00:00
I didn't understand the depth and the magnitude of our story
00:06
Probably when I was in high school, my parents sheltered us
00:09
a lot from things that they felt were going to be too difficult
00:14
And there was no time for that.
00:22
Let's begin like we do with everyone with your name, nationality
00:25
and the place of birth.
00:27
Um My name is Paola.
00:30
I was born in Miami, Florida and I am a Cuban American.
00:34
Well, let's go back to your, your childhood growing up here
00:39
Describe that for me.
00:40
What was that like growing up in Miami was uh busy.
00:45
A lot of people, we had a lot of adults living in our house.
00:49
When I was growing up, we lived in a lot of different places
00:53
My parents worked a lot.
00:56
Um I'm the youngest of three, my grandparents lived with me
01:00
and so my grandfather died.
01:02
And then many years later when my grandmother died, my mom's
01:05
aunts lived with us.
01:06
So we were a big family all living inside a, a pretty small house
01:12
You know, we went to school, we played sports, we had friends
01:17
We, uh, we enjoy living in Miami did things that most Cuban
01:22
We went to the big five.
01:24
Uh, we all went to, to good schools.
01:27
Um, and, and we had a good life.
01:29
We had a very good life.
01:30
I'm a, I'm a little bit younger.
01:32
We're four years apart.
01:34
So I think I spent more of my childhood with my mom and dad.
01:38
Um and my brothers were older.
01:40
So, um my experiences I think were a little different than
01:44
You're Spanish for having been born here.
01:48
It's like phenomenal.
01:50
Um How does that happen?
01:54
I mean, obviously, they must have taken great care in sort
01:59
Talk to me a little bit about that.
02:00
It was a non-negotiable.
02:03
Uh I think I speak Spanish well and uh I think it was because
02:07
it was a non-negotiable in my house.
02:09
It was a non negotiable.
02:11
My grandmother who we referred to as always lived in our house
02:15
And if she was sitting at the dining room table, it was not permitted
02:18
that we speak anything but Spanish.
02:20
It was always considered a disrespect that if someone didn't
02:23
speak the language that we weren't allowed to, to speak in
02:27
another language that wasn't Spanish.
02:29
My mother and father never spoke to me in English, they only
02:32
spoke to me in Spanish and that's how we had to communicate
02:35
So from a very early age.
02:36
Spanish was my first language, obviously, like most kids
02:39
that were born and raised in Miami from a Hispanic home, you
02:43
speak English very well as soon as you get to school.
02:45
But at home, it was a non-negotiable.
02:47
We had to speak in Spanish.
02:49
And since then, the older I got, the more I spoke Spanish, I
02:52
took Spanish all of high school and um lived out of the country
02:56
for a while in a Spanish speaking country.
02:58
So that was something that helped me.
03:00
And I think I speak Spanish today a lot more than I even did as
03:04
a child with my mom.
03:07
I remember that was a thing in my house too.
03:09
My sister and I used to love being on our own so we could speak
03:12
English because it was such a thing.
03:13
Was that a thing for you guys?
03:15
Not really, to be honest, I don't think so.
03:17
Rebelling really wasn't an option when we were growing up
03:20
My father was um was someone that we always had to respect and
03:25
he had some non negotiables and it was something that we didn't
03:29
I understand what you mean.
03:30
My Children rebel and my oldest will speak it a little bit more
03:36
Um But no, I don't, I wasn't rebellious.
03:39
At least I don't think so.
03:40
She may disagree but I wasn't rebellious.
03:43
Did you, did you grow up in tune with your family story.
03:48
Did you realize what they had been through at an early age or
03:52
did that come about later?
03:54
I didn't understand the depth and the magnitude of our story
04:00
Probably when I was in high school, my parents sheltered us
04:04
a lot, or at least they sheltered me a lot from things that they
04:08
felt were going to be too difficult to understand.
04:11
And there was no time for that.
04:12
Both my parents worked.
04:14
My father worked two jobs, you know, we, there was too much
04:16
stuff going on that, that really wasn't something that they
04:19
spent a lot of time speaking to me about as a child.
04:22
I understood because I would hear stories.
04:26
Um, and I would overhear I was around adults a lot and I spent
04:30
a lot of time with my grandparents and my great aunts and a lot
04:33
of time with my mom and dad and my grandmother's siblings.
