156: ”For Me, Data Is So Important Because That’s Where You Really Understand If The Theory Makes Sense.” ft Bertha Jimenez Ph.D.

Raphael Harry [00:00:00]:

Welcome to White Label american Podcast. This is a podcast that brings you bold, in depth interviews with interesting people that are mostly immigrants taking down artificial walls one story at a time. This is a podcast that empowers immigrants to share their stories and listen to those of others. Thank you for joining us.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:00:24]:

You it.

Raphael Harry [00:00:51]:

Welcome to another episode of White Label American. Thank you all for joining us today. I am your host, Raphael Harry, and I appreciate everyone who's been supporting us. Thank you for buying our mugs. The new white mug is a heat. People seem to love that mug. So there's other colors. You can get any color of your choice. For those of you who got it for Mother's Day, of your mom's loved it. So yeah, you can get it for Bed Days. There's a lot of stuff too, and we're trying to add new stuff. Like, yes, it's summertime, so you might not need sweaters, but get sweaters now and winter will still come back later on fall and other things. But there are different colors. Don't just settle for white. There's other colors. They're out there. But you can also support us by joining us on Patreon for as low as $3. We have a different podcast out there where we talk about pop culture, discuss hot topics that are related to TV and movies. Immigrants have opinions too, so my good friend Ashwin is there, and other immigrants join me and friends of the podcast and we discuss other stuff. The Bed Day videos are there too. So yeah, join me on Patreon. You support the show, and if you just want to show us extra love without getting anything in return other than a shout out, you can buy us a cup of coffee. We don't have to tell you how much to do anything from the bottom of your heart. Dollars, pounds, telling Euros we don't want Naira. Keep it naira to yourself. Yeah, we love Nigerians, but we don't want Naira. Just give us dollars. We're good with that. Okay, with that being said, let's meet a returning guest. You've met her before, if you're listening to the Mother's Day episode, and you've met her husband a few times, I'm honored to have Betha Jimenez. She's a multifaceted social entrepreneur, mentor, and professor who is she's a mentor. She has an understanding of the entrepreneurial ecosystem and compassing, universities, incubators, venture capitalists, and more. She comes from the deep dive of academic work, and we'll be getting touching on that. I have some questions on that. And she is a co founder of Rise, which we've had up on this podcast a few times. So I'm really happy to have Beta sit down here today to go through her origin story and to go through her journey about how she ended up in New York. And without holding up too much, welcome to the show. Better. How are you doing today?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:03:54]:

Thank you, Rafael. Thank you. For having me here. I'm good. I'm enjoying the nice weather.

Raphael Harry [00:04:00]:

Oh, yes, nice weather is back.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:04:02]:

It's nice.

Raphael Harry [00:04:02]:

Yeah, with nice weather at this time of year. It's my month.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:04:09]:

It's your birthday.

Raphael Harry [00:04:10]:

My birthday is soon. Yeah. Well, as at the time of recording, we're just a few days before my bed day. But by the time people hear this episode, it will be after my birthday. So you can also send me bed day gifts too. Yeah, I love bed day gifts. But yeah, you can either buy stuff or you send me the money. I'll go buy the stuff. My daughter will say yes, she wants to buy stuff for me and she buys all the toys for herself. So yeah, I'm trying to raise a daughter.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:04:39]:

Kids are expensive.

Raphael Harry [00:04:41]:

Oh yeah, tell me about that. Tell me about that. But yes, they don't want to hear about me except when they want to give me support. Let's begin with you, Betha, at the very beginning. So is there a story behind your name and what is the meaning of your names?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:05:03]:

Yeah, so my mom's name is Verta. My grandma name is Verta.

Raphael Harry [00:05:09]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:05:10]:

I'm the third one.

Raphael Harry [00:05:12]:

Wow.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:05:13]:

So it's like a family name. And my middle name is Teresa, and my dad's mom is Teresa. So it's kind of like generational, I guess. Everybody has a saying. My mom wants Berta, my dad wants Teresa. And that's Berta Teresa. That's how it came with I saw your message. Because usually I feel like in our country, noah is like, oh, my name is Mailing, which means the pitch of the flower of the pitch or something. It's more like, oh, I'm named after this person. Or at that time I know a few people that at that time there was this series, the main protagonist was named whether my day and that's why so it's kind of like that usually that's how people I don't know now maybe now it's different in my country. So it was kind of like I think when I was in high school, everybody was trying to understand what the name means and that's why I was like, what is my name? But it's not like there was no story of like your name because of the light or whatever. It's more like a family name and then it means light and Teresa. Something to be with nurture nourishment. And stuff like that. But I don't ended up with my name because of the meaning. It was more because of family.

Raphael Harry [00:06:51]:

Yeah, I relate to that. I think on my side, I think that was kind of similar. Like my grandfather on my mom's side, it was Raphael, Thomas Gimeari. I got Raphael and another cousin of mine was named Thomas. Yeah, but I'm not officially second, but I'm not familiar with women being know the names being carried on with women. I'm used to men on the male side. That's what I'm familiar with.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:07:37]:

I think it's pretty like I don't know now, but the time when I was little, there was always name after their mom or their grandmom. It was kind of like there are two girls, the first one will get like, for instance, in my case, I got my mom, my grandma, my other grandma and my sister got the Virgin Mary name. So there's a lot of like, Maria something in my country. So it's kind of like you name after somebody or you get Maria. My sister is maria. Maria fernandez maria or maria something.

Raphael Harry [00:08:23]:

So there's a lot mary is also common, especially for the Catholics. We have Mary Maria.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:08:34]:

Yeah, but it's always with a second because Maria it's just too common. So Nova is called maria is called Maria. Maria. Gabriela maria fernandez maria. Lisa. It doesn't go by Josh.

Raphael Harry [00:08:52]:

Maria Mary. I think that might be the difference on our side. Because I'm thinking now I know my sister Mary. Auntie Mary.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:09:07]:

Yeah. My cousin is Maria Lordes. Her mom is Maria Lordes. My other cousin is Rosita. Her mom is Rosita. Everybody has a VOC because of family. I think now people are getting more creative. For instance, Nicolas is the name of my grandfather, and Nicolas is my brother has it, my cousin has it. My other cousin has like it's, my nephew has it. So it's like a bunch of most of them have like a middle name. But a lot of Nicolas family in.

Raphael Harry [00:09:46]:

A situation like that, does the family do you address people like that by.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:09:53]:

Their nicknames, I guess the Deep Has. Like, for instance, in my case, my uncle's name is Nicolas. So his kid is Nicolas or Nick. So I guess he got the Nicholas More because his dad has the name, while my brother has Edgar Nicolas. So it's kind of like his middle name. So he has like the other one. It's more like his name because his dad has his name and the other one Roberto Nicolas. So it's kind of like you go more like by your first name, I guess. But they all have and actually I saw like long time ago, when I was a child, like, if I have a child, I will put him Nicolas as his middle name. But my brother took it.

