SPEAKER_01 0:00

I've been able to walk through doors that my ancestors can only dream about. And how dare I even consider closing the door behind me? I can't I can't. You gotta prop it open, or better yet, like knock that door down to let everyone else follow behind you. My family benefited from programs growing up. That gave us an opportunity for an experience. I feel like I I have the responsibility to pay it full war.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

Hi, Huntresses. This is Talk Rich to Me. Where we get more comfortable talking about money and dealing with money. Brought to you by Huntress Wealth. 71% of women are investing, but only one in six feels confident about where she's headed. Huntress is the all-in-one financial app built to help you make a plan, get actionable steps, and build your wealth. Join the wait list at HuntressWealth.com and get good with money. We're ending our series on money and politics and how your voice can change the government effectively. Um, and to wrap up our series, we have Beth Sanchez, who is a civilian, so not an elected person, um, and is not a lobbyist. And so Beth Sanchez is here to share her story of advocacy, community organizing, and using her money to influence government. Thank you for being here, Beth. Thanks for inviting me. I just want to say my friends are chingonas. Beth is another friend. Um can you please give us a little bit of background on yourself?

SPEAKER_01 1:38

I am uh born and raised Austinite, a native, what you would call a unicorn. I'm a first generation American. I'm first in my family to go to college and go to law school or higher ed. A lot of firsts um behind my name. I practice personal injury. I love helping injured people, being their guide in that process. And also, I'm the founder of a nonprofit and a lawyer by day and a superhero by night to my my kids.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

I love that. Um aren't we all? I mean, I try. I'm probably like kind of the dead superhero, you know, but we're there. We're getting there.

SPEAKER_01 2:14

Sometimes we're Robin, sometimes we're Batman. It's fine.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

I love that. How did you start your nonprofit community by Sanchez?

SPEAKER_01 2:21

I never sought out to have a nonprofit. That was never in my like long-term goals. Uh to understand that, I'll take you back. So when I started my my firm, Sanchez Law, was in 2019, fall of 2019. And we're coming up on our anniversary next month in October. I didn't seek out to be a law firm owner either. Just kept moving forward. 2020 happened, COVID happened. I became a mom. So I was pregnant during COVID. It was a really interesting time for so many reasons, but also for what we do and helping people. It's already hard enough for our clients to get access to healthcare that they need, but then with all the restrictions, that was even harder. And life doesn't stop, even though there are less people on the road. We still had horrible crashes happen all the time. Um, so in 2022, one of my first cases I signed up from 2019, we got an amazing settlement or a client who was hit by a drunk driver. And this settlement, it changed a lot for us because I had been maxing out credit cards just to keep the lights on, to pay my employees. I barely paid myself. This was not something I had planned to start a law firm, to have a business. It's just kind of like, okay, this is what I need to do now. Let's do it. Um, so I asked the team, like, what should we do with this money? And we came up with the idea to give a backpack giveaway. So in about two and a half weeks, we we put together this little backpack giveaway event. We I asked a few colleagues, I was like, hey, can you, you know, give me some money basically to help fund this. Uh, we did some very light marketing on social media. We did it at my office in the parking lot. So we gave away about maybe half, about 250 or so of the backpacks. And it was great because so many families were grateful. My office is in a part of town where there's a lot of um affordable housing. So a lot of those families were able to come walking to this little event, and they were just so happy. They got it, the kids got a new backpack, they got supplies, and not just any supplies. Like I made sure we did Crayola because growing up, I didn't get Crayola, we were quite poor. And it just it felt right to be able to do that, even though it was on such a small scale. We were able to help those families. We ended up giving those backpacks, the the remaining backpacks, to some Title I schools in our area. We called ahead, and every single school we visited was said thank you. We have so many students, so many families show up on the first day without supplies, even just a backpack, even if it's just a new backpack that that can empower a student, especially if they don't have the means to always get something new, or the family doesn't. So every year we just got bigger and bigger, uh, powered by my team, by their friends, by their families, my family. That meant coming into the office after hours on the weekends, stuffing backpacks, um, picking up the supplies. My mom is my superhero. Um, she'd go to Walmart to Target, like shopping the best back to school deals, so we can use the money effectively that we were collecting. My firm sponsored most of it in the beginning, but uh I would ask colleagues and friends and they would sponsor more. And so it grew from 500 backpacks to a thousand backpacks to 1200 backpacks. And then last year I I brought on a friend, Delphi, who's very well known in the community, does is involved in a lot of um different community programs, nonprofits, and she had heard about the backpack event through a friend, to another colleague. And so I brought her on, we were chatting about it. How can we make this bigger? How can we keep doing this? And then we were like, well, I think we need to grow to a nonprofit. And within a month, we got our filings done, we hired an accountant to make sure like everything was done correctly, and we rebranded and we thought of the name, which coming up with a name is hard because it it needs to mean something, it needs to resonate with what you do, but it also needs to have its own identity and that community by Sanchez was born. So we held it at the Tony Berger Center and had our biggest event yet last year. Well, now this year, 2026.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