04:36
So I would hear a lot, but I don't think I really understood
04:39
the depth until I was older.
04:41
And of course, now today as a, as a grown woman, I understand
04:46
And you said in high school, how did that, how did that come
04:50
Well, because high school was a hard time for us.
04:52
My father went through a financial crisis and, um, there were
04:57
very hard, difficult times that I had to be a part of the conversation
05:03
because I had to be a part of the solution for the every day of
05:06
By that time, my brother had moved out, he was working and on
05:10
his own, my middle brother had moved out and gotten married
05:15
And so I had to face a lot of those hardships.
05:18
And I've always been my mom's sidekick.
05:20
So my mom always treated us developmentally what was appropriate
05:25
but she never sugarcoated things.
05:28
This is what life is giving us.
05:29
This is what we have to do.
05:30
She raises to be people of faith that we needed to believe that
05:33
there was a reason why things happened in life and that we needed
05:37
So when I was in high school, unfortunately, I had to learn
05:39
a lot more about the hardships of life.
05:42
And how did you come about to tie that into your family story
05:48
What had been their story in Cuba?
05:52
So it's kind of a funny story.
05:54
My grandmother, her nickname was Carmelina.
05:58
And um there was, I guess some saying when she was younger,
06:03
I guess living in Cuba that people would say she was this very
06:11
you know, strong and very convict.
06:13
You know, she's a woman with a lot of conviction and had a lot
06:16
of passion and she lived in a small town.
06:17
So everybody knew her.
06:19
And um somebody said in front of me one day, someone I had no
06:25
idea who they even were.
06:27
And I looked over and I said, wow, that's so funny.
06:29
You know, that's my grandmother's name.
06:30
It's not a very common name.
06:32
And I remember sitting down and asking my father, why do they
06:37
speak about her that way?
06:38
And so he started telling me more stories about their life
06:41
and more things that had happened to them.
06:43
And then little by little, I just started learning a lot more
06:47
And so as I said, I lived a lot at home with my parents until I
06:52
got married when I was 23.
06:53
So I spent a lot of time with my parents and then, you know, just
06:56
stories, the way that we learn all about our childhood through
07:01
Well, it's such a, such a remarkable, remarkable story.
07:05
You know, it's interesting.
07:06
I, um this is a brief little aside but, um, despite having left
07:12
Cuba when I was five, I never really came to grips with that
07:18
You know, what, what, what my family lost was next to nothing
07:22
compared to what your family lost and going through those
07:26
pictures and seeing the magnitude and the size of that company
07:30
and, and, and having those photos wash over me was just, uh
07:34
just phenomenal overwhelming, just overwhelming, overwhelming
07:40
Um, was that in high school that you came to understand?
07:45
Ok, this was, this was something of enormous magnitude or
07:50
I don't think until I was probably older, I don't think until
07:53
I was probably older.
07:55
We were never raised, or at least my mom never raised us to think
08:00
about the loss to define the future.
08:04
That wasn't, it was more about remembering where you were
08:07
from so that you wouldn't forget so that you would work harder
08:10
to be successful in the future.
08:12
But I don't think I really understood the magnitude of it until
08:15
I was an adult and that I was working and that I had to make my
08:19
own money and I had to buy my own things and have my own livelihood
08:24
that I really understood it.
08:25
The magnitude of it.
08:28
Um, it's hard to say because the same experience that you had
08:32
a lot of people have like, where they'll stop and they'll say
08:36
Um, I can't believe that that happened to your family.
08:39
It wasn't something that poppy filled with us of stories so
08:44
that we would commiserate in it.
08:48
So it was more about this happened and how are we going to move
08:52
I mean, still to this day, um, I just got a, an, an email from
08:56
a cousin of mine that has our family genealogy.
08:59
It's incredible the amount of things that they did, how hard
09:04
they worked, how they struggled to become the company that
09:07
they were all the things that they did.
09:09
Um, so in a way, it's hard because it was 60 years ago.
09:13
In another way you feel like it was yesterday.
09:15
Sometimes it depends on who you talk to.
09:18
Um, so I, I guess it just really depends but it probably wasn't
09:22
until I was older when it finally dawned on you.
09:25
And you came to that realization.
09:29
How did that affect the way you viewed your parents?