Raphael Harry [00:10:50]:

That's so beautiful. Wow, that's beautiful. I don't think I would have expected to meet someone from Ecuador with Nicolas.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:11:07]:

There's a love.

Raphael Harry [00:11:10]:

But you also reminded me of something that I may have forgotten about that when it comes to naming, not every time that some of us have a reason, sometimes we just go by this person was named we are naming you after somebody. So it might be in the family. Some people name after who the President is, some leaders that they admire and they just, okay, we go name the child. And we do that. Because I know stories like that of kids who got named after some public figure.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:11:55]:

Yeah, that's also, like, there's a town in my country well, actually, like a whole state in my country. It's called manavi. And I think until 20 years or ten years ago, they make them like they banned. They don't make because they always come with really interesting names. And it was like, they will for instance, a girl will be named jin.

Raphael Harry [00:12:23]:

Cola, gin cola, or US.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:12:26]:

Navy.

Raphael Harry [00:12:28]:

I thought those were Dominicans who had those type of names.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:12:31]:

Yeah, but now they Adolf Hitler. Come with all these type of names to the kids, but now there's a law. So if somebody comes to register the name of somebody with US. Navy or usnabi, they will be like, no, you cannot register your kid because they don't want to traumatize the kid.

Raphael Harry [00:12:57]:

I saw a meme was it meme? Or some short video on Instagram one time, and that's how I found out about Dominicans. And when it comes to naming how Dominican kids in New York discovered how their parents picked their names, I just saw this stuff. It looked interesting. That's your name. That's how I named you. Like, what? Oh, man. I wasn't aware of that. And that's how I found out about us. Navi. And they're like, Actually, you named me after the US. Navy?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:13:32]:

Yeah, us. Navi.

Raphael Harry [00:13:36]:

I'm glad I don't run into somebody named Wes navi, because that would have been embarrassing. Your name is US. Navy? No. US. Navy.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:13:48]:

Yeah, different. They made this girl. Her name is lady Diana, like lady d, but the first one is lady, which is not a name.

Raphael Harry [00:14:03]:

I think that's the difference between people in quadro and people like Nigerians. One of my nieces, her nickname is princess. The other one is lady. So some of us, we give you the nicknames and then going by your real name. So they all grew up with the whole family, addressing them princess, lady, but those are just nicknames. Now, I think there might be some people with those real names, but it's not as big as the Dominican and Ecuador. Like, I'm hearing the Adolf Hitler. There's places in Africa that stalin also. Yes, but I think Hitler is the one that because I know I saw an article one time, and people were like, surprised. That what Africans name. Someone hit land, and they saw a guy who I think was in Namibia named Adolf Hitler, and they're like and then, funny enough, he had the most touch. He did it intentionally, but it's just the way he shaved his mustache, and they just got him on the wrong day with the picture. I was like, oh, man. Well, I have a distant cousin on my uncle's side, on my uncle's side, because I have family who are Ghanaians, and his name is Adolf. So when he moves to Nigeria, he's Ghanaian. He will meet people, and they'll be like, what's your name? He's like, Adolf. They say, Where are you from? I'm from Ghana. And your name is Adolf. What's your name? Adolf. That's what my parents name me. Adolf. Like Adolf Hitler. So they they name you Adolf. I'm not why? Why do you name you Adolf? I don't know. My parents like the name Adolf. Adolf. You see, like, the person is thinking, I'm like, Adolf, you're the first Adolf I've met in my life. Like Nigeria. They're wrapping their head, like, around, like, Adolf to be I was just like, oh, you're Adolf. Okay, fine. That's cool, Adolf. And until I moved here, I was like, oh, actually, I've met Germans. How many Germans? I don't think come on. We don't name ourselves the African zoo. Like, oh, I don't okay, that's cool. What you do to that kid.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:16:42]:

There's like, this football player. His name is Michael Jackson.

Raphael Harry [00:16:45]:

Oh, yeah.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:16:46]:

And the last name is Kenyones. You know, it's like, first name Michael.

Raphael Harry [00:16:51]:

Middle name Jackson's, first middle name. Wow.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:16:55]:

And the last name is, of course, Kenyones.

Raphael Harry [00:16:58]:

Nobody knows that name. Yeah, I think there's a guy, Nelson Mandela, but I think he's Brazilian.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:17:05]:

Yeah, they do a lot. So that's why I was like, why?

Raphael Harry [00:17:10]:

Because I remember I had that name. Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela plays football. When that kid better be good, because if you're not good, the insults are going to be coming. Like, your name is Nelson Mandela. You can't even play football. Why are you playing? Why are you here? Stop setting up your kids like that.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:17:30]:

Yeah, don't do that to your kid.

Raphael Harry [00:17:34]:

Like Michael Jackson. I never knew he had a last name. I just thought his real name, his last first and last name was Michael Jackson. I was like, wow, that's quite cool. Are you going to be doing the moonwalk after you score a goal? Everybody's expecting him to do that. If he scores a goal, we're always like, okay, you're going to do it? No. Disappointed. Disappointed. That's what disappointing. Are you going to sing? Are you going to grab the mic and do something? No. Poor man is just like, hey, man.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:18:05]:

I'm just a sucker player.

Raphael Harry [00:18:08]:

Sucker player. I don't do all that. I don't do karaoke. No. What's all this you all expect from me? I'm sorry, man. Named Michael Jackson. We just want some dance moves. Yeah, we came here to see a concert, that's all. I'm sorry. I love this question about names. I don't know where to take you, but yeah, it's beautiful. So can you introduce us to your place of birth and what your childhood was like?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:18:39]:

Yeah. So I'm from Ecuador. I grew up in a city called Waiakil, which is the biggest city in my country. It's not like the capital is Quito, but we have the biggest population. And there was also like because we are by the port, so we are like we're in the port. Port a city. There's a lot of commerce and there's a lot of business, kind of. So that's where I grew up have a pretty good childhood. Most of my family lives in Ecuador. So it was really nice growing up with my mom, my dad, my siblings, and then go every weekend to my one grandma, going to the other grandma with my cousins. And then it's like we're 2 hours no, so we're 1 hour away from the closest beach. So we have a house in the beach. So we'll go sometimes during the summer on long weekends to play us. So it was really nice, like, waking up, like going to the beach, like getting like, this little shellfish. So it was a pretty good childhood. We also went a lot to we went to the highlands because we have family in Quito, so we'll go to the highlands and go around.

Raphael Harry [00:20:11]:

So Keto is the highlands?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:20:12]:

Yeah, keto is like 3200 meters from.

Raphael Harry [00:20:21]:

Above altitude, above sea level. Wow.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:20:24]:

Yeah, so it's pretty high.

