EPISODE 74: CLAUDIA VILLANELLA MURDOCH - COMMUNITY MAVEN

 Heather Newman 

Hello everyone! Here we are again for another Mavens do it Better podcast, where we interview extraordinary experts who bring a light to the world. And today I have a light in our world for sure. It's someone who I've recently met Claudia Villanella Murdoch - Claudia say hey to our listeners.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Hi! Thanks for having me.

 

Heather Newman 

Absolutely. So, thanks for being on. So, Claudia and I met on Facebook. How about that?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Modern Romance

 

Heather Newman 

For sure. So we met because Claudia started a Facebook group, and I'm going to have you tell everybody what that group is about and how it got started, because it was something that I just - you know, I need to figure out who invited me and I can't remember and I wish I did to thank them.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I don't remember our connection. I could probably check.

 

Heather Newman 

Oh, okay, cool. So, I need to thank them for that. But Claudia, will you tell everybody what you did and how it started because it's super cool.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Well, the group is called Social Distancing Fashion Show. And it just started as a way to joke around with my friends. I have a group of friends that I frequently text with and will often show each other what we're wearing that day and our makeup creative applications. And once the shutdown happened and I started working from home, I realized that this was the perfect opportunity to wear all of the weird clothing that I've been hoarding from years and years of thrifting. I'm someone who has a suit and tie job as my regular day job as an attorney. I have to wear professional clothing all the time and I never have the opportunity to wear all these bizarre things that I just love and have had in my closet forever. So, I thought this would be the perfect time to do that. And I would just you know, share it with my friends, and it quite literally went viral.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, it's good. So how many people are in the group?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

As of earlier today? We broke 2300.

 

Heather Newman 

Oh, my goodness.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah.

 

Heather Newman 

I think I might have contributed about 100 people at least because I couldn't stop just sharing with friends. I was a theater major, and I'm also part of the Burning Man community. And, and so like, people with costumes... oh, yeah.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Right up your alley. That's awesome.  For sure.

 

Heather Newman 

And tell everybody about the feel of the group, because that's been really kind of neat too, you know?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

It's been a place where you can just let your freak flag fly, and everybody's just been overwhelmingly positive, which is the rule. The number one rule is just to be positive and not be a jerk.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah. Absolutely. I know. I have a group on Facebook too. It's a bit more businesslike, but it definitely has the same rules, you know? Don't be a jerk. All that sort of thing. So, you're an attorney by day, and sometimes by night, too. And you're in Brooklyn and we were talking a little bit about that. Will you talk about being an attorney in Brooklyn and what you do?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I'm a sole practitioner. I have a single paralegal as an employee. So, it really feels like a small business. It is a small business. And I mentioned to you when we were just chatting, you know, a lot of my clients are small business owners; they're mom and pop developers. The typical client of mine is someone who buys a brownstone, renovates it, and then wants to sell the individual apartments. Maybe it's a three or four family who wants to sell the individual apartments as condominiums, and in New York State, you need to file a disclosure document with the state AG in order to do that. And that document is prepared by an attorney. So that's what I do. So, I get to do a little bit of writing, which I've always enjoyed. But I don't get to dress in a lot of strange clothing. So, I've taken, you know, the opportunity of the quarantine and it being a bit of a slowdown and a reset to just sort of flex my creative muscles a little bit.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. I know that you're in different places with the quarantine and stuff, but as far as New York City - which big hearts out to New York's shore and everybody there who's on the front lines - I'm sure you've got your finger on the pulse of what's going on with rents and buildings and all that stuff with what you do as well?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah, everything is up in the air right now, but I am seeing a lot of business continuing. And, you know, people are...  it's an unprecedented time in the legal landscape. We don't really have anything in modern history to refer back to for this. But I have been very pleasantly surprised to see that people have really been pulling together and trying to figure out ways to get things done, which I imagine is probably true in tech as well. And, you know, letting a lot of unimportant things go and just focusing on building and getting the job done, which really that's the best part of the job.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. I've definitely seen that too. You know, tragedy brings out the best in people and sometimes the worst in people too. But I feel like there's so much banding together and helping that's happening. It's really exciting. And, yeah, from a law perspective, I think just when anything happens where there's, I don't know, executive orders, and you know, all of these things where you're like looking back at, you know, what's a civil liberty, what's the Constitution? All of that. So, like that all kind of plays into all of this. If something comes down and becomes what's what, let's say, in my non-legal terms, when does it go back? Or does it ever go back?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Sure. And there are a million questions. I mean, if you're into theory, it's a great time. And, you know, I'm harkening back to my law school days for a lot of these questions that don't come up in day to day regular real estate practice.