09:33
Was there a newfound sort of respect for what they had been
09:38
Did that cross your mind?
09:39
It made me understand my dad more.
09:43
It made me understand why he was so driven with so many things
09:48
that were so important to him.
09:50
It made me understand the story of a and his passion for Bacardi
09:56
It made me, you know, like I said, mom was focused on tomorrow
10:02
How are we gonna get to tomorrow?
10:04
What are we gonna do to get everybody through school?
10:07
What are we gonna do to be able to pay our bills to get, you know
10:10
you know, the life things that was kind of mom's perspective
10:13
Bobby was more about, about not the forgetting piece, you
10:17
know, listen, it made, it made me very proud, obviously.
10:21
Um It shocks me to be honest with you how so many people have
10:27
been able to survive that emotionally.
10:30
It made me understand more of the nuances of who my father was
10:34
why he was the way he was.
10:37
Um he was not an easy person to get along with.
10:40
He had a, a tough character because I think he was trying to
10:45
It was part of the layers that he had, uh, to protect his himself
10:49
and, and the things that he had lost the what ifs of like, mommy
10:54
was never about the, what ifs we have to focus forward?
10:58
Bobby was more about the?
11:01
But the what ifs of life, you know, he was always the optimistic
11:04
one that was always looking for another way to be able to move
11:07
Um So it, it made me obviously respect and love them more than
11:11
than I, than I do or than I did.
11:14
Um And it makes you understand a little bit more how they compartmentalize
11:18
you know, you meet Cubans and it depends like my father-in-law
11:21
is very passionate, but he can't move on from certain things
11:24
He came in Peter Pan, other Cubans compartmentalize that
11:29
I think mom was want more of the compartmentalizing kind.
11:32
I mean, I lived with my grandmother until she died and I was
11:37
My grandmother didn't reminisce on the pain.
11:40
She only focused on the beauty of her life and of the things
11:44
And maybe that's just because they didn't want to fill us with
11:47
things that would bring us negativity and not make us joyful
11:51
And it was about rediscovering our new, normal and rediscovering
11:54
our new path and our new life in the United States.
11:59
And the only way you're gonna find happiness is by accepting
12:02
that new normal and seeing the beauty in it No.
12:07
How, how, how powerful, talk to me about your dad's commitment
12:13
to seeing this brand of his families reestablished.
12:19
My father was probably one of the most stubborn people I've
12:24
No, was never an option.
12:26
There was always an out there was always something that we
12:28
could do to make things happen.
12:30
Bobby was the one that anybody would call at two o'clock in
12:32
the morning because he knew he wouldn't ask you any questions
12:34
He would just go take care of you.
12:36
That was the type of man he was, he would take off his shirt to
12:39
give it to you if you needed it.
12:42
He was 100% committed to a and to Bacardi.
12:48
It was something that was very important to him.
12:51
And when many people kept saying he was always like, ok, it's
12:57
This is, this is me, this is my thing and it's what is, what's
13:00
important to me, but I'm gonna see it through until the day
13:03
he died, right when he was to, towards the last two years of
13:07
his life, he was really sick.
13:09
He um he had emphysema, he had been a lifetime smoker um and
13:14
had heart problems and he knew he was a hot mess.
13:17
And so, um I spent a lot of time with him towards the last two
13:20
years of his life, going to doctor's appointments and helping
13:22
him and we would talk every day.
13:24
And, um, he would call me, that was my nickname.
13:27
And so we would talk at all random times about random things
13:31
that were important to him.
13:33
And so when he knew he was really sick, he had gone to see one
13:36
I had, um, I had got him an appointment with a really good heart
13:39
surgeon because he was, he really thought he was gonna get
13:43
I'm like Bobby, they're not gonna give you a new heart.
13:45
You know, you can, you can hardly breathe.
13:46
It's not gonna happen, right?
13:47
So he was always trying to find a way to, to make that happen
13:51
So finally, when he accepted the fact that he was gonna die
13:53
he didn't wanna die.
13:55
Did not want to die at all.
13:57
He wanted to live more than anything in the world.
14:00
He came to the house and he said that he wanted to give me um all
14:04
the paperwork and all the packets of everything that he had
14:07
Everything having to do with a, everything having to do with
14:10
Cuba, everything having to do with anything that was connected
14:13
to the and to Cuba and to Bacardi and Havana club and everything
14:16
because he wanted me to have it because um you know, I was the
14:21
one he said that would, that wouldn't forget.