That's amazing. What called you to to not just create the nonprofit, but just the idea what what made you want to give away backpacks to kids in need? So my dad is from El Salvador.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

And growing up, as I think a lot of children of immigrants can can relate to, they he always pushed education. Your education come first. We might be poor, but if you need something for school, if you need something for band, for sports, whatever it is, for me and my brothers, he made sure like and my mom, they made sure like those were the priorities because he didn't have those opportunities. He grew up in El Salvador and you know, the 80s and the war, and and he knew that that could change our lives. And it it has getting an education, whether it's a traditional route of going to college, you know, university, or going to a trade school, whatever it is, educating yourself, empowering yourself, open source. And I've always supported programs, nonprofits, anything that is education-based that gives people opportunities, students opportunities, children opportunities, because that for a lot of us, that is sometimes like the only door we have to get out of our situation. And for me personally, that was one of my favorite parts of uh back to school was that time of year where we maybe got our new pair of shoes, we got a new backpack, or we got new supplies. It helped you start off the school year strong. So I wanted to share that experience with with other kids, with other families. I had friends growing up that school was their only reprieve, like that was their safe space, that was their community, that was a place where they got a warm meal, that was a place where they had outside influences believe in them, teachers, other, you know, students, friends, other educators.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

I love what you said about giving everybody an opportunity and fresh start and that being exciting for you. I remember being a kid and honestly getting so excited when it was like back to school. And I did grow up very fortunate. Um, I will say, compared to others, relatively, I grew up in a you know upper middle class family. And I just remember going to school and being so excited and like getting getting to pick out my new things and like the little folder. And God, maybe I feel bad for my kids because now I just do the sprouts box because I'm like, Mama no God, time to do that. And your boys, you don't care about the Lisa Frank or the hello kiddies.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Oh, if I could get a Lisa Frank folder that was they're on the internet.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

You can get them. Okay. Um, I mean, I'm a Hello Kitty girly, but yeah, anyway. Um, and I, you know, there's just been so much strife and like drama in school and just like in our humanity as we stand today. Our school has personally been affected by ICE. Um, since the beginning of school, I believe in less than a month, we've had two families have parents detained, one actually at our school. I felt very propelled to action, toward action after the first ICE detainment, which happened in the parking lot in front of our school, in front of our kids. And when I'm trying to appeal to someone, we are all so lucky to be born where we are born. Most parents are all doing the same thing you're doing, which is wanting a better life for the next generation of humans. So thank you for helping with that in such a very real and impactful way.

SPEAKER_01 9:43

Just doing the best I can. And I don't think everyone realizes that I I think as a society, sometimes we are very ego-driven and just very selfish, just to put it simply. And I feel like I I have the responsibility because I benefited from programs growing up. My family benefited from programs growing up, whether it was like what's it called? Like like the brown Santa or Blue Santa or other program or other programs that helped us move forward, that gave us an opportunity, that gave us an opportunity for an experience, even just a field trip, you know, something so small like that. So I I feel like I I had the responsibility to pay it forward, but not only that, I've I've been able to walk through doors that my ancestors could only dream about. And how dare I even consider closing the door behind me? I can't I can't. You gotta prop it open, or better yet, like knock that door down to let everyone else follow behind you.

