Marian Amo grew up in Brookyn, having been born in Ghana. When the pandemic hit and New York City was locked down in spring of 2020, Marian hit the road, heading south from her apartment in New Jersey to visit her sister and brother-in-law in the West Virginia panhandle, not that far from Maryland and Washington, D.C. That summer, she moved permanently to West Virginia, bought a house and has no regrets for her "pandemic move."
About Marian Amo
Marian Amo is an intricate part of the work done at Publishers Weekly. She enjoys writing, dancing, and baked goods. In her free time, you can catch her reading a good book or taking on new hobbies.
The Rum Cake - Marian's take on this DEE-lish rum cake recipe from the Spicy Southern Kitchen
https://spicysouthernkitchen.com/rum-cake-recipe/
Rum Cake
This Rum Cake is the ultimate party cake. With rum added to the batter and another 1/2 cup soaked into the baked cake, there's a whole lot of rum flavor.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Servings 18
Ingredients
Rum Syrup
baking spray
1 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 (3.4-ounce) box instant vanilla pudding mix
1/2 cup salted butter, cut into pieces
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
4 large eggs
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup white or golden rum
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup salted butter
1/2 cup white rum
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with baking spray. Sprinkle walnuts into the bottom of the pan. Set aside.
2. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix together flour, sugar, pudding mix, butter, baking powder, and salt for 2 minutes.
3. Add milk, eggs, and coconut oil and mix on LOW for 2 minutes
4. Add rum and vanilla and mix on LOW for 1 more minute.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool slightly while you make the Rum Syrup.
6. To make rum syrup, combine butter, rum, brown sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bringto a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer for about 5 minutes. Sugar should dissolve and syrupshould thicken just slightly.
7. Stir in vanilla extract.
8. Leave cake in Bundt pan and poke holes all over the top with a skewer or toothpick or a fork.Slowly pour glaze over top of cake. It will not all absorb into the cake right away. Let sit 30-45 minutes and invert cake onto a cake stand or plate. Store at room temperature.
You can reach Marian courtesy of Christi Cassidy, christi@movingalongpodcast.com
Moving Along - Pandemic Moves - Marian
[00:00:00]
[00:00:00] Marian: I grew up in Brooklyn, New York,
[00:00:02] Christi: up in Brooklyn. Oh my gosh. We have gonna have a conversation.
[00:00:06] Christi: Welcome to Moving Along a podcast about travel relocation and life transitions today. My guest is Marian Amo. Marian and I work together at Publishers Weekly.
So we've known each other for several years now. And when the pandemic hit Marion up and moved to West Virginia , who could do such a thing, I thought, and then I realized this is a pandemic move. This is definitely a pandemic move. And I wanted to talk to Marian to see what she thinks about everything that's happened since the beginning of 2020, when our lives were thrown into a big upheaval.
Welcome Marion.
[00:00:54] Marian: Hi Christi it's a pleasure to be on here.
[00:00:58] Christi: It's so nice to hear your [00:01:00] voice and chat with you. We don't have our office anymore. Not the same one anyway. And you haven't gone in, I haven't gone in .
[00:01:08] Marian: That's true. That's true. I think we've been virtual since March 2020.
[00:01:14] Christi: Let me ask you a question that I ask everybody you grew up in Brooklyn ? In the Flatbush area, right. Which you can say is south Brooklyn.
Yep.
And now you're living in West Virginia, but I want to know when you were a kid, what did travel and moving mean to you?
[00:01:35] Marian: Sure. Well first let me say that I moved from Brooklyn to New Jersey and then from New Jersey to West Virginia.
As a kid travel was a way of exploration and also to actually just learn more about the country. So I, I didn't, I wasn't actually born here.
I have a dual citizenship, but , coming here and, going to school here from elementary all the [00:02:00] way to college and post-college it's travel has always kind of been a way to just learn more about other people and to just learn more about the country.
[00:02:11] Christi: Where were
[00:02:11] Marian: you born? I was born in Ghana.
[00:02:13] Christi: And then your parents brought you here when you were little.