14:23
And I was the one that would continue his dream.
14:26
And so he made me promise in his own way.
14:31
And so I promised him that if there was anything I could do that
14:34
I would continue to try and support his dream, which was something
14:37
that was really important to him.
14:40
So how gratifying is to see where this has come?
14:43
Oh my God, it's amazing.
14:45
He, well, he would have just been, he would have been completely
14:52
He had become very emotional later in life.
14:55
Something he really wasn't, especially after my brother
14:57
passed away, he would cry at the drop of a hat over.
15:01
Anything that brought any type of emotion would tug his heart
15:05
And, you know, I don't know emotionally how he would have handled
15:08
it, to be honest with you, I think it would have been very difficult
15:12
I think in his own way, he would have been joy filled and he would
15:15
have been bursting at the seams.
15:18
But I think it would have been really difficult emotionally
15:20
for him as well that um that whole experience for him, he would
15:25
have been very proud, but he would have, um it would have really
15:28
affected him emotionally as well.
15:29
I think how has it affected you?
15:33
You know, it's interesting that you asked me that um, I am on
15:37
the cusp of my 50th birthday and I think that the older that
15:42
I have gotten a little bit, the more sentimental I've become
15:46
I used to be a little bit more of a cynic and um, and I've become
15:51
a little bit more emotional about it.
15:53
I've always been proud, I am beyond proud to be an, it's always
15:58
been something that's been very important to me.
16:01
I'm proud of my heritage.
16:02
I'm proud of my family.
16:03
I'm proud of all the craziness that comes with being an because
16:07
we are by far, not perfect.
16:09
But I think that the older that I've gotten, the more emotional
16:12
it's made me, um the more humbling it's made me.
16:15
Um and um, and very proud, I really wish he would have been able
16:19
to have been here to have seen it.
16:21
And what was your mom's reaction?
16:26
You know, mom, um Mom is a little bit more reserved and mom um
16:32
holds, um she holds a little bit more um her heart to her chest
16:40
She, she's a little bit more about not letting people come
16:44
in who might um not hurt her, but she's guarded.
16:48
Mom is more guarded emotionally.
16:50
She has suffered a great deal in her life and she has had a lot
16:53
of hardships and even though she's very strong, you know,
16:57
those things affect her, so she's a little bit more cautious
17:01
I would say I'm a little bit more passionate.
17:03
I definitely have much more of my father's personality.
17:05
I would say that my older brother has much more of my mother's
17:08
I'm much more passionate.
17:11
I get excited about things much more.
17:13
I take more chances.
17:15
That's just my personality.
17:16
Mom was a little bit more reserved.
17:18
Mom's always worried she's always worried about, you know
17:22
how it's going to affect things, how, you know, are we doing
17:24
the right thing or, or is, is everyone gonna be happy or, you
17:27
know, she's much more worried about stuff like that.
17:29
I think it took her by surprise.
17:31
I definitely know it took me by surprise, but I think it took
17:34
her by surprise, the immensity of all of it and really Tony
17:40
that people even care.
17:42
I it's um we just see ourselves as a normal family, another
17:49
Cuban family that went through the same story that many people
17:52
have gone through, except there's a little twist to us, right
17:55
So yes, story is amazing and what they did was amazing and it's
18:00
terrible what happened to them.
18:02
But like I've said many times, go around and talk to people
18:05
they have their stories.
18:07
So we don't really feel like we're special.
18:08
We just feel like we're the and there's a huge clan of us and
18:12
but we don't really see ourselves that way.
18:14
So to have experienced all of this campaign to have experienced
18:18
the joy that it has brought so many people to experience how
18:23
our story has affected people.
18:25
I think it's humbling.
18:27
It's um I definitely will say that it has been uh something
18:31
that mommy has said multiple times.
18:36
It's and so like you have to kind of pinch yourself because
18:39
even, even, even all of this is, is something that's not the
18:44
Well, I think beyond your story and you're right.