Raphael Harry [00:20:25]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:20:26]:

So one of the things you learn is, like, once you land in Quito or you go by car, whatever you do, you cannot run because you are like Waiki is at sea level. It's like 2 meters above sea. So it's like, pretty much sea level. So you need to get adjusted. Otherwise you get pretty sick. You can get pretty sick. And I remember when Ashwin first time came to Ecuador, we went to Keto and I told him, you don't run in Keto because it's really high. So you can get really sick. Like, you'll get your low blood pressure. You don't realize when you get there until you start doing it. So he ran to get the bags, and I was like I was like.

Raphael Harry [00:21:13]:

No, don't do that.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:21:15]:

And then, of course, he got sick, but everybody got sick. Everybody got sick in the highlands. But I really enjoy because we will go around. We used to travel a lot with my family, especially to the highlands and then to the beach. We also have some family. They own some land in another province. Council of Three also will go to their kind of farm. It was really nice. Then you eat so much, and I love different type of animals and plantains and all the stuff, and you go to the horses and everything. So it was like pretty nice childhood. So we'll travel all over Ecuador. We also went to Galapagos, but it was very beautiful. I never went to the jungle because one time we planned to go to a jungle and then the trip got canceled. And then for whatever reason, we never.

Raphael Harry [00:22:23]:

Went back as kids.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:22:25]:

As kids.

Raphael Harry [00:22:26]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:22:26]:

Yes. But yeah, it was nice. We also will go to Miami a few times as kids to Disney. I think I've been to Disney with my family like seven, eight times. I was nice. And then we have family well, I still have family in Cleveland, so we'll go visit them in Cleveland. I used to have family in New york, so I will go.

Raphael Harry [00:22:56]:

Part of your childhood was coming to New York?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:22:58]:

Yeah, new York, Cleveland, Miami, orlando was kind of like doing that little trip, so it was fun. I really enjoyed my childhood. Each part is different. For instance, growing waiaki, you see so many. It's very commerce oriented, very business, and I think everybody's like trying to hustle and you see a lot of the frugal innovators. Then you go to a beach and then you appreciate a nice sunset. It's so nice. You are like right, the house is right in front of the beach, so you see like, sunset every day. So it's so beautiful. Or going to the highlands and seeing different. I think ecora has beautiful a scenery and I grew up watching all of it. And Galapos, of course, this beautiful island with very diverse flora, fauna. So I love every time we went to travel, we have a lot of fruits, but it's interesting that even though we're like same country, you know, like, the fruit tastes a little bit different depending where you are, where you are. An equator is tiny. It's a tiny country, but we are so.

Raphael Harry [00:24:36]:

Diverse. It sounds large.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:24:38]:

No, it's like I see in Texas there could be like three or four equators. Wow, we're tiny. Tiny, but we're super diverse. So I grew up with a lot of exposure to city nature, beach. I also went a couple of times to US. So it was also pretty nice. So, yeah, I did travel a lot and also I went to an American school, so I also was exposed to the language, the English language, since I was a little kid. So I guess that's also super helpful to come to the US.

Raphael Harry [00:25:29]:

Yeah. So with that being said, what do you consider your favorite childhood memory to be?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:25:38]:

Okay, so I was really little, but do you remember the comet highly comet?

Raphael Harry [00:25:49]:

I remember the name, yeah.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:25:51]:

So it was going to come I don't remember when when I was really little. And you can see it. I don't know. I don't know if it has come again or it's not going to come until like 200 years after. But Aria was making this big deal about the comet coming. So I was how old was like four or five? I was little and my grandfather said we should go to see the comet. So we all like, you know, that time the the house in the beach belonged to my grandfather, so it was like a really nice house. And so he told all his grandkids and family to let's go to a beach to see the common Halle. So we all went to the beach because in the city you cannot see it because there's so many lights at that time. It's like a small town, so there's not that many buildings. You can see all the starts. So I remember we all went to watch the comet Halle and so we were just there waiting. And I remember seeing the comet because the sky was so you can see every little star. It was so beautiful. So I still remember I don't remember it was a weekend or what day, but I remember we all pack our stuff and went to see the comet. I don't know when the comet is coming again, but probably it's going to come. I think it's going to come when I'm around like 80 or 90. So who knows? They're going to see the comet again.

Raphael Harry [00:27:33]:

You'll be the one gathering the grandkids. Come on, let's go.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:27:40]:

Let's go outside. You have to see it outside. If you see it in the city, you cannot see it.

Raphael Harry [00:27:45]:

So did the comments look beautiful? How do you describe that? Because I don't think I've ever seen a comment.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:27:54]:

You see the tail of the comment. So you see like a star with a long, long tail. So I remember we have my grandfather got some of these what's the name? Telescopes. Yeah. So you can see it. Of course, it's like comets go maybe like 1 minute after comet is gone. But it's just really magnificent to see this thing that goes in the sky, and it's so bright. And even though there's other stars, it just has like this hollow and this little it was really beautiful. And it was also like this. It wasn't not just a comet. It was like that. We all went we stay up night because, you know, I was little, so I was not supposed to stay up too late. But it was really nice to see how the comet went, and you see all the scenes and everybody was trying to see the comet because it's not going to happen in a long time.

Raphael Harry [00:29:00]:

Yeah. For many people, that's a once in a lifetime experience. Yeah, I would have loved to experience something like that. I actually wrote down a space related question for you, and I was like, wow, I wasn't expecting to hear this. So I might still come back to that question later on. But that was beautiful. That was beautiful. That's something that most definitely would have loved to experience now that I'm a parent. And every once in a while you get those questions about stars. And my kid goes to sleep. Before my kid was born, I'd always thought about it, like, maybe I should have this what do you call them?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:29:54]:

The lights that yeah, stars.

Raphael Harry [00:29:58]:

Maybe put that in a room and turn off the lights. And then we watched Miss Marvel, and she likes to go to sleep with lights off, but she has something similar. So my kid already had has in her room, but she likes switching the lights to different colors.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:30:19]:

Yeah.

Raphael Harry [00:30:19]:

And after seeing one of her favorite superheroes sleeps with something like that, she's like, yeah, okay, now only want it on this color now. I'm like, okay, all right, now we.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:30:31]:

Have a lot of, like, those things because we wanted also to buy one forever, because I don't know how much he appreciates it. But.

Raphael Harry [00:30:42]:

Clara loves I think sometimes I chill and I'm bad, and we just talking about, oh, I'm going to the stars and this and my spaceship. Yeah, we play along. And she's like, you want to come on spaceship? Yeah. Okay. I'll drop you off here. All right. Just want to drop me off in the rock? Yeah. Okay. Well, hopefully you remember to pick me up, though. Give me enough oxygen while I'm here, that kind of thing. But just let them run wild with their imagination. But that's just the most part of it. But sometimes my good chill in the backyard and just look up. But it's something that at Lincoln Center pre Pandemic, that's even before Clara was born, I used to go there a lot to watch the opera, and you see a lot of guys with a telescope out there looking up. And one day I spoke to one of them, and they're like, yeah, we'll come out here a lot easier to see the sky, watch the stars from you. I was like, thought about this, I guess lost interest for a while. So maybe one day I'll come out here and choose you guys. And then Pandemic happened. I was like and I was thinking about maybe I should come out there one of these days with my kid experience.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:32:09]:

I remember when I was little, there was this book about the so I always mix it up, like, when the sun when it's the day and the sun goes, the moon goes on top of the sun. That's a lunar eclipse. Or it's a solar eclipse.