SPEAKER_00 10:46

Oh my God, that was beautiful. So look, I'm gonna cry. Sorry, I'm not really because I'm not a crier, but if I were a crier, that would make me cry. Bringing tears to all of the huntresses. Um, but yeah, I've never heard someone explain it that way.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

And I love it. I've had to work on not only celebrating my successes, but just enjoying it. And I always get uncomfortable when people are like, wow, like you've accomplished all this. And I'm just kind of like, ah, it's just what I'm supposed to do. And I got to do. And I think it's from that mindset of of uh having an immigrant parent. It's just like you're supposed to do what you do and just keep moving forward. And so I realized that I need to learn to be comfortable with that because it's not really about me, it's about these other girls, these other just other students, these other children seeing themselves in me or others and be like, wow, like they're able to do that. I can do it too. Absolutely. And that representation matters.

SPEAKER_00 11:57

Representation matters. If I would have had someone that looked like me as a role model in finance, who knows where my career would have been. Like, same thing with you, right? Like, there's just not that many brown Latina women in these fields with success. I think when you can see yourself and someone else.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

I've always wanted to make sure everything was intentional. And even what on a smaller scale, we had a variety of backpacks that the kids could pick. So once we moved it inside, was we had a community by Santes, we did something a little different than other backpack giveaways. Because there's so many events and that they're needed. The fact that there's so many and it's still not enough speaks volumes of where we are at as a society. Families and children should have to be worried if like they're gonna have the supplies. Teachers shouldn't have to be asking families, like, can you send wipes? Can you send like these community supplies? They should be supported by the school districts, which should be supported by the state. It should not be this this bad, which is why these programs come into place. So, one thing that we do is giving giving these families, these children, the power of choice, because it's not a handout. I never wanted to feel like a handout. I want this to be an experience. So that's why we call it our our back to school fiesta. So they come in, we have music, we have community partners, we have uh different lines per grade, because that was the other thing is making it an intentional, um an intentional opportunity, because every every grade's different. So what we ended up doing is we since we're in Austin, we took all the uh we downloaded a bunch of school supply lists from many Austin ISD schools and did use AI for this, like threw it in there, but like give us like an average of what's being requested, and that's how we got uh our list. And so for each grade, we have Loteria cards, which is like Mexican bingo, yeah. Uh and that way they have their little shopping list, but they get to go through these tables where we have all our amazing volunteers and pick out the color folder that they want, pick out their box of markers or color pencils or our you know, pencil bag, uh, pick out their backpacks. Now we have so many, so many varieties of solids and prints and characters, and it's all giving them the power of choice. Because anyone could be like, here, here's a backpack, there you go. Goodbye. That's so true. Yep. It went I wanted it to be an experience. Um, we invited Aikens High School band, they sent their drum line over to open up our fiesta, they marched through the hallways of Burgers Center and were leading the families in. And that was that was just so special special seeing the kids just happy, like, oh wow, like this is not it's again, it's not a handout, it's an experience, it's about respect, it's about giving them choice because for many of these families, they don't always have that, the power of choice. And and then also connecting them with community partners to offer different services for these families that some might benefit from. A lot of these places I didn't even know existed until we reached out and talked with them and heard about their missions. We had one partner this year uh called Thriftish, where they have gently used clothes that that they give out for free. They brought in a lot of their inventory. When we walked out, there was not a single thing left. And so many families were grateful because it's like, oh, we get a new pair to them, new to them, pants or shirts. There's no way that we, as individuals, that just common citizens, will be able to fix and help every single person that needs it. But everything that we do with intention helps.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

When you changed from being just a call it Sanchez Law or Beth Sanchez funded um backpack giveaway to giving from a nonprofit, a lot changed in that you had a lot of community partnerships that you mentioned earlier. That is community organizing, which is super hard. But how does the community organization work?