18:47
I mean, every Cuban has a story of lost and tragedy and um but
18:53
not every Cuban was putting out a product that was on our tables
18:58
during so many great moments, you know, there for weddings
19:04
and, and I mean, I look back at the photos of my parents, these
19:08
great black and white photos and in the fifties and be damned
19:12
if there wasn't one of your bottles on the table in somewhere
19:16
So you were part of that, your family was part of those celebrations
19:20
So, of course, of course, you're gonna feel a connection to
19:23
your, to your family and it's, it's quite, quite charming
19:26
that you, you, you didn't realize it or it came as somewhat
19:32
And then when you meet people that were a part of it that start
19:35
to tell you stories of it, you, you think to yourself.
19:40
You know, so I think there's been a lot of those wow moments
19:43
Um And I think it's very exciting to know how it's exciting
19:47
for the younger generations who are really excited about
19:51
it and who um we went to dinner with um with someone that's very
19:55
excited about the brand and, and um just to see his face light
19:59
up with the story and, and this is incredible.
20:03
And what do you know?
20:04
And have you ever been there?
20:05
You know, the famous question, have you ever been there?
20:07
What have you seen, what were your parents stories?
20:09
Um They sheltered us a lot from that?
20:11
I think for many reasons because at the time they, they had
20:14
to work hard to be able to get to tomorrow.
20:17
I can see why they sheltered you.
20:18
That was a smart move, I think.
20:20
Yeah, I think um let's let's shift focus for just a second.
20:26
Um You're American and you were born here in the States, but
20:32
you're very Cuban at the same time.
20:35
So like how do you define Cuban?
20:39
How does that, you know, for, I guess in a certain context,
20:43
it's why you're either born there or you're worried, but that's
20:46
not, that's not the case.
20:48
How do you define it?
20:49
Well, I define myself as, as and Ramon's daughter and as defining
20:55
myself as a Ramon and Am's daughter by, by just who they are
21:01
I believe I'm Cuban.
21:02
I've never thought of myself as American first.
21:05
And it's something that, that a lot of people ask that question
21:08
Well, why you were born here?
21:10
Because I came from, from this extraordinary Cuban family
21:14
and from their history.
21:16
So I'm a product of them.
21:18
So that's why I think I also think living in Miami gives you
21:22
that edge of, of being Cuban and being proud of being Cuban
21:26
Um It's something that I don't think unless you live here,
21:31
You know, we call it that joy de v that, that feeling that, that
21:34
connection to who you are and where you come from, that, that
21:38
um that spirit that makes you different.
21:41
I really believe that I think we're very different, different
21:43
but I think it's because of, of where we came from and who raised
21:46
us like dancing and music and food.
21:49
And my father was an incredible dancer.
21:51
And so that to me, since the earliest age that I can remember
21:58
Bobby was always dancing.
22:00
Bobby was always playing music.
22:01
Bobby was always singing.
22:03
It was a part of, of who we were their heritage to them was very
22:07
And so I think that by default, it became a part of who we are
22:11
You know, my brother doesn't live here.
22:13
Um I think, I think I'm more Cuban than he is, even though we
22:16
were raised and he was born in Cuba because I just think that
22:20
that's, it's part of living in Miami too.
22:23
And I think a big part of it also was storytelling 100%.
22:27
I think storytelling was such a way of handing that stuff down
22:33
And not, not necessarily storytelling tied to your family's
22:36
you know, brand story, but just storytelling in general
22:40
Do you remember how that Cuban thing was transmitted to you
22:43
through storytelling 100%.
22:45
My first of all, my mother is a great storyteller.
22:49
Bobby had a great memory for all dates, all moments in time
22:53
things that were really important.
22:55
And I can't, I can't imagine or even remember a time that we
22:59
haven't sat here at this house together to have uh something
23:03
to eat or to have a drink or to get together to do something without
23:08
It's, it's a part that definitely is a huge part of who we are
23:11
Um And, and clear memories and as we got older, more appropriate
23:16
you know, time in our life, other stories that were very hard
23:19
to hear and, and hard to understand.
23:22
Um but yes, through stories, through pictures, through a
23:25
lot of pictures, um through a lot of memory, um uh food, there
23:31
were always cooking, always some sort of connections to food
23:34
Um You know, it's like we love to eat.
23:36
So it's, it's a part of the family connection.
23:41
And there were very little other ways of transmitting it.
23:44
I mean, we weren't allowed to leave with a hell of a lot of baggage
23:47
I was not like, oh, let's turn to our collection of home movies
23:50
No pal you couldn't bring that out.