Raphael Harry [00:32:26]:

When the sun goes on the moon.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:32:28]:

No, for instance, if we go out and then the moon goes in front of the sun, and then the days, they gets dark, is that a solar eclipse or like a moon?

Raphael Harry [00:32:42]:

Yeah, I mix that up too.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:32:45]:

Anyway, I used to read this book about this little chicken who it's going around, minding herself, and then she sees, like, the stone is being eaten, and then she starts telling everybody, and nobody believes her. And then she goes around and try to alert all the animals in the farm. And then finally people start looking like it's getting dark, and I was so afraid. And then whatever, the song gets out because the eclipse pass, and I saw it was, like, so cool. And then I think there was an eclipse. Remember, it was during Trump's era. And I remember my favorite book as a child, and I tried to watch the clips. It's just like, it's hard in the city.

Raphael Harry [00:33:41]:

Very brief, too.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:33:42]:

It was very brief. It wasn't like in the chicken book.

Raphael Harry [00:33:46]:

I didn't have the glasses.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:33:49]:

They had recommended some sort of glasses.

Raphael Harry [00:33:52]:

We know who stared at it.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:34:00]:

Now it's easier with, you know, there's like, this type of eclipse. There's this type, but I always try to kind of if able to see or like, there's the pink moon or something like that, I try to see it because I just think it's so interesting. And maybe one day when Edgar is a little older and there's something like Comet Halle, I will rent. I'll go somewhere, because in New York, it's just hard to see.

Raphael Harry [00:34:31]:

Did you catch the blood moon when it happened?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:34:34]:

Yeah, I tried, but if you really want to see it, you have to get out.

Raphael Harry [00:34:42]:

Yeah, you get out.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:34:43]:

So you see it, but it's not.

Raphael Harry [00:34:45]:

Like yeah, I relate to that. That's beautiful, though. So after experiencing that, what did younger Betha want to be? Let's say when you were between the ages of eight and 15. If I were to bring that better, if I had my time travel machine and I bring that better here right now, say, yeah, what you gonna be?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:35:25]:

So I think, like, that's like a pretty, like, boring answer, I guess, because, like, I didn't have, like, my dad, he was electrical engineer, and he owned his own company. So I just wanted to be an electrical engineer and continue my dad's company. I was like, I'm going to grow it up until there's this building. He owns two office, and I want it. I'm like, I'm going to buy the whole building, and I'm going to have the whole thing. So I wanted just to be an electrical engineer or, like any type of engineer, but if a few years before I have the typical one, I want to be an astronaut, or I want to be I used to go to ballet classes, so it's like a ballerina or something like that. But then I was like, no, I want to be an engineer as my dad.

Raphael Harry [00:36:27]:

So engineer, astronaut, still within the same science. So your favorite childhood memory? I was trying to see if you were how far away you went from your childhood memory. Your favorite childhood memory. I'm seeing that connecting tread is in there. So when you decided to go to college, you started college in Ecuador.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:36:54]:

So I study mechanical engineering in Ecuador.

Raphael Harry [00:36:58]:

You staying on track.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:36:59]:

Yeah. And the reason is, like, when I was in high school, we have physics and all this stuff. I there's, like, something called, like, International, but bachelor, International Baccalaureate, something like that. And basically you have to think, you have to say a little bit more to get that exam and pass the exam, whatever. So I didn't like electrical engineering, so I was like, sorry, I don't like the theories of were too abstract for me. I didn't like computer science. I didn't like so but I still really like physics, so I like mechanical engineering because it's, like, very tangible. So electricity, I don't know. You can imagine how the electricity flow or whatever mechanical you can see the turbine move, and then. Generates whatever. So it's like more tangible for me.

Raphael Harry [00:38:06]:

You went from the theory to the practice, the practical, you are more hands on.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:38:19]:

Yeah, so that's why I like more so that's why I studied mechanical engineering.

Raphael Harry [00:38:24]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:38:26]:

It was funny because when I was a kid, I used to talk a lot about how my dad's doing this. My mom is an engineer. She studied civil engineering, but she never I think she practiced, but when she was like right off college and then she got married and then she became a professor. So she was being a professor, like, she'll go from eight to twelve and then we'll come back, she will be there. So she was part time professor, but she didn't do engineering projects anymore. So for me, I saw like, now I'm a professor, but I was thinking, why did she study to be a professor? You know, now I'm doing the same as her. But anyway, like, I saw like when my dad was doing like the projects he was managing and like, they were like some of them were like pretty big, like a whole neighborhood or whatever, or even half Brooklyn. He will do the whole thing. So I thought it was really cool what he was doing. So I used to say it a lot. And then I got my degree and my dad told my brother, like, oh, who knew she will become an engineering, an engineer. And my brother was like, she will talk about engineer all her life. I think you were not listening to her, but she was talking about being an engineer all her life.

Raphael Harry [00:40:04]:

Yeah. Sounds like you got the engineering bug. Wow. So your siblings, any one of them an engineer or you're the only person who turned out to be an engineer.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:40:20]:

So my brother also study my roster, electronic electronics, engineering. But every year he will say, this is the last year he wanted to be a designer. And my dad was like, Why? If you become an engineer, you have all my contact, you have everything kind of laid down for you. And every year he'll go back to study engineering and then the year is over and he will go back to my dad says, like, no, I want to be a designer.

Raphael Harry [00:41:00]:

What type of designer?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:41:02]:

More like a branding and advertisement and that type of designer? Yeah. So like a graphic designer designer.

Raphael Harry [00:41:11]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:41:12]:

So he only have two classes left at the engineering school. And he said, that's it, I'm quitting. And my dad was like, well, you have two classes, literally like two classes to get the degree. So my dad make an agreement with him. If you finish, you don't have to finish now, but you have to finish engineering degree one day in a year, two years, I'll pay for the graphic designer. So he ended up having but now he's a professor at branding. So he ended up with the branding. That's what he really liked.

Raphael Harry [00:41:54]:

If you got a passion for it, you got a passion for it. I get it. And a lot of us is similar to what from my side. A lot of parents did that, too. Doctors. You got to be doctors. We have the connections to put you through. Go join military or join become an accountant, walk in banking, that kind of thing. But the kid doesn't have a passion for that.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:42:35]:

But he said that by going through the engineering school did help him understand better the graphic point I was going.