[00:02:16] Marian: Yes, my dad was doing his medical residency as an OB GYN and my mom was a teacher and we were all able to immigrate here at least at a time when immigration was a lot easier to deal with. And we were just able to, do our papers and get our citizenships and go to school and do the whole I guess American dream life thing.
[00:02:37] Christi: Ish. That's wonderful. Yeah. And is your dad, does he feel practice
[00:02:46] Marian: occasionally. Yeah. But he's reached the age where he's more on the retirement end.
[00:02:53] Christi: And your mom is she retired?
[00:02:55] Marian: She's retired, but you know, teachers don't ever stop teaching in some ways.[00:03:00]
[00:03:00] Christi: Did she teach elementary or did she teach
[00:03:03] Marian: high school?
[00:03:03] Christi: High school. Wow. Yep. So that was pretty lucky for you. Did you go to the high school where she taught?
No. No. I feel like that would've been a little awkward
for me. Plus the New York. You don't have to go to the high school in your neighborhood. Right, right, right. Go wherever you want. So you came from Ghana , do you remember the flight or the trip?
[00:03:28] Marian: Not really. I was very young, so I was like five.
[00:03:32] Christi: So you're a New York city kid basically.
[00:03:34] Marian: But I never lost that wonder for travel. Especially because when you're in New York, the whole world is there, you know, you encounter so many different people that you just have a general desire to know more beyond what is around you, because you are exposed to so many different cultures and backgrounds.
[00:03:53] Christi: I think that's true. I mean, New York city kids to me are so sophisticated [00:04:00] and I mean, they get on those trains with not even a thought and away they go, okay. And that was your experience
[00:04:08] Marian: yeah. I think, I think the environment in New York forces you to be aware very early on in life and also kind of just makes you grow up a little bit faster.
[00:04:18] Christi: And all those people, like you say, all those cultures, all those people right there. Did you go back to Ghana? Was there family there? Did your parents go back to visit and take you?
[00:04:30] Marian: I have family there. I did travel a one time in high school. But I haven't been ever since.
[00:04:35] Christi: What was that like?
[00:04:37] Marian: It was great. It was nice to, see places that you're connected to. But it also did feel a bit foreign when you haven't been in a place for a long time and you didn't grow up there.
So there was a level of reconnection that was happening as well as discovery.
[00:04:51] Christi: Where did you go to school? Where'd you go to college?
[00:04:54] Marian: I went to Stony Brook.
[00:04:55] Christi: Oh, Stony Brook. Oh, that's nice. That's so pretty out there on the [00:05:00] island.
[00:05:00] Marian: Yeah, it is.
[00:05:02] Christi: Your family still in Brooklyn, right? Yup.
[00:05:04] Marian: Yup. And then from Long Island, I came back to Brooklyn after school.
Then I moved, my first apartment was in Jersey and then when the pandemic hit was when I decided to visit my sister in West Virginia. And I, I guess I
[00:05:25] Christi: just never left. That is so amazing. So I got back from PLA, which is the Public Library Association conference in Nashville in February of 2020.
I was in the city for a few days and on March 4th, I took the train back up here to Hudson. And within like two days, Publishers Weekly said, okay, we're, we're closing, we're closing down. And they closed down what? Within like a week or so.
[00:05:58] Marian: We actually [00:06:00] closed that Friday before it was even announced. Which I think was very intuitive of our leadership because they saw what was going on and they took action right away. So their proactivity actually, I think helped a lot of us.
[00:06:15] Christi: So tell me your decision making process.
[00:06:18] Marian: I was in Jersey. I was right by the water. I was in North Bergen and Weehawken is literally like
[00:06:24] Christi: two steps away from me, so yeah.
[00:06:26] Marian: It's like Port Imperial where you literally right across as the water and then the New York City skyline.
And then, you know Manhattan with the Trump Towers and all
[00:06:36] Christi: so that sounds like a really nice place. And did you have roommates or was it your own place and you could just give it up or
[00:06:45] Marian: it was my own place. It was a condo that was being rented out.