 

Heather Newman 

Right. Absolutely. No, that's interesting. So, are you from New York originally?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yes, I was born in Brooklyn. I live and practice in the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn. And that's where I lived until I was 10. And then my parents moved us to the suburbs, to Long Island, because this was back in the 80s. And I was getting older and I wanted to be more independent and they were very concerned about the crime in York City at the time. So, we moved to the 'burbs and I just never really fit in. I was sort of a square peg in a round hole. Though, once I was able to do so I came back to the city.

 

Heather Newman 

Right? Yeah, no, that's awesome. I love Park Slope. I have dear friend who is on the podcast, her name is Raya, and I'll have to connect you two because she's fabulous. She was on the podcast and she's part of the Park Slope Arts Collective there. So, she's a painter and then she's a UI UX designer by day and she's fantastic. And so yeah, and not to give her complete address away, but I've definitely been to many places in that neighborhood and stayed there off of 13th with her and I love that - What is it? Calexico?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah, Calexico. My wonderful paralegal Dora, Calexico sponsored her softball team. So that's one of our favorite lunch spots.  You know, under normal circumstances.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, right. Exactly. Because you're somewhere else right now, right?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

 I'm in the Catskill Mountains.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah. Okay so you're not quite seeing the "no people on the streets in New York City" except for the pictures obviously that were all over?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

No. I mean, we did not come up here right away, so we did experience the streets with lots of parking, which is very very unusual and kind of you know, apocalyptic. Park Slope's nickname is "No-Park Slope," so seeing that, you know, that's when things get real.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. I think the pictures from the last couple nights of Times Square are just, you know, just absolutely wild for sure.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah.

 

Heather Newman 

So, when did you decide to become an attorney? Was it like when you were like three and you were like, "I'm going to be a lawyer" or whatever?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Oh no. If anything, I had a teacher in high school say to me once, "Oh you know, you should think about going to law school." I was like, "Yeah, like I'd ever want to do that." No, I started out wanting to study biology. And I started pre-med, which is very common at Vassar. And a lot of people don't really last. And I was one of them. So basically, I wanted to work less hard. I worked very hard in high school and I wanted to enjoy my college years. And lab sciences were really challenging at Vassar. The credit system at the time and maybe it still is a little bit different than a typical credit system at a university where you have laboratory sciences and non-laboratory sciences. They're basically weighted or were weighted the same, yet you have to put in many more hours with lab sciences. And I didn't want to do that, to be perfectly honest. And so I switched over to English and I double-majored in English and Italian. And then the question becomes "Well what are you going to do with an English degree?" And at the time I was dating someone who is a year older than me, and he went to law school and suggested to me, oh, maybe you should think about going to law school, and I was a little bit competitive with him. So, I took the test and wasn't happy with my score. And so, I took it again, and I did a lot better. And I applied and I got in and I went.

 

Heather Newman 

That's super cool.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

It worked out all right.