Raphael Harry [00:42:42]:

To make, too, because even someone who had been on the podcast can check out Gajinda, who I fondly referred to as Uncle G. He's retired now. He's the oldest guest that I've had on the podcast. He went to school for engineering in India. It's very competitive. Institute is called that's, like the famous school of all the tops to get into that school, and he got into that school that is like their scholarship and crazy. And he got into that school way back in the days. He's going to be 86 this year or 87, 80. And he goes into the school for engineering, some scholarship, and he's like, no, I'm not feeling it's not my passion. I have a passion for this. But however, he's like, I like to draw. I'm good at this. And he wants to go into architecture, and everybody's like, no, you don't do this. But however, he found a professor who was like, okay, we can walk with you. All right, let's push him into architecture. But most people are like, no, you should continue on this part. But it was through that same engineering that he wasn't feeling, but he still saw that there was something in there that he found a way into his passion, which was architecture. And that's what he used to become a world famous architect. Just because the person does not feel 100% buy into that path doesn't mean that they can't find a way niche through it. And designing engineering includes a lot of drawing and designing, too.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:44:41]:

It helps you understand a little bit, like, different mindsets and different perspective when you are in contact with people that are not asked whatever you're studying.

Raphael Harry [00:44:57]:

I'm also glad that your dad came around and wasn't one of the experience that's like, I put you through, you go stay there, you go die, junior, and that kind of thing. I'm always glad to hear of such stories that he saw that, okay, I will just do this. And he reached a compromise, too. It's beautiful. I'm glad to hear that your brother got to be a designer. I think in the old days, there are too many people who just had engineering and thought you have to it's only limited to one thing. And I'm like, even if you go look at the ancient world and you see places like Egypt, places that we still can't explain how they did certain things that they did. There's engineering and there's designing. There's a lot of things that if you break it down, you're like, wow, all these things are related into stuff that we have today. And we just need to stop thinking so one dimensional like we do in the present. And you be able to allow students find their niche and their passion and go where they need to go and solve problems that needs to be solved. So enough about that. I'm just going to say something so that Josh will be able to figure out what to do. So we'll take a quick break and when we'll come back, we shall dive into your being in America and how you went about that. Hi, everyone. If you're new to the podcast or a returning listener and you enjoy what we are doing here, did you know that you could enjoy more of our content and also support our work via Patreon? For as little as $3 per month, you get access to loads of bonus content that you find nowhere and be the first to latest news. Don't miss out. Go to Patreon.com Whitelabelamericanpod or just search for White Labelamerican podcast on Patreon. P-A-T-R-E-O-N. Welcome back. Thank you all for staying with us. And before I continue, I forgot to let you all know in the audience if you guys have anything to share about your names. Yeah, let me know. Let me know if people still go by Adolf or Adolf Hitla. What are the fun things you all do with names? Usnavi. You all can compete with Ecuador or the Dominicans. I've not had anybody from Dominican Republic on the podcast, so, yeah, I'm working on that. I know somebody reached out to me today about wanting to talk about voodoo. I think. Was it Dominican or Haiti? Dominican Republic. I thought it was Portuguese, but I work on that. But yeah, audience, let me know. Share the stories with me. Let me know what's going on in your places and let me know if you're one of those went to university for something and then found a passion in different course. And yeah, share them. Let's know. Tag me on social media, how to contact me on the website. Hit the contact button or you can leave a voice note. Also. So back to Betha. You are now with mechanical engineering. Engineering. And you finished with that. Yeah, I did finish my you finished your bachelorette. So when did you decide to start looking at America, like moving here as an adult?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:48:55]:

It is funny because when I was little and when I was 21, all my life I wanted to study abroad and go back to ecology. So I will go study, learn this and then apply it and to be part of my dad's business, because I remember I told you I wanted to continue if I wanted to get ideas and kind of implement it to innovate. He has a construction business, but I wanted to innovate and put, like, new stuff. So I was like, okay, that will be the scene. But all my life, I was like, I'm going to go back to Ecuador. So it was never like, I'll go to the US. And I'll stay in the US. That was my sister's dream, which, by the way, she's in Ecuador and I'm here. That was her dream, to study in the US. And she came, but then she went back to Ecuador. She wanted to stay in the US. So my dream was never to stay abroad. My dream was to go abroad and come back. Okay, so then after I finish my undergrad degree, I start working in an environmental consulting company. And actually there I was working in air quality control and noise control and those type of things, like how they like, I was kind of like, assessing how they are doing different manufacturing companies or energy companies. But then it's like when I realized that even though I like engineering, I like more like the project management itself than the engineering aspect. And then I decided I wanted so first I saw, like, an MBA, but I like more mastering engineering and technology management because it's more related with just engineering. MBA is more like, more broad, more business. I don't care if I have to manage. I'm not really interested of managing, for instance, like a flower shop. I'm more interesting of managing tech projects or engineering related projects. Because when I was working in this company, in this consulting company, I was a junior, but then I was doing a lot of this monitoring, air quality control. You have to climb a chimney and measure the missions. And I hate it. I hated doing all this stuff. And I was like, why I'm doing this when I can figure out a cheaper way than me to do that in a more efficient way? So I put together a team of technical people that were pretty good at doing that. They were cheaper than me. And I put a whole program. I wrote a manual, created a manual for the company and make it way more efficient when I continue doing that. And I saw I really like it that I was able to kind of, like, take this project. Like, first, I didn't want to do the monitoring I thought was, like, kind of useless for me to be there. And I saw, like, there's an opportunity here, and these people are really trained on doing that, and they're really good. Even if the equipment broke, sometimes the equipment will break for whatever reason, because I was doing with a senior engineer, which was even worse. Why would you send a senior engineer to be doing measuring emissions? You have to stay there the whole day and just have to wait, measure so two Co, and sometimes the equipment will break and because we're not good at repairing electronic stuff. We will have to go back, send this equipment to repair. It was a little dumb, so instead I said, why we shouldn't, like, the technicians, that if something goes bad, they will know they will be able to repair at the spot instead of like and sometimes you, you know, sometimes you'll be out of the city doing these emissions. I have done emissions in the middle of the ocean in these oil platforms, and you are in the middle of the ocean, the equipment breaks. You have lost a lot of time and money.

Raphael Harry [00:53:52]:

Wow.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:53:53]:

So I was like, Why are we doing this? So inefficient way, they don't need us. They need us to understand kind of like, what are the if you see so two in bunker, oil energy place energy power facility. And it's like, between this range, we as engineers, we're not like, okay, this is a normal range. If it's zero, so two, you're like, okay, there's something wrong with my equipment. It has to be something. So you need us to kind of put the ranges, the numbers that you're expecting to see. But the measurement itself could be done by anyone. And repairing equipments, we are, like, the worst people to do it. You need the knowledge to understand if what you're seeing is correct expected values. But if you just put it on a paper and somebody is doing the measurements and it's out of range, you're like, okay, something's wrong with my equipment. Let's check my equipment. But if you're like, this is the range that I'm expected, then you continue measurement, continue measures. Especially, we couldn't repair we didn't have the skill sets to repair the equipment if there was something wrong.