SPEAKER_01 16:00

Well, this goes back to letting people do what they do well. What one of our board board members, Delphi, uh knows so many community partners, so many nonprofits. And so she was able to call up these different organizations and see if they were able to come, but also to make sure that those organizations that we invited uh aligned with with what we were trying to provide. And so as a as a board, as a team, we thought, like, okay, what would we like to see? And so we knew that this year we definitely wanted a clothing component. And we had reached out to different organizations and finally uh, you know, just searching on Instagram and ran into Thriftish. And we're like, wow, like this is really cool what they're doing. And and so it's just a matter of reaching out. And that that takes a lot of a lot of work and a lot of time and coordination as well. Um, we've had some partners that have been with us for since last year, like Austin PBS is great, Cat Metro, uh a new one this year that's just really amazing, which I had hadn't heard about them before, is Book Drive for Kids, where they just give new books, and not just like any old books, like great books. Like, yeah, like Marvel characters, Star Wars, the books that kids are interested in. And for kids to have their own books, like new books at home, that's amazing. So it's just a matter of of reaching out and again, making sure their vision aligns with what you're trying to do and inviting them over. And a lot of them are happy to do it because they get to connect with families that they're trying to serve as well.

SPEAKER_00 17:29

How many people, like when you're in the thick of it of organizing? So if the backpack drive is in July or early August, when do you start the planning and the man hours to get those partnerships together and save the date and everything?

SPEAKER_01 17:42

We traditionally have held our event at the last Saturday of July, even from before when it wasn't before it was a nonprofit. Every year we've learned more and more, and we we have a system going, um, whether it's like getting supplies or reaching out to sponsors or or community partners. This past year we started in May, and there was the three components the community partners, getting donations, sponsorships uh out there, and then of course all the supplies. And so I I think we did much better this year, especially at the day of the event. Everything ran much more smoothly. We also had uh media there this year, and so that was really helpful. So we can get photos and videos so we can show potential sponsors in the future what this event is, what it's about. I definitely want to start earlier for 2027. I want to reach out to corporations. I want to do more.

SPEAKER_00 18:31

This year at your community by Sancha's backpack giveaway slash the fiesta. Um, you gave away 1200 backpacks. How much money did it take to actually have that day of event, including the logistics?

SPEAKER_01 18:45

I want to say it was a little over $30,000. And that includes for marketing. We also this year got branding done. So now we have our branding. Um, you know, that that costs money uh for media, photographer, videographer. Um the the space it was at the Tony Berger Center, great central location. It was in a partnership with Austin ISD, but we did still pay a rental fee, we need to pay for insurance, they need to pay for the the human hours, you know, the custodial staff. And typically we'd also would have to pay for um for like Austin ISD police to be there. But thankfully, uh our constable of precinct for uh Gabe Badia, he had his team over and they were able to donate their time, which was nice. But all all that all that helps when people believe in what you're doing and they're able to just give, and again, not maybe not money, but give time or resources that helps tremendously. Um, but probably one of our biggest expenses besides the supplies is just the space, the venue space. We also added a few new components like getting tents. So our event was from 4 to 7 p.m. And we had families showing up like at noon at 1 p.m. Because they wanted to make sure that they didn't miss out on that opportunity to get backpacking school supplies for their for their kids. So we added we added some tents so if people get get some kind of shade, you know, from the Texas sun. We also had hydration stations, which was a big hit, and just to kind of keep with the fiesta theme while our families were waiting outside because we had a line and we had to make sure that uh you know not everybody went in at once because it'd just be way too chaotic. So we had snow cones and actually my dad and my my uncle had a little we rented the little paletera cart and they were just walking around giving out, you know, oh we love that. Not snow cones, but paletas to to the kids. Um we also had face painters. Again, wanted it to be a celebration, a fiesta. So it adds it adds up.

