z anymore or this or that, but I but I do look at what I did as a stepping stool to get to where I am now, yeah, and I'm really happy with what I'm doing now and what I'm getting to experience at like such a young age.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

And I think it's a healthy way to approach it because you know, nothing is a panacea right from the get-go. You you're allowed to evolve and change and grow. That's the whole point, right? Yeah. Um, I in a past life used to work at the White House and I was there during the Clinton administration. So I I understand the the cogs and the wheels better than most. So I get it. Um but I'm also fascinated by like, do you get pushback from family, from friends? Are you concerned that there's so much friction, right? So much energy around this administration that that might follow you whenever this comes to an end in a negative way? Or have you pondered that? Or do you even think about it?

SPEAKER_02 9:56

No, I've thought about that for sure. Yeah. Um, it's definitely something I've struggled with. But I think the positive thing about what I'm doing now is it's so not partisan at all. Like what I do now, it it my job now is about executing events on behalf of whoever the Secretary of State is, whoever the president is, whoever the vice president is. It's not partisan, which I love because that's the stuff that I hate. Yeah. Like I am very much like I'll be friends with anybody, I do not care what your political opinions are. Right. I think that's what's absolutely destroying our country. Well sure people, and I I have family, I love them, they're great, but they do have those mindsets where it's like if this person is with this party affiliation, I want nothing to do with them. No, and that's not that's not how I live, that's not how I operate. You have to communicate. Exactly. And I also think like everyone has different lived experiences, and that shapes what you believe in. So I don't think anyone's the bad guy for believing what they believe in, because most likely it's a direct result of everything they've experienced in their lives. Yeah. And you can't like disvalue that. So I think like for me, it's I'm happy with what I'm doing now because I think whenever I whatever I move on to next, it's like, oh, State Department, like I'm just planning diplomatic engagements and I'm getting that experience. Like it's not nothing about it as partisan, nothing about it is leaning one way or the other. Right. It's it puts me in like a good neutral zone, I think, to be like my footing for my next role.

SPEAKER_00 11:17

Um you know, and being in that specific container, you know, with State Department, I mean that that I mean that's obviously a very legitimate agency. Um and you know, as far as I mean, Rubio is more than capable of of of running that agency. I get it. Um compared to some other folks where you'd be like, I don't know. So well, at least there's that.

SPEAKER_02 11:43

Yeah, he's a he's a smart guy. Him him and his team are very very smart and capable people. I really enjoy working with them.

SPEAKER_00 11:50

Well, that's exciting for you. That's that's kind of cool. In a front row to history, so to speak.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

It is cool, and I especially with there being so many historic things that happen. This administration, good or bad. It's I mean, I'm just never gonna always look back and be like, wow, that that happened, yeah, and I was right there for that. It's just yeah, whether I agree with it or not, it's it's pretty historic.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Um keep your notes. Yeah. Keep your notes. Yes, it'll make for a good memoir someday. That's great. I I know.

SPEAKER_02 12:19

I'm like, gotta get to my notes up again. That's great. Um, but yeah, it's it is definitely interesting. You always you're always kept on your toes.

SPEAKER_00 12:27

Um, how did you like the whole old mess thing?

SEC Style And Why Oxford Works

SPEAKER_02 12:29

I loved it.

SPEAKER_00 12:30

We have to wait, hold on, I'm sorry, I interrupted. What's with the white boot thing? What's with the white cowboy boots? I don't understand. My son goes to Tennessee in Knoxville. All the girls wear the It's just an SEC thing.

SPEAKER_01 12:42

It's just a basic SEC girl uniform.

SPEAKER_00 12:46

Don't they have friends and like, hey, sweetheart, that's probably just aren't for you, but like, you know what I mean? Like, clothes aren't for everybody. Um, or certain clothes.

SPEAKER_02 12:55

It's it's a thing. It's just uh it's like a core uniform for game days. It's when you're building that game day outfit and there's already so much pressure, you don't know what to wear, you can always start with a pair of white, tall cowboy boots and make yourself feel like a DCC cheerleader. You might not look like one, but you might feel like one.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

Then you know what?

SPEAKER_02 13:17

And that's and that's the important part. As long as you can manipulate yourself into thinking you look like one of them.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

So great. I dare you to have a photo with those boots on your state ID badge. I dare you. Oh yeah. Be very tiny.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

The scroll definitely came in with the new admin.

SPEAKER_00 13:36

Yeah. You know, what I find fascinating about Oxford is that, you know, everyone, you can have this predisposition to be like, oh, it's old miss, it's you know, it's deep south, whatever. There's this really cool, like, literary kind of beatnik scene with a great little food vibe there as well. Oh, sure. Um, I mean, you can go five miles outside of town, you're like, ooh, okay, I get it. But there's a certain, I don't know, call it bohemian, but there's a vibe there for sure.