23:53
That's the greatest for me.
23:55
The missing link is the going, the going to see where they,
23:59
where it started and where they came from.
24:01
That for me is a part that's so hard.
24:04
So I'll drive in front of my elementary school and I'll show
24:06
my kids where I went to elementary school or I'll show them
24:08
the house that I was born in.
24:11
That's been a very difficult piece of not being able to have
24:15
Would it look like then?
24:17
Because the pictures of today are obviously not worth even
24:20
seeing, but what it look like then.
24:22
So where they went to school and where they went to parties
24:25
and um, you know, where they lived, um where they got married
24:30
uh things that, that are, that were so important to them and
24:34
that's what often gets overlooked is how much was stolen from
24:40
It was not just the material, it was what you just described
24:44
that I think is probably the most valuable thing that was taken
24:47
from all of us is that sense of belonging, that sense of being
24:51
able to say, yes, my story is real and it started here.
24:54
There's no here that here is a pile of rubble for the most part
24:59
Now, have you, have you toyed with the idea of going back at
25:05
So we did about 20 years ago.
25:08
Um I had convinced mom to go and, um, we decided not to go.
25:15
And, um, after that, like I mentioned, my father-in-law came
25:19
in and has had a very difficult time emotionally because of
25:23
And so I had gotten married and, um, it was, it wasn't the right
25:28
Mom has always been scared about going back.
25:30
Um, and so we decided not to go and then I was older and then I
25:36
didn't want to go back because I didn't wanna go because I knew
25:40
it was going to cause her pain and it was going to be very difficult
25:43
And to be honest with you, I have zero interest in going without
25:47
Because to me it's not gonna be the same.
25:49
Even now when people go back and they send you pictures, it's
25:53
it's like if it's a, a foreign place, I guess another planet
25:57
So it doesn't really have the same emotional connection because
26:00
I don't feel like it means the same.
26:01
I want to experience things.
26:03
I wanted to experience things with my father when he was alive
26:06
that would bring him joy.
26:07
None of that was going to bring him joy.
26:09
And you know, my mom's, my mom's story of how she left and, and
26:14
all that she went through it takes, you know, you know, you're
26:18
not really interested in being able to do that because you
26:20
think it's gonna cause so much more pain.
26:22
So I'd rather create better, newer memories and focus on things
26:27
that will bring her joy now and bring me joy now that we can do
26:31
in these, you know, in this last uh stages of her life.
26:36
Looking back, what would you say you've learned from first
26:40
your father, how to have fun, how to dance, how not to take life
26:49
Um how I have to plan a little bit better.
26:53
And I have to um always remember to take care of my family from
27:01
I would say I've learned about my faith first about how to be
27:08
a mother, how to work really hard, how never to allow anyone
27:16
to take away from you.
27:17
It's yours and how life is always going to throw you a curveball
27:24
but you have to rise above it.
27:27
Mom has always said, keep your head up high and that's for sure
27:32
Something that, that she has taught us that I will never forget
27:36
One of the things that she always told me was we are here on borrowed
27:40
You are given this chance and this opportunity to walk on this
27:44
earth for the goal of getting to heaven.
27:47
That's your number one goal.
27:50
Everything else will take care of itself.
27:54
She is a strong, independent, brutally honest uh woman who
28:01
always did everything she could so that her kids could have
28:04
everything that they had in life.
28:06
And I think we did pretty well.
28:07
I think we turned out pretty well and um it's really been because
28:12
Wow, that's beautiful.
28:14
So now you're obviously the head of a household, you're a mother
28:19
How do you take everything that you just shared with me and
28:23
transmit that to the next generation.
28:25
It's so hard, Tony because I feel like life was so much less
28:30
complicated when we were growing up, Miami was a different
28:34
Um family and, and the, the thought of family was totally different
28:38
It was looked at differently.
28:40
There are so many variables now and so many things that come
28:45
at you all at the same time.
28:47
I, I work in education and it's something that I see every day
28:50
of my life, how the world that we're raising our kids in is so
28:53
differently and so many variables that we can control anymore
28:56
with social media and, and all these different things.
28:59
For me, the number one, we have non negotiables in, in our house
29:04
and so non negotiables of God family and, and love uh things
29:09
like having dinner together and it's a non-negotiable.