So when I moved in that area, it was a bit cheaper because people hadn't really moved up towards the North Bergen side just yet, most people were moving either to Hoboken or Jersey [00:07:00] City and that has become extremely expensive. And so at the time when I moved not a lot of people had this.
Moved up north where I was. And so I got a pretty good deal. It's not like that now everybody has, everybody knows about it now.
[00:07:16] Christi: Right. For long and yeah, definitely not in real estate.
[00:07:23] Marian: So I was there and, you know, I didn't have a roommate and it was just me. And it was great. So when the pandemic hit, you know, one of the things that I wanted to do was just be around a little bit closer to family.
And so, I told my sister that I would love to come visit them and her and her husband actually came and picked me up. from Jersey and drove me back down to their house. And it was nice to be with family like that and, you know and be around my nephew and those [00:08:00] kinds of experiences that you don't really get when you're doing a city life.
Because I think a lot of people in the city are very independent and they don't necessarily live with extended families per se. Some do. But oftentimes it's a roommate, that's a stranger or friend, you know, so it was nice to have a chance to just be closer to family.
[00:08:23] Christi: That was really smart of them to come up and pick you up to so that you didn't have to take the train down.
Yeah, absolutely. Did you have a car? No. You didn't have a car at that point, right? No,
[00:08:34] Marian: I didn't have a car then. Right.
[00:08:36] Christi: You didn't have to get on public transportation at all, come and get you.
How long did you stay before you realized like I'm going to go home and pack?
[00:08:47] Marian: It's so funny because you know, I came down like end of March. And so I was able to come in right at the start of summer and first off, West Virginia is so beautiful, just the [00:09:00] topography is in part of all white mountain views.
I've never seen before. And then also just in terms of quality of life, like what you get in terms of home space just like opportunities to, you know, explore and do all sorts of things. And not that New York doesn't present that, but I think it presents that with, with a very hefty price tag.
And so I came down and, you know, I was hanging out there and I think it was around July when it occurred to me that, you know, I can do this. And I think also, you know, with PW allowing us that extended flexibility, it just made sense. And then it also fit what I do in terms of work. So you know, me working mostly and entirely actually in digital.
Has always allowed me that level of flexibility. And so I had always been open to the whole, you know, work from home thing before it became a trend. [00:10:00] But I think the pandemic season definitely confirmed that I can have that kind of flexibility.
[00:10:06] Christi: The remote working is just no problem.
[00:10:08] Marian: Yeah.
And PW actually did amazingly well. 2020, and 2021, we didn't miss a beat, which was telling of both our work ethic as a company. But also, the tools and the technology that's available to get things done.
[00:10:24] Christi: What's your day like in
West Virginia, when you were staying with your sister and brother-in-law and nephew, did they have a space for you? And you could just set up your laptop,
[00:10:35] Marian: They have a four-bedroom home? So I definitely had my own place. They had a really nice deck and I can work on there with my computer and just look out on.
Large lawn. It was just very nice, the thing with digital is that once you have, done what you need to do it's very straightforward. It's very, you know, task oriented. So it's [00:11:00] really still important to take those breaks, to kind of reconnect with yourself and nature.
So that environment was really good for me. Because I think when I was in New York, it was kind of just like, after work, all you could do was just get home and then watch TV and go to sleep and do it again. But over there, it was like, there are places to run to. There are places to explore.
There's some hiking trails, you know, so that was nice for me.
[00:11:29] Christi: I was going to ask you if you kind of became an outdoors woman or if I had always hike
[00:11:35] Marian: or a little bit, I wouldn't say on the level of like native West Virginians. Definitely not. But I definitely did become more open to doing things outdoors.
[00:11:47] Christi: And hiking trails, as you say, the mountains are there Does this part of West Virginia have a name to it
[00:11:55] Marian: I'm in Northern West Virginia by the [00:12:00] panhandle area. So Berkeley county.
[00:12:02] Christi: By Hagerstown and Martinsburg and
[00:12:06] Marian: yes, I'm right in. Then that bubble actually. Yeah.
[00:12:11] Christi: There's a river in there.