 

Heather Newman 

It's always the moments that spurred us on, right? Sometimes it's a person, sometimes it's a book or whatever, you know what I mean?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah, you never know what's going to take you in a certain direction.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. And back to the group you started, you talked a little bit about vintage and all of that. So is that sort of, I was gonna call it a side hustle, but that's not it. Are you a vintage shopper?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I am. I love vintage. I love thrifting. I realized after fighting it for years, I'm really into all the clichés. I just love red lips. I love red roses, and black and white and satin and silk and lace. And so, you know, it's sort of like a secret side of me because you can't do that when you're attending a real estate closing.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

But I think also, I was afraid when I was younger of maybe coming across as too costumey. And now I just kind of don't care. I think the classics are the classics for a reason. But you know, that's my taste. and one of the great things about the group is just seeing everybody else's taste and everybody else's interests that they've cultivated. There's a guy who wears these different suits. Have you seen? He's great. And there's a couple that dresses up in themed clothing for FaceTime calls with their children. They're brilliant. There are so many really talented people. There's a woman who makes her own dresses and the creativity is just astounding.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. No, it's been super cool. Do you find from whenever you started because I love vintage as well, but I am a tall Amazonian woman, so vintage doesn't always play nice with this body. But when I was in college doing more vintage, and I think I do more vintage probably like accessories and stuff like that more than anything else, depending on sizing. But do you how do you feel about how vintage has changed over the years, you know what I mean? Like it used to be, you could go thrifting in certain places and you'd just be like, YES! And now everything is like, because it's "vintage," it's like $120 for a T shirt.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I totally agree. I totally agree. In some ways, you know, like internet online auction sites, I guess eBay was the first. It's made it really easy to find pieces, but it's also made it really hard to find bargains because I think it's an active market, and it's like people know, now what their, what their things are worth. So, you're able to match the right buyer with the right seller, which is nice, but you also do miss out on that finding a needle in a haystack.

 

Heather Newman 

I find that when I'm traveling, because I do a lot of speaking in many different places, both big cities and small towns, that when I do go into some of the smaller markets is when I'm finding things, where it's like oh my goodness! This!

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I have best luck at Methodist Church thrift shops. I don't know why. Just something about them. And I find there are like curated thrift shops, which you can find some really cool stuff, but it's for me it's all about the thrill of turning up something that you don't expect.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. Are you a thrifter with friends? Or are you a lone thrifter?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yes - alone, with friends, any way I can get it.

 

Heather Newman 

Hey, you know what? We all have our thing, right? So, going through Vassar - gosh - nice college by the way. And then where did you go to law school? I was looking for that.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I went to Fordham for law school.

 

Heather Newman 

Oh, wow. How was that?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

It was fun. The law school campus is at Lincoln Center. So, 22 and at Lincoln Center. It was great. I just loved it.

 

Heather Newman 

Wow, I mean, that's gonna be sort of a different feel than going to law school on a campus somewhere for sure, right? You're in the heart of the city.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty startling contrast. Vassar felt more like, I don't want to say the country, but you know, it was in upstate New York and it definitely had a defined campus. And I really loved that for my college experience. But for law school, it was a very urban experience. And in some ways that was nice, because I feel like the environment was such that I was less stressed out than I would have been if I had no real escape from law school.

 

Heather Newman 

Right.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

And having the city as a playground really, you know, kind of broke the tension.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, a lot of people go into law for a lot of different reasons, right? And then you have your small business. I think I've seen on LinkedIn and things like a foray into sort of, "I need to try and get in a big firm" and do all that sort of thing. Or did that happen and you're like, "Nah, not for me?" Talk about that a little bit?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I did. I did a stint at a large law firm as a litigation associate. And it was not the right fit for me. So, my parents are retired teachers who are property managers, and their attorney had become a friend of the family. And so, one day out of the blue, he called my father and said, "What's Claudia up to? Didn't she graduate law school?" And he said, "Yeah, and actually she just left her job. You know, it wasn't the right fit." And he's like, "Oh, well, she should come and talk to me because I'm in need of some help." So, he was kind of a quirky guy, and really, you know, well known in the Brooklyn real estate community. And so, I went and met up with him and we spoke, and he said, "I need some help, and I can teach you to do what I do. And it would be kind of a nice, flexible job. You know, you can live and work in the same neighborhood." And I said, "Sure, I'll give it a shot, you know, see where it leads." Figured it would be a good stopgap until I found some other fulltime gig, and you know, the rest is history.