SPEAKER_02 14:08

It's it's I mean, nowadays it's like considered like one of your top SEC schools, but yeah, when you were that's why what drew me to it is my mom went to Alabama, huge Alabama fans growing up. Yeah. Um, so she was a big big betrayal when I went anywhere other than Alabama. But I I had done like some back-to-back tours of like Alabama, Georgia, Ulmis, and I just like loved the vibe of Ulmus in the sense that it just felt so intimate. Like it's yeah, it you think of it as a big SEC school, but when you're there, you feel like you're really in a small town, and you don't get that in like Tuscaloosa or Athens, I feel like anymore. Correct. It's just so large and there's so many people. Like I liked the idea that if I went to a bar, I'd probably see someone I know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Like it's and downtown looks like a movie set. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:51

Oh, literally. I mean, it's it's the cutest little area. Like, you really do feel like you're like a part of something small there, which I like, and I no consideration for Rocky Top for you, no Tennessee? Um, I think my mother would have my head if I ever even talked about Tennessee, Auburn, or Clemson. Okay. Auburn. We don't I was never allowed to own anything orange growing up. My mother told me, as they said in the blind side, it is not in my color wheel.

SPEAKER_00 15:19

Oh, she's hardcore.

SPEAKER_02 15:20

Oh, she's hardcore. She's like who I think they inspired the blind side. Like my mom is my mom is literally Lee Ann Twee. Sandra Bullock played in the blind side. That is her to eight T.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Okay, well, hopefully, she's not ripping off athletes.

SPEAKER_02 15:35

She is uh not a Tennessee fan.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Yeah, my kid loves Tennessee.

SPEAKER_02 15:40

Oh, I've I know people that go there and they love it, and I know it's a great area. Yeah, I've been prejudiced against it since my birth. So sure. I I've never actually been there, but I've heard it's great.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yeah, especially for like a game day.

SPEAKER_02 15:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Um get there eventually, so there's a reason.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

I do love Tennessee though. My yeah, my brother lives in Nashville. I was born in Nashville. Okay. Got a lot of family there. Yeah. So t Tennessee overall is a great, great spot.

SPEAKER_00 16:04

They have their um, it's called Market Square, which is kind of like this, you know, little bars and restaurants, magnolia trees everywhere. It's really, really pretty. But they my son does, you know, a bunch of road trips for games everywhere. Um he has some.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Yeah. College football experience is getting to travel to new places for the games. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:28

He loved Florida. He went down there. Um he got waitlisted there.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

UF or FSU?

SPEAKER_00 16:34

Uh at uh UF. UF, yeah. That's a really hard school to get into out of state. It's a good um great school. It's like Michigan. I said, hey man, like a wait list is a victory. Right. It just is. She puts it on your resume. I was waitlisted and visioning.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

They almost let me in.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

What year is he at Tennessee?

SPEAKER_00 16:58

Uh he's a junior.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 16:59

Yeah, so he's uh getting ready to do his little abroad program.

SPEAKER_02 17:03

Oh fun.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

And uh it's flying by way too fast for him.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

It it definitely does. It's pretty crazy. Do you make it down there for a lot of the games?

SPEAKER_00 17:13

Um, not as much as I should, but I I do. Um I'll probably take advantage of that this coming fall since it's his last go-around.

SPEAKER_02 17:21

Oh, for sure.

Summer Teens And City Street Chaos

SPEAKER_00 17:22

Um, at least two games. Well, this is where all the magic happens on the weekends, apparently.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Oh my god, it's a nightmare. All the youths. That's my roommate. We feel like little grandmas, we look over our balcony and we're like, what are the youths doing out again? Yeah, you know. It's like a bunch of teenagers messing around.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

It you know what? Here's my take on that. It's like this and the war for whoever else. If you have a billion dollars of investment capital flowing in here, and these kids are out here preventing people from coming in and spending the money, then you have every right to clean the streets up.

SPEAKER_02 17:57

Oh, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 17:57

It doesn't have to be gun related, just no, sorry.

SPEAKER_02 18:01

It's just a mess. They just cause chaos. Like they break into this Walgreens, like it's just or the CVS, it's just like always something on. Like, what's going on? Like, I'll come down to my apartment building and like there's a bunch of teenagers just hanging around in the lobby, and I'm like, what, like, what are you doing here? Like a gathering of a bunch of young people makes me nervous. Like what you guys are about to do.

SPEAKER_00 18:23

The metro stop is the same thing. Yeah, I mean all these people.

SPEAKER_02 18:26

I will say, like, I don't think that they have anywhere else to go. And like the problem started when like school got let out. Like, I lived, I've lived here since December of last year. Okay. Or I guess almost 2024. December of 2024. And um, like it wasn't ever bad until school got let out. Sure. Because like all of them just like don't know where to go or what to do in the summertime.

SPEAKER_00 18:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 18:50

So I'm like, we just need to like we need to have somewhere to go and like hang out and be kids and not like just be running around a bunch of bars.

SPEAKER_00 18:56

The shoe here?

SPEAKER_02 18:57

Um, I'm on the left, but yeah, this I can get out here. Okay, cool. Thank you so much. Lovely chatting with you. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Uh be careful getting out.

SPEAKER_02 19:03

I will have a great night. You too.

SPEAKER_00 19:04

Good luck to you.

SPEAKER_02 19:05

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 19:12

Thank you for listening to this episode of Rodchair Road Talk. If you've enjoyed what you've heard, we'd love for you to review the podcast on your favorite listening platform like Apple or Spotify. Your support helps us so much, and don't forget to reach out on Instagram with your feedback or topic suggestions. Until next time, let's drive.