[00:12:13] Marian: Yeah. Hey, Hagerstown is actually about 10 minutes from me.
Yeah. And Martinsburg is literally my neighborhood, so, but I'm not in Martinsburg city, city. I learned a bit of the outskirts of Martinsburg.
[00:12:27] Christi: It's the Northeast part of the state.
[00:12:30] Marian: It's funny, it's kind of like where I was when I was in Jersey, where a lot of the people that are in that area are people that were living in Maryland and Virginia and DC that are moving into West Virginia.
But are still working in Maryland and Virginia. Because the, the location is so close to everything else in that strip.
[00:12:52] Christi: Right. So it's easy to commute in a way. Yes. If you need to, and now, like you were saying with the issue of [00:13:00] remote work, whether or not you're in digital it's, I guess we're all in digital.
If we're working remotely,
[00:13:06] Marian: that's a very good point.
[00:13:07] Christi: So is this part of the state that helped to elect Joe Manchin a Democrat.
[00:13:15] Marian: I honestly, I don't know. I try to stay out of the politics,
especially as a New Yorker transplant in West Virginia.
[00:13:25] Christi: Did you actually vote in West Virginia in 2020?
[00:13:30] Marian: I did have to. Well I, so I wasn't a an actual resident because I was staying with my family and I still had my apartment in Jersey.
So my voting was still on the Jersey side
and Jersey.
[00:13:47] Christi: Well, I did wonder, I mean, I kind of asked Emma this too. When I saw her at the little coffee, get together, a couple of weeks ago. And I'll just say, Emma is a colleague of ours [00:14:00] at Publishers Weekly, who also moved to West Virginia about 15 minutes from where you are Marian. But it did occur to me.
It's like, here you go from New York, New York metropolitan area to West Virginia and suddenly the eyes of the whole freaking country and the world are on West Virginia because of this man, Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, who seems to no, there's another one out in Arizona, but it's, it seems like.
He has the ability to what's the word
to to kneecap the the workings of the Democrats in the Senate.
[00:14:45] Marian: I think within both parties, there's division, . And I think that he represents that division that we've seen in the last five years where there really hasn't been a very unified voice [00:15:00] within the democratic party or actually even the Republican party as well.
And I think that kind of fragmentation. Impeded a lot of progress in general for either sides agenda. So I think that as our our, the task for our nation really is having a cohesion vision as to who and what we want to be in the world. And I think that is something that the countries is having difficulty in trying to define and enforce.
And so I'm a little bit not surprised on one end as to how that has turned out. But on the other end, it's also disappointing to watch.
[00:15:45] Christi: Yeah, it is disappointing. Isn't it? But your point is, is that he is a personification of the party and the country as a whole. It's kind of like the split personality persona.
[00:15:58] Christi: Yeah. Does [00:16:00] it feel different in West Virginia than it did in Jersey in the city? Or is it just like you're in an area where, you know, it's, like you say, there's a lot of commuters, there's people from Maryland and Virginia and DC moving there.
[00:16:14] Marian: Well, where I'm at is definitely a higher level of diversity, because like I said, there are people moving in from the DMV area.
That's the DC, Maryland, Virginia states. And they bring a certain level of, City etiquette and resilience. Because , the topography of the area in and of itself is, is more suburban and not really like city life, , you have to drive mostly . But it's still, you know, there's still plenty of things to do and things to explore.
And it really is I think a good ground to have family and to start a family. And I think that's a little bit more difficult when you're in a highly populated city environment like New York. It's a little bit [00:17:00] more strenuous to do the family life. It's not impossible, you know, people do it every day.
It's just a lot more strenuous.
[00:17:07] Christi: It takes a different kind of energy, I think.
[00:17:10] Marian: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:17:12] Christi: One of the things we've talked about a little bit, was this idea of being single in a small town in state where yes. You have family, but there's challenges, right. To coming into this whole new world in this case, West Virginia, .
So talk about that a little bit. What's it? Like, when did you realize, there aren't a whole lot of I don't know, singles events, or obviously there's no events because of the pandemic, at least for a while.