 

Heather Newman 

Wow. That's super cool.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah, it was super cool. Super cool. I really feel like I got kind of an old-fashioned apprenticeship. And I think that that made all the difference for me as a lawyer. Because I feel like most of the learning with the law is in the experience. So it's very scary to go out and practice as a new lawyer and having a mentor to guide you, and show you, and you pick up the way you want to do things and the way you don't want to do things.

 

Heather Newman 

Right. Yeah.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

That's the best education, I think.

 

Heather Newman 

Absolutely. And you don't always get that in a bigger law firm, right? It's like you're in there and you're learning, but I think it's different, don't you feel?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I agree. I agree. And you just don't get to see as a young attorney, all the nitty gritty of how the sausage is made right away. Whereas if you're shadowing a solo or being a solo, you just get in right away.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. How do you find being a small business owner in Brooklyn?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

It's scary, exhilarating, wonderful, neat. I've met so many people and I've become friends with so many other people and fellow small business owners, and you know, we really cheer each other on, and Park Slope has a wonderful community. Right now, there are groups devoted to just improving relations among small businesses and keeping the small businesses afloat right now, because it's a hugely challenging time. But the neighborhood has just come together so wonderfully. So, it's I mean, it's the best of times. It's the worst of times. It's, you know, the flexibility is great. But you are it first and last line of defense, and I imagine in your work that's the case as well.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. I'm a small business as well. I've got my hands in the software business and the marketing and yeah, I find it's feast or famine most of the time to be honest. It's like convergence. Everybody and their mom decides they're like, "oh, that project that I, you know, we've been talking about for a year" and then the new project and then like, we have six projects here, and you're all like, "how is it that you all did this?"

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Exactly. And there's no rhyme or reason to it that I've been able to - you know, there are some patterns that you can figure out but other times you just walk in on a Tuesday and get slammed.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely, that is absolutely for sure. And do you typically have an office that you go to or are you a work from homer as well?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I have an office that I go to and I miss it. I miss my office quite a bit.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. I've been working from home since 2006. But I would get my mind juice - my energy - from going out and speaking at conferences and you know, going to different events and all of that stuff. So, I've definitely you know, for me, I miss that. Right? Connecting with people, that is definitely there. Wow. Oh, my goodness. It was just so fun to see something so organic pop up on Facebook and have it be, because Facebook gets a bad rap and rightly so.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Double edged sword, definitely.

 

Heather Newman 

On many levels, but you know, in the midst of a pandemic, you know, that most of us have not experienced ever, to have something crop up that like it's one of those things where I may be back to back meetings and doing whatever but I pop on there and specifically look at that group because it makes me smile. And I also know I have a ton of friends on it too. And new friends now that you know, are looking at things and stuff. So, it was really cool to see something like that pop up.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Well it makes me really happy.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm so excited. I mean, I frequent New York a lot and I hope to in the future, so I'm definitely I'm like, we're gonna have to go meet at that restaurant and get Raya.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Absolutely.

 

Heather Newman 

Plus, I know a lot of New Yorkers and I'm gonna keep an eyeball on that for introducing you.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah, please do.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, so that would be awesome. Well, you know I ask a question to everybody and it's so cool that you're from New York and then you have the Long Island and you came back.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I got it all, baby.

 

Heather Newman 

We got it all, as they say. And it's super cool that real estate law - people are like, Right? But like you touch people at a point in their lives that's like a major, major point.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

It's true. It's true. And it is very cool to see like a first-time homebuyer closing the deal. There's a lot of highs, a lot of lows.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, right. I mean, I would imagine it's first time homebuyers, but then it's also on the other end of the spectrum as well. Right?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Oh Yeah.