Raphael Harry [00:55:33]:

By discovering this problem and discovering so in a way, you discovered your passion wasn't in wasting time.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:55:43]:

Yeah. Never.

Raphael Harry [00:55:44]:

By the same time, you had a passion for not only saving time, but also for managing.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:55:53]:

Yeah. And I created a whole program which we put people that have the skill sets for doing this, and they were not there in the company all the time. It was just like, when they need it, they will hire them, they will send them. It was way cheaper. And then you don't want to go back to the city and say, no, we couldn't measure because the equipment broke. And there were also other things that were done wrong. For instance, sometimes they didn't check the equipment. So I was like, little since, like, checking the equipment before heading out to the make a whole manual doing that.

Raphael Harry [00:56:42]:

And I was like, a standard operating procedure.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:56:47]:

And then I didn't have to measure again because I hate it. It's really tiring. And sometimes it's like sometimes you need somebody that I will go, I will drop them, make everything is going well, but then I won't stay the whole day. I will just go back and just write reports and do stuff like that. So I really like the managerial part of doing that. So that's why I decided to study engineering and technology management. So I went to Portland, Oregon.

Raphael Harry [00:57:30]:

Oh, yeah.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:57:32]:

So I applied to a bunch of.

Raphael Harry [00:57:34]:

Where I was expecting.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:57:35]:

Yeah, I applied to a bunch of places, but I wanted to go to a place that I didn't want to go to New York because I've been living. So the way it's in equitable and in many places is like, you live with your parents until you get married.

Raphael Harry [00:57:51]:

Yes.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:57:52]:

So it's not like you're 18 and you're out. I was with my parents all the time until in my case, until I went aside abroad. So I didn't want to go to a place that I saw, even though Waikili is like, what, like three and a half million people, I didn't want to go to a place like a crazy place, someone to go, like a smaller place where I will feel safe. First time being alone, first time managing, even cooking. So I wanted to go to a more calm based place. So I applied to a few places. I also applied to Case in Cleveland because my aunt is there. But then the one that kind of managed my attention more and I also had, like, a better scholarship deal was in Portland, and I ended up going Portland, which is so far from everyone. And then it was nice, but after two years, I got bored. It's very different. It's a beautiful city.

Raphael Harry [00:59:15]:

Yeah. Let's talk about the difference. So you arrived in Portland. Have you been to Portland before?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:59:21]:

Never.

Raphael Harry [00:59:22]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:59:23]:

I just basically was, like, applying to a lot of places.

Raphael Harry [00:59:28]:

All right, so you arrived in Portland. What was your first experience that let you know you're no longer at home and this is a brand new place for you?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [00:59:42]:

First, I applied to places that have, like they were engineering, technology management. So this was one of the programs that I really like. So first it was my first time flying by myself. Except if I had been, my company will send me to Keto, but I know Keto, so it's not like a big deal. It's the first time I'm flying by myself to outside the country. But before that, I was trying to figure out how to live, how to find a place. So I wrote to a professor. So I was going through the website of the department at Portland and I saw this lady. I was like, oh, my God. This lady looks aquarian. Like, I will swear that she's Aquarian. So I wrote to her and I checked her bio, and actually her family was her mom was from Quito, so I was like, I knew she has an equality of face and her dad was from Costa Rica. So I wrote to her and say, hey, how are you? I introduced myself and say, I'm from Ecuador. And I told her I just got accepted and I have no idea how to even find a house. First, like the whole thing, the living part. So she told me there's like a group, it's like a Christian group that receive families, that receive people and you can stay with them the whole time or you just can stay with them one, two weeks and then find your own place. So I reach out to the group and they put me with a family in Portland. Yeah. And they also take people from the airport to the family. So they have like the whole thing?

Raphael Harry [01:01:44]:

Yeah, the whole set up.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:01:46]:

So it was nice because I was with the family and I decided I'm not going to stay with them. It was one, it was pretty far from school and second, I wanted to have my own experience of was it.

Raphael Harry [01:02:01]:

Like the family were dropping you at school?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:02:04]:

No, they'll tell me like, you have to take this bus and then wow. But also the part of me of going abroad was kind of like to be able to do things by myself and being with a family kind of like defeat the purpose. It was funny because they are like in Portland, they have no idea about the Latin American culture. So they receive me with Mexican food, which is really yummy, nothing to do with me. And then the next day they also got Taco Bell. So I was like for a week I was eating like tacos and Mexican food which I was like, oh my God, I'm so tired. So they think like Latino, Mexican, they were pretty nice. And then I found a place. This professor has this friend who was looking for a roommate. So she introduced me to her friend. We got a lot. Initially I was trying to get my own place. Yeah, they were really expensive so I couldn't afford it. Also, I have no idea what a studio means because in my country they say I'm renting a small suite, which basically means I'm renting a one bedroom New York size, which is not like a 600 700 sqft bedroom is considered like a small mini suite. So when somebody said like, oh, we only have studios, I thought, oh, it's probably like a suite, that's good enough. And then they show me the studio and I'm like, oh my God, there's no house. I almost cried when I saw it. I was like, no, I cannot live here, this is horrible. So then when I met this girl, her name is Lucy. We got along and we went looking for a place together. She had another roommate, so they were looking for three people, so it will be cheaper. So we ended up in a house that was like still. I couldn't walk to school, but it was like ten minutes by bus. It wasn't bad. So that's how I ended. I guess from the beginning I was like, I'm not home anymore. But at least the first week or so, I have some people that were really nice, that helped me find my way, which I think if I was just sent to a hotel or something, like, that would have been pretty brad, because you don't even know how to look for things.

Raphael Harry [01:05:04]:

Yeah, that would have been a whole different ballgame entirely. So you did two years in Portland, and how did you was that after which you ended up in New York?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:05:19]:

Yeah, so I finished I did my Masters there, and I like it. It's just like, I thought, I like nature. Then I went to Portland, and I was like, these people are really into nature. I'm not a nature person at all. Oh, my God. Everybody was, like, dressed up like if they were going hiking every day. Okay, I not as nature as I saw that web. I'm more city than nature. And I was like, this is a little too much for me. So I finished my Master's in Portland, and at the time, I was a little bit confused of what to do in my life. Had a boyfriend, have breakup with the boyfriend. Should I go back to Ecuador? Everybody's like, applying for gain. I don't know if you know what's an opt it's like a permission when you are a student to continue working for a year in the country. So I apply for that, but I apply looking for jobs in February. I'm looking like, what should I do with myself? Like, where I'm going. Kind of, like, trying to find myself. And everybody has applied for opt by April. I'm applying for Opt in June because I'm not really sure what to do with my life. And then I stayed the summer because I was teaching Spanish in Portland. They gave me a full scholarship if I taught Spanish, which is really hard. Of course I can speak Spanish, but it's hard to teach a language. It's very different to teach your language than to know how to speak your language. So I have to learn how to teach Spanish. So during the summer, our salary will triple. So they're like, do you want to teach Spanish during summer? I was like, yes, I want to teach Spanish because I don't have money to live in Portland. So I taught Spanish. And then I was still like, oh, what should I do? Should I apply for jobs? But it was just like, I really didn't know what to do with my life at the time. So I decided I'm just going to finish summer and go to Ecuador. So I did, and I went back, and I said to my dad, can I work with you? So he's like, sure, come help me. So then I learned about managing a little bit, like construction management and a little bit about making budgets and those stuff. But I really miss doing research. Like, I miss it so much because with my dad, it will be more like I will learn more about the practice itself of construction, of how to put together budget project, especially. Budget is super important when you're doing construction. But I wasn't doing that much research at all. And I really missed the research part, which I was doing a lot when I was doing my Masters. And I miss it. And I said to my family, I think I want to go back to do my PhD. And they're like, oh my God, stop studying and I apply. But this time I wanted to go back to New York because I told you I had family in New York. I don't have family anymore. So that when I was in Portland, I visited my family in Cleveland, but I also visit my family in New York. And I thought, oh, my God. Why? I was so afraid of this place because I found it like, oh, this place is so nice.