29:11
We're gonna sit down and we're gonna have dinner together
29:14
Um We're always gonna be honest with each other.
29:16
We're always going to work hard.
29:18
We're always going to finish school and have a great education
29:21
because it's one of the only things no one can ever take away
29:25
Um you know, to be the student for life.
29:27
So that's what my husband and I do.
29:29
We work really hard to learn from our past and from the pain
29:34
It's inconceivable to me to think what it must have been like
29:38
at the age of 25 to have had to have walked away from everything
29:45
It's that, that piece to me is one of the things that's one of
29:49
the hardest things for me to be able to fathom and understand
29:53
And so one of the things that I work really hard on is being independent
29:57
not depending on anybody being able to have an education
30:00
that no one can take away from you.
30:01
Things that were always going to help, better prepare you
30:05
So that hardships like that, that will come inevitably in
30:09
all shapes and sizes and especially when you're least expecting
30:13
it, you will be able to confront those things as best as you
30:18
can with respect and humility and, and holding your head up
30:24
I see a lot of both of your parents and you, you would have loved
30:28
I'm sure I would have hit it off you.
30:35
I can see both sides of that in you.
30:40
And I mean that in uh the only way you can take it as a compliment
30:46
um You've shared a lot on your mom and on your dad.
30:59
So is going to be seen and is being seen by a lot of people.
31:05
What aspect of your family story that's not included in because
31:13
it's only so long that you couldn't fit everything.
31:16
What aspect of the family story would you like the world to
31:21
know that they might not find within the confines of Amparo
31:28
is from 1957 to 1964 and 1965 let's say, um, really just a glimpse
31:41
So for me, almost 60 years later, one of the joys of having my
31:48
mom be present at a and be able to enjoy with her, with her Children
31:55
and her grandchildren is that people will see how great she
32:00
still is today and how she came out on the other side.
32:05
I, I, and I think that's the piece that I wish my father would
32:08
have seen because I think that Poppy died still yearning for
32:12
that so much, almost reaching that peace, almost getting
32:16
to that place where he could have said, wow, you know, we were
32:21
able to, we were able to really make this happen, you know,
32:24
with so many people, obviously not him by himself.
32:27
And, and I think that that's what I, that I wish for people to
32:30
know that they came out on the other side when we went to the
32:36
And they, they had a pause where they, they said we're so lucky
32:41
because we have the real here.
32:43
That to me was the most proud moment of the night for me because
32:47
I felt like you see everybody here she is, you know, she did
32:50
a, she did a great thing.
32:52
She's just a small, small piece.
32:54
I mean, really mommy married into this family.
32:57
So it's just a small piece of the story.
33:00
But she was able to share it for years when we were kids.
33:03
I used to always tell her my, my mom and I love books and journals
33:08
And when that five and dime store was in Sunnyland, we used
33:11
to go love to buy books and pens and pencils.
33:13
And I would tell her mommy write it down, write it down because
33:16
we're gonna forget, write it down because it's really important
33:20
So to me, it's, it's wow, this story, this one small glimpse
33:24
in time that changed the lives of so many people that were connected
33:29
to a is being shared.
33:32
But at the same time how wonderful that she and my dad were able
33:36
to tell their story because even though he didn't tell his
33:39
story for this small piece, now he did for over 25 years in his
33:44
relationship with Bacardi in, in all of the hours of interviews
33:49
that he had in sharing his story with us and all the letters
33:53
and all the writing and everything that he shared, his story
33:57
And so for me that that's a piece that I think is really, is really
34:01
And then to see people say, wow, that's incredible that that's
34:06
And how come I didn't know that and why haven't you talked more
34:10
And that's, I think more my mom where we're like, well, I don't
34:15
know, you know, like where do you even find the venue to even
34:18
talk about something like that?
34:19
So which is, I think the special piece of Bacardi because Bacardi
34:23
has really taken the human story and, and made it a part of the
34:28
brand that it's not just another rum that it's something that's
34:31
connected to history and it's connected to people and it's
34:33
connected to family.
34:35
And so by bringing the element of the human story to life, it's
34:39
I think it's changed the whole perspective of it for everybody
34:43
So going to a restaurant and ordering the drink, my husband's
34:46
always very proud and he'll say, ask her because she's not
34:48
an and I'm always like, it doesn't matter, that's not important
34:52
Because it embarrasses me and to see the reaction of people
34:56
when they say my God, I didn't know the story.