 

Heather Newman 

With selling and closing and taking care of business on the other end, as well. And so I think it's special because you're taking care of people during times that are stressful no matter what's happening, but it's usually a major thing to buy a building or to sell a home or to you know, unfortunately, if somebody passes away, dealing with somebody's estate, and the house and all of that stuff.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah, these are big leaps of faith for people.

 

Heather Newman 

So, it takes kind of a special person to do that.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Oh, that's very sweet of you say. Thank you very much. I'm humbled by a lot of the people that I work with.

 

Heather Newman 

Well, I believe in the law and I believe in lawyers and using them because they save you a lot of headache.  You know, every time I've had an issue, it's been worth it that I've spent the time with my lawyer for my own small business, for contracts.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Ideally. Me as well.

 

Heather Newman 

All that kind of thing, right? And as a lawyer, you have a lawyer, right?  Absolutely. I love my lawyer. Have her on speed dial.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

People you know, will sometimes complain that they can't get ahold of me right away. And my lawyer is literally an ethics lawyer who, you know, speaks on ethics. And, you know, if she doesn't respond more quickly than me, then I feel justified in taking a business day to get back to someone on a major question that has to be researched.

 

Heather Newman 

Absolutely, yeah. And there's a lot of people who own small businesses who listen to the podcast. I think that's something. I wrote a piece a while ago, that was about 25 things to know when you're starting a business, and one of them is get counsel.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Hmm. I'd love to see that piece. It's probably chock full of good advice.

 

Heather Newman 

I will definitely send it over to you. But it was definitely do your due diligence, of, you know, getting a tax accountant, getting a bookkeeper, getting a lawyer. You know, all of those things that it's an output of money when you're thinking about it, but again at the back end, you know...?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Totally. I'm in a lot of groups for women lawyers and women entrepreneurs, and I see a lot of people starting out just overwhelmed with fear. And I certainly have been there myself and I'm still there at times. But the best advice that I was given, you know, when it comes to fear of just navigating the red tape is it's totally worth it to pay the professional.

 

Heather Newman 

Yes.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Just to set things up properly. Just get things right. It's the best investment in your business and your peace of mind.

 

Heather Newman 

I mean, I'm sure you have friends and colleagues, people who are like, "I'm going to start a business" and "I'm gonna do this," and they're like, "I need a domain name and a website." I'm like, "You need a plan, a lawyer, and some cash flow."

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yes, yes.

 

Heather Newman 

That's nice. But wait a minute.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yes - potatoes before the dessert. Yes, Yes, exactly. Although don't you just love dessert first sometimes? Absolutely do. And during this quarantine, it's just you know...

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, all bets are off. I know I was like, "why am I baking brownies?" I never do that.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I just made brownies! I'm making sourdough starter for Pete's sake. We're going to have fresh bread this weekend.

 

Heather Newman 

It is definitely an odd time for sure. So, doing things we don't normally do. And I'm sure you have a lot of small businesses, and I think it's cool when you're involved in those kind of organizations too, like you were just talking about, where we share information and talk about these things, and there is a lot of fear and imposter syndrome out there.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Oh, my goodness, yes. Absolutely.

 

Heather Newman 

Yep. I feel anytime you have an issue with somebody or there's something going on, it's always about fear. It's about that, you know? It's not about necessarily that person or you - it's about that person.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Right.