[00:17:44] Marian: Well, I mean, I think that the challenges in general with this season is that a lot of people are cooped up. There is less opportunity to go out and meet in person in doing [00:18:00] things which, you know, obviously zoom and phone calls are great, but there's something about presence and being in front of someone it's another level of communication, you know, they say that 90% of communication is non-verbal.
And that means that if you're texting or even on a phone call, then you can kind of miss about 50% of what someone is trying to say and so not having a lot of in-person stuff definitely makes it a little bit harder to connect with people. But I would also say that on the flip side, it has also encouraged people to, if they find someone good to actually like make a decision and settle down, because it's like survival, you know, like there there's no need to procrastinate because you're really not in a situation where you really want to be, you know, oh, they're playing the field forever in this kind of environment anyway.
[00:18:54] Marian: And so it has both a ying and a yang that's going on about it. I think that this [00:19:00] season for me, one thing that I've learned is that. It requires intentionality, whether in friendship or in dating are in getting married or having kids. If there's a lot of intentionality that has to come, that was taken for granted before the pandemic, where, you know, if you went to work and you had to be in the same building, you know, you wouldn't naturally have to say hi to your coworkers, because you would see them in the cubicle next to you, or if you were at the supermarket or you attend a church, you know, by default of the convenience of having to be in the same place, it was just easier to form friendships that were by convenience.
Now that that convenience is not there. It requires just a high level of intentionality. In terms of relationships, we were talking to him before the, this recording. Some of the difficulties I had in planning with my coworker meeting up and, [00:20:00] it's true because before, despite all the business and our schedules, whether we were dated or not, or, you know, having kids or not because we were all in the same building, we were able to see each other, sat across from each other.
Now it required a greater level of orchestration for, finding a babysitter for her kids and, making time and commuting now and stuff like that. And so I think the lesson for me has just been , you need to be intentional. If you're going to see anything workout,
[00:20:33] Christi: I think that's really astute. I hadn't thought of it that way before. Otherwise there'd be concerts, there'd be plays. There'd be theater. There'd be things to do. Where, you know, Conceivably meet somebody, but your point is also like, and even if you do meet somebody and let's say it's an outdoor concert, you better act on it right now because the next opportunity you don't know when it's going to come along.
[00:20:58] Marian: I think [00:21:00] it's a combination of like, not wasting your time and the other person's time as well. But I think that the pandemic also forced people to really evaluate what they've, what they care about and what they have value in. And so I think a lot of people are going into the world of relationships, whether romantic or not kind of having a little bit of a more focused idea of what they're looking for and what they want in their life.
Because that sense of. You know, convenience has been removed on certain levels, you know, people are a little bit more focused as to what they want to go after.
[00:21:42] Christi: And what about you? What are you looking for? You want to have a family?
[00:21:46] Marian: Yes, absolutely. I definitely want to be able to have a family and stuff like that, but I also kind of want to be able to create in my life a community that just supports each other, you know what I [00:22:00] mean?
And I think that it just goes beyond just, a husband and kids, you know, I think that's even within it, what we're there with our coworkers, you know, even with the neighbors, you know, like your friends had to go and be part of a church, and, you know, churches.
In that's in the season had also undergone a lot of changes, right. With people not being able to come in person as often as before, but it has also made, you know, those who run churches have to be intentional in building community. So now I think it's actually becoming a place where a lot of people are seeking community from more than ever.
I think for me, it's really having a support system, because I think that growing up in New York, what I often saw was, you can be surrounded by a lot of people, but also be very lonely. A lot of people were working hard, but also never feel like they were making it just a lot of contradiction in lifestyle, you know? [00:23:00] And so now I just want there to be just a level of authenticity in that if you're working hard, you can see the end result of you working hard. And, if you're around people, it's, it's people that you trust and love.
And it's not just like being surrounded by a bunch of strangers, but still feeling alone. You know, like what people are seeing on the outside is actually matching the real life truth of what it is on the inside, so that's really what my goal is.
[00:23:29] Christi: Do you feel that there's a higher level of authenticity among the people in your neighborhood and where you've moved in West Virginia?