SPEAKER_00 20:45

Love that. No, for sure. I mean I was not I was more just trying to give people a ballpark. What's the take logistically? Like you have to rent a venue, you're gonna it's like any event, but large scale, 1200 is a lot, right? Yeah, it means you're expecting what at least you're expecting at least 1200 kids and their families.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

Yeah, we had a tie, one of our volunteers was keeping timer. I want to say we had like seven, at least 700 families show up.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Is the nonprofit throughout the year, or are you doing this once a year at the beginning of the school year?

SPEAKER_01 21:16

Right now, yes, we have our one main event. Uh, we have a board meeting coming up soon. I have ideas uh for other things that we can do. Again, I didn't this was not like a dream of mine to start a nonprofit. I'm just trying to figure out how we can fill in the gaps, making it education-based, ideally doing something that can help families throughout winter break through spring break. Because again, for many families, for many students, school is their safe zone. Right now, our signature event is a back to school fiesta, but my goal is to have scholarships hopefully next year and just do uh a few more activities. But that takes planning and trial and Never.

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Um, so Beth, I hear you say this a lot. I accidentally did this. Um, like I just feel like I had to do this. I was propelled to do it because it's what I have to do. And I honestly I love that about you, but I know that it's not most people's human nature to feel like they have to do something. You didn't think that you would be a business owner. You didn't think you would have a successful law firm. You didn't think that you would be forming a nonprofit. Do you now think of the nonprofit as more scalable, meaning like you intend it to run completely away from Sancha's law as a nonprofit throughout the year? Is that a goal of yours? Not right now. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

I don't know if it's because I'm type A and I want to be involved because it was never my intention. I am educating myself now on what running a nonprofit means and what we can do. And instead of me trying to reinvent the wheel, I defer to people who are very knowledgeable in that. So right now, no. But ask me like in five years, like, well, remember, 2026.

SPEAKER_00 23:06

When you're back, when you're back in in one year, we'll see. Getting back to the business financial aspect of it. You've set up several businesses now. You have your Sanchez law firm, which runs as a, I'm assuming, some sort of LLC or partnership, and you've gone through that. How does that differ if someone like you wants to create a nonprofit?

SPEAKER_01 23:25

Well, it's very similar to creating a business, except of the requirements, especially if you are going to apply for 501c status, um, having the board members, having a vision statement, uh a mission statement, um, and also generally knowing what the purpose of your nonprofit is, because there's so many different uh codes that you have to select on the application uh to make sure that you are categorized correctly. And you should have some funds because unless you are very familiar and have been in nonprofits and know how to run it from the business side, funds to cover that, the filing fees, hiring um the professionals that you need to guide you. That's that'd be important to have.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

What can people generally expect to pay or funds that they would need in order to pay for these kind of like lawyer filing fees and all of that?

SPEAKER_01 24:19

It depends. That's such a lawyer answer. I would say just to have a few thousand dollars, it really depends on which professionals you're going to hire to guide you through the process. Uh, definitely talking to them up front about just getting that budget. I mean, budget is important. I would safely say at least $5K for again filing fees and hiring the right professionals uh and and just getting that funded, getting an email. Probably don't want to do it from a Gmail. You want to get the.org domain email just to kind of get everything started.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Other than like lawyers, what other professionals did you hire?

SPEAKER_01 24:53

CPA. Okay. CPA and nonprofit attorney.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Okay, very helpful. You said that you don't have other fundraisers throughout the year for community by Sanchez, but I personally know, again, because you're a chingwana, that you have a clear the list giveaway after the backpack. So the clear the list is for teachers um to submit their Amazon wish list. Is it your law firm that clears the list, or is it community by Sanchez with the um firms that are used? No, it's me. It's just my personal funds. Okay. So separate from the firm, separate from the nonprofit. Okay. Again, this is why you're a chingwana. Studies show that women with money tend to give more and have more impactful contributions to society than men do. So you have, for example, female and male billionaires, Mackenzie Bezos, and then I don't think she changed your last name, but then, you know, uh Melinda Gates. They give back so much from their billions of dollars that they can never get rid of it. And you're such a perfect example of that. And at Huntress, we certainly believe that's part of the reason we have you here, and for our listeners to know, is that that's one of our three pillars of building Huntress is like A, you accumulate wealth. We want to help you do that and feel confident in all those decisions. But then there's your legacy impact. And so it seems like your really legacy impact is public education and supporting organizations that go towards the causes of creating opportunity. Is that a fair statement?