 

Heather Newman 

Where, I don't know, something happened forever ago that keeps running in their head that tells them that they're not enough for this or that or whatever, you know, and that comes out when people are trying to dream.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Absolutely. That's a really good way of putting it. I do feel that there's more discussion of it now than there was like, maybe 20 years ago. And it's just so important to talk to other people in the same boat so that you know that your feelings are normal.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I know a lot about sort of the tech side of that, but there's lots of organizations, you know, from the small business organizations you were talking about, say in Park Slope, to the Chamber of Commerce to you know, I think my dad belonged to the Rotary and the Kiwanis.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yeah. It's people helping each other and making connections.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. And there's wonderful organizations for women. I'm thinking about the WIT Network which is women in tech. It's one that I'm involved in. And there's one out of Seattle called Swing Shift that helps women get back to work, say, after a break, or after kids. And there's all those organizations and everything's online. And what's happening right now, because of the situation we're in is that Holy cats, there's a lot of content online - for free.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Yes, you're right. Very good point. Bet that creates some fairly ripe opportunities in tech.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. And I think in general, I mean, I've seen like all these, you know, $"29 for this," and I was like, I can't deal with any of that. But I mean, yes, those are great to potentially look at buy and use when things are, you know, off a few months from now for sure.  So, my last question is always (because I think we already talked for about a half hour). How about that?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

That flew by!

 

Heather Newman 

I know - it flew by. It was so cool getting to know you. I always learn so much about people, whether I've known them forever or we've recently met. So, it's really cool to hear your story. I appreciate you sharing that with our listeners.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

My pleasure. Thank you so much for the opportunity. It's a real pleasure to get to know you.

 

Heather Newman 

So, here's my last question.  I love moments and sparks in our lives, and I always ask is there a spark, a moment in your life that you would share with our listeners that really seats you in who you are today? A person, place, thing, moment, book, poem, I don't know something? Sometimes there's more than one.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Definitely Yes. So, I'm a lawyer - can I negotiate for two? Can I get two sparks?

 

Heather Newman 

 Yes, counselor, you can.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you. So, I'd have to say, you know, we discussed my deep, dark trauma of moving to the suburbs as an angsty urban child. And so I was 10 when we did this, and shortly thereafter, I discovered satire by way of Mad Magazine, which just opened the floodgates to a whole world of parody and looking at rules and order and society and in a comic way, which basically, I think helped me through those angsty teenage years. Always looking for the humor. And then getting to college and making friends with people that I really connected with, so I'd have to say community. So, humor and community are really what keep me going.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

That's it, right?

 

Heather Newman 

I was like, "and boom, drop the mic." Okay. Especially in a time - anytime, okay? But especially in a time like this, it's about finding some joy. And you know, YOU just did that for a ton of people with this group,

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Thank you.

 

Heather Newman 

Well, humor and you built a community. (finger snap) Just like that, right?

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

And this is what you're doing with your podcast.

 

Heather Newman 

That's what we do in the world. And that's cool that those are your sparks and that you have a lighter in your hand and you're doing it. I am so happy to have met you, and that you started the group and that I was just like, "She seems cool. I need to get her on the podcast."

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

I'm thrilled to meet you. I've listened to a few episodes of your podcast now and I'll listen to more because you've gotten to speak with some really amazing people and brought out some really, really interesting details and tidbits from them. Looking forward to the deep dive.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah, absolutely. Well, cool. Well, Claudia, thank you for being who you are and bringing light to the world.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Thank you, Heather. Let's connect over a Mexican meal with some Margarita, shall we?

 

Heather Newman 

Uh huh. Ole! Yes. I'm happy to come Park Slope it up sometime in the future, when we're doing those sorts of things. All right, well, thank you so much everybody. Claudia Villanella Murdoch folks - social distancing fashion show.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Oh, yeah, I debated "parade," but it's a show.

 

Heather Newman 

"Another opening, another show." Okay. Yeah. So, Facebook for sure. You know that once this airs that people are gonna be like, "Where is that? How can I get in?"

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Why not?

 

Heather Newman 

Come on and Be nice. Always. Yes. All right. Well, thank you so much.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Thank you, my dear.

 

Heather Newman 

Yeah. Mwah! Appreciate it.

 

Claudia Villanella Murdoch 

Peace out.

 

Heather Newman 

So, everybody, that has been another episode of the Mavens do it Better Podcast. Here's to another beautiful day on this big blue spinning sphere, and everybody stay safe and stay healthy and wash your hands. Thanks.