Raphael Harry [01:09:29]:

Yeah, we all hear stuff. I get it.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:09:32]:

And I've been in New York as a child.

Raphael Harry [01:09:35]:

But it's different when you become an adult and the stuff you are hearing, you've been hearing from childhood movies and all that.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:09:47]:

My childhood memories. New York is a bronze. Like the subway, like the punks. So I went to New York when I was doing my Masters, and I was like, oh my God, I love this place. So I applied to different places. I applied to Portland, but it was like my backup plan if I don't get New York. And I applied to New York. And I got accepted in New York.

Raphael Harry [01:10:15]:

So I was like, okay, where in New York?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:10:18]:

Let's go to New York. NYU.

Raphael Harry [01:10:21]:

NYU. Another NYU. We got a bunch of NYU on this podcast. NYU needs to come sponsor this podcast. So for the sake of time, we don't have much time left. I will have to jump forward. We need to bring you back for part two. In fact, you and Ashwin need to come sit down so you can all talk about rise again. Hopefully Astrin will allow you to talk. That's the problem. Astrin talks a lot too.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:10:44]:

That's true.

Raphael Harry [01:10:49]:

Let me see. I'm going to just ask quick questions now because we don't really have much time left. So you go to NYU. What was that experience like for you?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:11:06]:

That's like a long answer.

Raphael Harry [01:11:09]:

Just break it down as short as possible next time you come. We'll dive into NYU proper. And then I'm just going quickly.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:11:21]:

It was nice. It was nice because I already have the experience of living by myself. I already have the experience of being in another city. So some of the stuff were kind of like, okay, I already been there, done that. Like finding a place to live and stuff like that. And then also, of course, it's not the same doing research at a Master level than a PH level. It's way, way more intense. But some of the stuff I kind of understood better than when I was in Portland. But it was nice because first I have access to since I was kind of like having access to New York City, it was really nice having access to I was in a small my faculty is pretty tiny on the PhDs, which is good and bad. Good because you can interact more with your professors. Because at the time I started my PhD, there were one full time PhD. Then it was me, the other full time PhD, and one visitor scholar and two part time PhDs. So it's super tiny. You can talk with the professors more at the same time you miss this peer interaction. But then we also were allowed to take other classes. Like, I was in the engineering school, and I was able to take classes at Wagner and at Stern. So it's kind of cool because you're able to know other fields. So it was nice. It was really enriching and really nice to go around small faculty, which is pros and cons of, like, I don't have any dog, but at the same time, you know more people in the faculty. So it was like doing the PhD research. It's like a really long story. Then I'm going to tell you now, but it's really interesting because then I learned that I really, really like collecting data, and I'm still testing things for research even now when I'm a professor. For me, data is so important because that's where you really understand if the theory makes sense. So that's something I got it from NYU. And then the other part is, like, because you're doing your PhD and you submit your papers to different parts of the world, I was able to travel all over, which I was doing before, but now I was being paid to go to I went to Thailand, I went to Shanghai, I went to Mykonos, I went to Florence and Rome. I went to Kenya. So that was fun, too. All right, talk about your stuff.

Raphael Harry [01:14:35]:

Those are stuff we're going to cover in part two. Most definitely. And I have stuff to ask you about AI also, so we'll have to pause it there because I don't have enough time. That's my fault. The stuff I should have done earlier, but I didn't do it. But that's on me, not you. Because I love to get into all that, and we don't even have enough time to go into rice. But however, I can't let you leave without asking you some fun questions. Sure, everything has been fun, but there are some fun questions that I still have to get out of you. So you're in New York. You from Ecuador. You hung out with the forest people of Portland a little bit when it comes to cuisine. Oh, there's this question from Ashwin. I'll see if I can still ask that when it comes. To cuisine. What is your favorite? Go to cuisine? Well, you're loyal to Ecuador. You got so many good food here.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:15:47]:

I think it's, like, the one that comforts me.

Raphael Harry [01:15:52]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:15:57]:

For instance, some stuff like Sequoia boy, which is like a sort of curry like dish. It's not my favorite aquarium dish, but it's the one that I know how to do it fast when I make color. That's not the thing that I asked for the first day. After a week, I will ask for a second for you, but that's the one that I know how to do pretty fast. Pretty well.

Raphael Harry [01:16:28]:

There's a variation of that from other countries too, right?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:16:31]:

Yeah, I think they have some similar.

Raphael Harry [01:16:34]:

Yeah, I think I've had that at the Ecuadorian place on Fifth Avenue. Yes. I think I've had it because I'm like it's ringing familiar. I think I've had it.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:16:45]:

So I do kind of grew up with a Korean food, but I still like different cuisines. Like Indian food. Okay. I like it. It's really nice.

Raphael Harry [01:17:04]:

Which Indian food is your favorite?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:17:06]:

Tandoris.

Raphael Harry [01:17:07]:

Tandoris.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:17:08]:

Okay. Chicken than.

Raphael Harry [01:17:13]:

Good stuff.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:17:15]:

I like more, like dry stuff.

Raphael Harry [01:17:17]:

Okay.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:17:19]:

For Indians, they like some juice and stuff, and I was surprised every time I go and I ask for, like, a bunch of dry stuff, they're like, don't you want one with no, I want this thing like that. But I also like Mexican. I do like that family fed me Mexican food for a week. But I like Peruvian.

Raphael Harry [01:17:48]:

The potland effect still.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:17:49]:

Yeah, peruvian is nice. Italian is good. Italian is also good.

Raphael Harry [01:17:55]:

It's hard not to like Italy.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:17:56]:

It's hard. There's so many foods. It's kind of hard. But, yeah, if I have to come.

Raphael Harry [01:18:09]:

For my bed, there'll probably be some Nigerian food there too. Ghanaian?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:18:13]:

Yeah.