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Yes, it is fair to say that again, going back to opening those doors for others, giving opportunities, especially to the future generations, and seeing now how our education system is being impacted on all different sides. So, like the the clear the list, that that's for educators, not just teachers, for educators, because the fine arts, the sports programs, that everybody is impacted. And so they're the ones that are teaching our kids that are influencing how our children what they will do for the future of our society.

SPEAKER_00 26:59

We clearly are passionate about public education and lifting up Latinos around us. For any of those wondering, like, how can I impact a couple bucks matters, volunteering matters. Our state is seriously underfunded as far as it goes to public education, and it's not because the state of Texas doesn't have the funds. That's the most frustrating part. They just refuse to put it towards public education. Right. Um, and so it does take, unfortunately, when you're in those circumstances, the efforts of the community to fund those schools. I grew up in a really poor town where all the schools were Title I just because the whole town is. Every school's Title I. You don't even really know what that means. You know what I mean? And so for all of you out there, Title I means that the school is majority impoverished. And that's how they get funding from the state, at least in Texas. So I'm talking specifically to how the Texas public school system works. How do you balance running a law firm and a nonprofit?

SPEAKER_01 28:03

What is this word balance? Honestly, uh it's surrendering and letting people help you because I want to do it all. You know, that when I started the nonprofit, I was still postpartum with my second, with my daughter. And I was like, yeah, I'm still nursing, I'm still my like my hair is still falling up. But yeah, let's let's add this on. Balance is a funny word to me. But it's doing your best to let other people help you, understanding that while you may have many talents, that other people also have talents, and you should let them do what they do and because they do it well. Let people help you, let them flourish with what their talents are, and and that's how you can kind of get it done. It takes a village. I I will never say, like, oh, I did this through my own hard work, and because I'm persevered, and I no. Anything I've ever done in my life, anything I've ever accomplished has been because of my support system, my family, my parents, my brothers, my my cousin, who's basically my little sister, my friends, new and old, colleagues. Yes, I I have visions of what I want to do, but it's because of my village.

SPEAKER_00 29:15

On top of giving through Community by Sancho's, you have personal giving that we've already noted through the clear the list. And I also know that you very visibly on Instagram will give to political candidates in Texas and in Austin. And I'm curious, how do you decide which candidates you're going to give to? Is this like driven by business choices? Is this driven by personal choice? Personal choice.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

I would say maybe before COVID, it was a little different. I always thought being a lawyer, you had to appear a certain way. You had to perform a certain way. You things had to be done a certain way. And now I've definitely leaned into just being more authentically myself in whatever complex way that might be. And I think just in the last few years, politics has become very radicalized. Where before you could pick and choose issues, be like, well, this resonates with me and this doesn't resonate with me. And it just depends, right? Especially uh on the financial aspect of your business owner. That's also could be influenced on like, oh, who am I gonna vote for? What's gonna benefit me the best? But definitely in the recent years, as far as for me, it's been very clear to me like who we need to support because so many things have just been the same, the same people, especially on the local level and tech or like at the you know state level, the same party has been in power and nothing's changed. If it has, it's been for the worse, in my opinion. So who do I support? It's it's really easy for me to determine who I need to support if I if I have the means to give, I give to those candidates, you know, vote for Gina. Uh please. Heels, not wheels. So who I give to, who I support. And again, support is not only financially, it's also just sharing things. It's also just clearing someone else's algorithm because as we know how the algorithms work, you're just gonna see the same content, the same kind of thing. So if you're able to share something and someone that maybe doesn't traditionally share your viewpoint, it appears on that, maybe it'll pique their interest and like, oh, wait, maybe they have a point about whatever issue it might be. There are also still a lot of people who just aren't interested in politics. They aren't interested in in what they don't believe in the system, they don't believe that their voice matters, that their vote matters at and it's really sad, especially on the local level. That's also why I share vocally because I know I have a decent following, and and whether it's family or friends or friends of friends, whoever, again, you're sharing information. Knowledge is power. And so for the people that aren't going to be actively looking, like, oh, who should I vote for? What is this person about? If you're helping share the bullet points of why, maybe it starts a conversation. And usually when we're getting closer to when it's time to vote, I do get family and friends reach out, like, hey, like, can you tell me more about this person? I see you, you know, sharing their post, and and that's how a lot of people vote. They're like, Well, how are my friends and family voting? Or do I see a woman's name, I'll vote for them, or do I see a Hispanic name or a minority's name, I'll vote for them. And it's not always the best case. There's been some amazing um people where you're just you know voting down the party line that uh amazing judges or other elected officials who are no longer in office because uninformed voters voted because they saw a certain gender, a certain name, and they just assume okay, let's just get them, get them on up there.