[00:23:42] Marian: Yes and no. Yes. And that, I feel like there is less need to be pretentious. No, in the sense that I think it's hard to tell because people, always have layers to their lives, but in general, I think it's a yes.
[00:23:56] Christi: Do you miss the city?
[00:23:57] Marian: Sometimes? I think I missed a food[00:24:00]
I don't miss the commute. I don't miss the crowdedness. I don't miss the subway smelling really bad. But I do miss the food.
[00:24:08] Christi: I can imagine.
[00:24:09] Marian: I missed a variety of food. I felt like in New York, you can get any kind of food anywhere
[00:24:15] Christi: that's true and usually delivered without a problem for a couple of dollars.
Yep. And what's it like, are you finding yourself cooking more
[00:24:26] Marian: I've had to cook more, which is funny because so in 2020, I, I became obsessed with the Great British Baking Show.
[00:24:35] Christi: Yeah, go on.
[00:24:36] Marian: So it definitely gave me an opportunity to kind of like, have fun with that. But getting my own place, it definitely makes you have to cook more, which is good because I think it's a skill that is a survival tool, ?
I think it's always a good idea to be able to know, how to cook.
[00:24:56] Christi: It's a skill, right?
[00:24:58] Marian: Yeah. But like with all [00:25:00] skills, it gets better. The more you do it. So that's why I think this period in which people have had to be home more is a good, opportunity for people to learn and really build that skill.
[00:25:10] Christi: In addition to honing your cooking skills, you were baking. Yes. Tell me what's the most wonderful thing that you made during the whole time of baking?
[00:25:20] Marian: So I would say it was a rum cake. Yeah. By a recipe. That was pretty good.
[00:25:27] Christi: Yeah. Do tell, was it done in like a Bundt pan or
[00:25:30] Marian: yes, those the Bundt pans with the hole in the middle and the ridges. I loved those kinds of cakes in general. I think they're so pretty. That's my go-to look for a cake.
So I just had a chance to kind of like play around with that a bit. I don't know if you were on some of the PW Slack forums that we had, but for a while some of our colleagues were posting, some of the things they would make. It was very interesting.
[00:25:55] Christi: Did you post a picture of that rum cake?
[00:25:58] Marian: I posted some pictures [00:26:00] of some things that I cooked as well. Some fried rice with a chicken that I've made and the Thanksgiving dinner that we did with my sister. Yep.
[00:26:10] Christi: That sounds like it was a lot of fun. Did you bake before the British baking show or that was a skill that you've picked up?
[00:26:18] Marian: Well, I've always liked baking, but I think the show made me enjoy. Learning how to bake, better, I loved that competition because the contestants often acted like a family.
Like it wasn't a competition show where people were like trying to sabotage each other kind of thing. So it was just fun and relaxing to watch,
[00:26:40] Christi: Would you be willing to share the recipe for the rum cake that we could put in the show notes?
[00:26:46] Marian: Sure. I'll send it over.
[00:26:48] Christi: That's a deal. Do you think you'll go back and visit
[00:26:50] Marian: Brooklyn? It's definitely on my to-do list. To go back to Brooklyn and just see how things are
[00:26:58] Christi: otherwise, your parents would [00:27:00] probably come down and visit you and your sister.
[00:27:02] Marian: Yeah. I'm sure they will.
[00:27:04] Christi: I wondered what the experience of buying a house was like for you. This is the first place you've bought right?
Yeah. Yep. And before that you bought a car, right?
[00:27:14] Marian: The car was bought for me as a
[00:27:16] Christi: gift. Oh, how nice. So you didn't have to go through that ordeal. I didn't go through that. So what was it like buying a house?
[00:27:25] Marian: It was definitely eye opening. I bought it during one of the craziest housing markets in all.
The past eight to 10 years it was definitely a seller's market. So I was really lucky to get in at a time when the interest rates were very low. But I watched a lot of homes that initially I wanted to get be priced out of my budget because of pricing wars, you know because there were so many people looking to move and have their own home and not [00:28:00] enough inventory.