Raphael Harry [01:18:14]:

All right, two last questions for you. So Ashley had said I should ask you about Danny Davido. Is that going to be a long answer or a short answer?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:18:27]:

Maybe we'll have it for next time.

Raphael Harry [01:18:29]:

Okay. Because he said there's something about Danny DeVito.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:18:33]:

There's something about Danny DeVito.

Raphael Harry [01:18:37]:

Just ask.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:18:40]:

I know about Danny David.

Raphael Harry [01:18:42]:

Okay. All right. I'll save that for part two. All right, so everybody who's on this podcast is considered a dancer. If you claim you don't dance, we'll stop recording right now and kick you out of the studio. So since you're here, it's too late. You can't deny that you dance. So we need you to name three artists that will keep you dancing for at least an hour. So now you can give us three from Ecuador, or you can spice things up and give us somebody from India. You can give us you can give us one from Portland if you want to stay. Shut up, Portland. However, there's a catch. I know you didn't like Ashwin's choice, because he told me that you don't like the artist, one of the artists that he named, because I got why you don't like the artist. I think Ashwin named three, one from Bolivia, but he said one of the artists he named was not a favorite of yours. So I normally say you can name from anywhere. Not limited, just only where you're from. But if you're going to name from anywhere, you can't give us the most popular artists. So, like, Michael Jackson.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:20:01]:

Michael Jackson keones.

Raphael Harry [01:20:03]:

Michael Jackson Keonis. Keonis will take him. So, yeah, you can give us Michael Jackson Keonis. But the Beyonce, if you're giving us from Nigeria, bona Boy. Those names are out. They're ruled out. So, yes, give us at least three artists that can keep you dancing for an hour.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:20:25]:

So it's funny because I was getting ready to come here, and, like, I'm just putting my phone and, like, music comes starting out, and then this guy gets out and, like, immediately start dancing. It's this guy named he's from Colombia. Fonseca.

Raphael Harry [01:20:46]:

Fonseca.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:20:50]:

Has so many good songs. He came to New York, but as you knew, when I go with me to the concert. So I ended up not going to sleep. I asked people now I wanted to go, but real life for a second, I was dancing, and I was literally dancing, like, getting ready here, putting my makeup and dancing while I was getting ready to come here. So. Yeah, fonseca for sure. So many good songs. I do like a lot of Colombian artists, like Carla Vivez.

Raphael Harry [01:21:27]:

Okay. I know Carlo Vivez.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:21:28]:

Yeah. Carlos Vivez.

Raphael Harry [01:21:29]:

What's going on?

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:21:30]:

Colombians getting yeah, I think they have a lot they're pretty popular. We are in South America.

Raphael Harry [01:21:38]:

Yeah, but what happened to Ecuador? No love for Ecuador music.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:21:45]:

We have the best, like, for dancing, it's just like for instance for instance, there's this guy, he's from all my life, I thought he was from Wyakil, but he is not. But it's kind of like he has, like, a one hit scene. There's a lot of what he wonders in Waiakil. Forgot their names, but it's, like, intrapedos. That's when I was growing up, entrepedos those intrapedos. Actually, they are from Waikil. There's a group from Waiakil, and they have a lot of music that will keep me dancing, but I don't know if they're singing anymore.

Raphael Harry [01:22:26]:

That qualifies under the rules. We'll take that.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:22:30]:

I got you one from Waiki and two from Colombia.

Raphael Harry [01:22:34]:

Okay, we'll take that from a quadrant, because I've been only Colombia getting all the love. Might have somebody from Ecuador right here saying, hey, you sure she's from Ecuador? No love. I'm like, okay, so final question. Can thank you enough for coming on the show. What would you like to leave the audience with? It's a freestyle moment. Let it flow out of your heart. SOLIUS.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:23:09]:

Oh, my God. In what sense?

Raphael Harry [01:23:14]:

Coming from you? I'll leave it up to the guest as far as just freestyle.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:23:23]:

Well, I guess if you want to know, I think maybe if you want to go inside of. Learn a little bit more about me or about yourself. I think you should definitely try traveling. I think traveling is so important because it helps you. It's so hard to think about different things when you're staying your same place. I know it sometimes can be really expensive to travel, but there's also ways where you can find yourself through scholarships, through grants, through different ways. All this conference I went was because I found my way through. So I think you should always aim to go outside and experience and travel and not just stay where you are, because it's really hard to understand perspective if you don't get exposure to them. So I think it's just good to just go. Even in your city, you can travel around, I don't know how many times people that are in New York and they don't go to other boroughs. Yeah, other boroughs, other places, other museums. So I think it's really important to go outside of your comfort zone and see things. I will still be traveling for me, just going outside flooring scenes. I remember as a child, we'll go every weekend. Sometimes we have a destination, like, oh, let's go to have this. Sometimes we'll just go out to little towns and just go there, eat something. No, like, this is well known for whatever. Pineapple juice. Let's go get pineapple juice and just go and see things. I think no, something I think is really important culture to our stuff.

Raphael Harry [01:25:33]:

I agree with you, and I thank you for that. That's why I said, let it from your heart. Say it. And you said something great. Many people have met within Brooklyn. You've not been to some other parts, and I get it. But at the same time, we have to take that step. There are many places in America I haven't been to. I should. And I know as a black person, there are still fears that I have because I'm like, I won't go to some place. There are places there are still sundown towns. If you know the history of that, that know you as a black person for you to be there. But just because of that doesn't mean I shouldn't still travel. I shouldn't give my kid that experience of because that's how you create the memories. You create perspectives, and it changes a lot of things, and we need that. We need that. So thank you for saying that. I appreciate that. So please let the audience know how they can get in touch with you if they want to connect with you.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:26:38]:

Yeah, you can I don't know my but, yeah, you can connect me LinkedIn if you want.

Raphael Harry [01:26:46]:

Sure. I'll post the link in the show.

Bertha Jimenez Ph.D [01:26:49]:

Notes, send you my LinkedIn.

Raphael Harry [01:26:51]:

All right, so thank you again for coming on the podcast. We definitely have to arrange a part two, or should we call it part three? Because you've been this is your second time on the show. So definitely part three. So, as my people say, Mbana, for coming here, that's thank you as my wife's people say Dankeschon, and I know your people say gracias, gracias. So there are a few I pick thank yous from everywhere. So the French say merci Boku or Swahili Asante sana you can't get wrong with learning thank yous from everywhere. So for everyone listening, thank you for the privilege of your company. Appreciate the support. Don't forget you can join us on Patreon. You can donate cups of coffee, buy merch, five-star reviews. Keep it coming in. See you at the next episode next week. Thanks for listening to White Label American. If you enjoyed the show, please give a five-star review on your favorite podcast app. You can follow the show on all social media platforms. Visit the White Label American website for links, donations, episodes, feedback, guests, match, and newsletter. Don't forget to download the free White Label American app on the Google Play store and Apple. Coming soon. Thank you for the privilege of your company.