34:59
It makes me love this brand and this room even more like, isn't
35:04
that incredible that there's that connection to it?
35:06
That's that human connection, which is why I think it makes
35:10
So that's a really long answer to your question.
35:12
But, but that's what I, that's how I see it.
35:15
No, it's a beautiful answer to my question.
35:17
And uh, and, and, and that's it.
35:20
I mean, your product is us in a bottle.
35:22
So of course, we're gonna be endeared to it.
35:24
Of course, we're gonna love it and we're gonna embrace it.
35:26
Well, then if you look at the bottle.
35:27
So it's um this is something that Pappy was very, always very
35:32
We have a family ring um that has our family crest on it.
35:36
And so all the men in the family always had the family and he
35:40
made me one for me to wear.
35:42
Uh that was more feminine.
35:44
And we've always seen the tree which is on, you know, which
35:48
is the kind of logo, our family crests.
35:51
My kids did projects on it when they were in elementary school
35:54
when we saw the label and saw the story on the label.
35:59
I mean, they didn't have to do that and, and to, to, to make it
36:04
so personal so that when someone picks up the bottle that they
36:08
can read the story and they can see a picture of the founder
36:11
and they see the logo on it there.
36:14
I mean, that's impactful and it's, it's like when you pick
36:17
up a great bottle of wine, the you taste the wine but come on
36:20
everybody looks at the label, right?
36:21
You look at it because it's something that's intriguing and
36:24
And, and that's really one of the beauties I think of the label
36:27
because it's so personal.
36:29
It really is and so thoughtful.
36:31
Something that was done with so much love and care and that
36:35
I mean, to have known my father, you would have appreciated
36:38
and understood why that was important to him because that's
36:42
the person he was, he oozed that love for his family.
36:46
I think that would have affected him to even at a greater, a
36:49
greater depth because to him it was something so important
36:53
and it's like they got it right.
36:55
So somebody that thought of it and, and the company figured
37:00
that out and was able to pick up that one piece of that human
37:03
element that was so important to them.
37:05
Wow, that was beautiful.
37:08
I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but I can't help but think
37:12
your father saying, yeah, you promise me, you know, you're
37:15
not gonna let this thing fall by the wayside and then seeing
37:20
where you guys are now that you could walk into a liquor store
37:23
and, and, and there's a product and there's a play that's about
37:25
to take place and a ton of people are gonna see it and you can
37:28
walk into LA while you see this fancy guy in his outfit making
37:31
Daer with their club.
37:33
That's gotta be like, what, what is that?
37:38
So it's mixed for me.
37:41
It's not probably the best word but a little bit of vindication
37:50
A little bit of God.
37:53
He would have been so happy to have seen this come to life and
37:59
part just pure joy that other people are getting to enjoy this
38:05
incredible rum and are, are able to, to enjoy the story.
38:10
So I'll tell you a funny small story.
38:11
So the first time that I went to an event that they were having
38:15
I remember walking in and feeling like I was in a, in a movie
38:18
because there was all of these incredible people dressed
38:22
up and you know, the label was everywhere and it was in this
38:24
very fancy cool hotel and, and I just kept walking around like
38:28
I was like in a movie like this isn't, this isn't our family
38:31
This is like so surreal, like surreal.
38:35
And then a few weeks later I said to my husband, you know, I have
38:38
to go buy, I have to go buy a case of this.
38:40
I have to start giving this to people that I know and, and they
38:43
had just started selling it.
38:44
And so I remember going into a liquor store and there was a huge
38:48
Havana Club banner with cases and cases and cases of it.
38:52
And I remember turning and looking to my husband and saying
38:56
Bobby would have died.
38:58
He, he would have just, I mean, I can just imagine what he would
39:02
have done because it was like to a point that it was surreal
39:05
So it was like this dream that no one ever thought, you know
39:10
Is it gonna really become this thing that we really in our minds
39:13
imagined to this incredible, incredible, incredible campaign
39:19
So for me, it's this mixed emotion of, wow, this is so exciting
39:24
I'm so glad that they were able to do this and that our real story
39:28
was able to come out so that people know the truth of what really
39:31
happened to while at the same time just being pure joy.
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