Whether, because the builders weren't building or, you know, all of the other economic stuff that were going on. I think a lot of the government assistance for homeowners may people who would generally put their houses. For sale, hold on, which is good. But it just made, there'd be less inventory for those who were looking for homes.
It was very interesting. But I was lucky because I was able to actually get a brand new construction built townhouse. So it all worked out and I went that route because it was easier to kind of go from like the scratch of working with people that are building a community then to try to buy a home way past the asking price, because there's a bidding war, so it was definitely eye opening.
And of course, no process. You also learn some of the history of just the housing politics in the country. And, making sure [00:29:00] that you buy a home where you don't go underwater when the bubble burst, there's all of that. So it, it really was a learning experience on so many levels.
And it made me also realize that, like, I feel like a lot of these informations, like owning a home, you know buying stocks or investments and stuff like that are things that you don't really learn in school. You learn after the fact whether you get an opportunity to be exposed to it or not. And I think that's unfortunate.
I think that those are learning tools and education. That really should be part of school in general. I don't think you should only know how to buy a home when you can afford to buy a home. I think you should know how to buy a home period. So you understand. The economics behind it as, especially when so much of it is like your credit score, like understanding all those things should be part of our general education.
But it seems to only be something you learn, if you have the [00:30:00] opportunity to get it.
[00:30:00] Christi: You pretty much have a good support system with your family too, and being the youngest four kids
[00:30:08] Marian: I was lucky because my sister had already owned a home. My parents own the home that we lived in, in Brooklyn. So I come from a legacy of home ownership. So I already had that leverage. And I hate to say it privilege of, people who know the ins and outs or the do's and don'ts, that really helped me a lot.
Also coming from a home where, both parents made it very well income, definitely helped, my dad paid for my undergrad, so I didn't have any student loans coming in , so those kinds of things helped me be able to get my own place, but the problem is that not everyone has that.
And I feel like that value of information shouldn't only be available if you have the privilege for it. I think that if people were taught, whether they could or not, they would start making [00:31:00] decisions that make them able to
[00:31:01] Christi: That's a huge issue, especially in the Black community about generational wealth.
[00:31:06] Marian: It shouldn't be the rarity, but unfortunately it is.
[00:31:08] Christi: Does it make you want to go and volunteer or to work with younger people who are looking to build their own wealth and establish themselves in the community.
[00:31:20] Marian: For a long time, I actually wanted to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity right when I came out of college. But my focus at that time too, was trying to just find a job. So, you know, finding work is so time consuming. And it kind of became more of a priority for me.
And so I ended up making that what I pursued instead of, Habitat for Humanity, but it's always been something that's put on my heart to do. And I think I now have the space and time to do so. In general, I've always wanted for there to be financial literacy. For young people, because I think that, especially given that school loans are [00:32:00] permanent debt for a lot of people and it's the kind of debt where like, it doesn't go away.
If you pass away, it transfers over to your children. There's a level of injustice in not having a greater push for financial literacy as part of curricula in general.
[00:32:18] Christi: I bet your mom agrees with you. The retired high school teacher.
[00:32:24] Marian: Yeah. But I mean, it was only possible because of their support, you know? I think any accomplishment that anyone really does is a reflection of the support that they have, I don't really believe in the idea that somebody does something all by themselves.
Because I think first of all, that's unrealistic, but also not healthy. I think when anyone is able to. accomplish something great. You know, when you look behind the curtain, you see that there's a whole lot of other kinds of support going on. That's making that possible. And that's really the point of, having a solid family life, to be that community of support for each other.
[00:32:59] Christi: Community [00:33:00] is what it's about.
Thank you so much, Marion.
[00:33:05] Marian: Absolutely. And thank you for the honor to be on your podcast. And I just want to commend you for stepping out and trying something new. I think that's really the the takeaway of this entire pandemic situation.
And even these pandemic moves, right. It's stepping out and trying something new, you know, beyond your comfort zone and learning as much as you can and add journey. I'm grateful for what I've learned and to be part of yours.
[00:33:36] Christi: Well, thank you. I couldn't have said it any better myself.