SPEAKER_00 32:49

It was really interesting because on our last episode, which was with Delia Garza, who's a Travis County attorney, a chingona. A chingona, she brought up actually that one of the reasons that women do really well in Austin or tend to do better in local races because there are uninformed voters. And she brought that up. The people that go vote will just say, Oh, there's a woman. Right. And so it's it's an interesting point to bring up. It's midterm season, these elections matter. Your voice does matter. And so there are resources out there to become an informed voter. Um, you don't need to take our opinion or my opinion. So Texas Women's Voter League will break down the candidates um all across the all across the state, whatever's on the ballot. And it's an unbiased view. So it's just here are the candidates, here's what they stand for. If you are looking for some context around what is there, if you're local to Austin, the Austin Chronicle does do that and other major publications will give their opinion on what why and who.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Don't forget to check your registration. Uh, deadline to register to vote is October 5th. And make sure you go to the official website, votetexas.gov. My brother and my sister-in-law, they checked a registration. Always vote. And they had an issue with their vote of registration.

SPEAKER_00 34:01

Just check it randomly because I heard another person say that and I haven't I'm like, wait, I don't ever check. I just, I just I'm registered to vote.

SPEAKER_01 34:09

I think I bullied my I bullied my family. That's being the eldest daughter. I'm always just pushing them. It's like, go vote. They're like, oh, it's the local. I was like, it matters.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

I would tell people this all the time. People moved here because they can have choice in election. It is still a democratic government. Vote. Your your voice matters, especially in local, especially in local stuff.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

100%. I I will say, like, even going back, going back to personal injury, we do our best to help people who have been injured in car accidents, dog bites, slipping balls, whatever it might be. And that also means being a guide. That's why I tell my clients all the time, we are your guide through this process. We're gonna tell you the good, bad, and ugly. Sometimes there's not a big enough insurance policy, and we have people with catastrophic injuries, and they'll complain or like, I now I'm upside down on this car. I I own, I owe this vehicle that's now totaled. I don't owe it anymore. I still have to pay on it. And it's like, well, part of that's voting because the insurance companies and their lobbyists, like they are so powerful and they influence so much horrible law and it makes that's the reason I have a job because the insurance companies are nobody's friends at all. All these bad laws are all against people that have been hurt, people that whose lives have been turned upside down.

SPEAKER_00 35:30

So your voice matters. We've talked about the passions and what leads you to do this. How much of your personal budget do you give to your nonprofit and to giving back to politics?

SPEAKER_01 35:42

Probably not the best person to ask about that because I just kind of do what what guides me in the moments. I don't really have a set budget. Obviously, I'm not going to give beyond my means, but for example, on the clear the list, I was like, I think I put that I'll give to 10 teachers. I had over 40 submissions. And what these teachers have asked for and continue asking for, it it's it's not useless things. It's things that make a classroom feel like home for the student. It's learning materials, it's cleaning materials, it's supplies, it's things that can help them do their job and do it well. So I don't know about you, but for me, especially in elementary, those are some of the most magical memories of my life. And I want our kids to have that. I want other kids to have that. And it also depends like on the local elections, if they have an opponent or not. Factor in is do they have an opponent, the likelihood of them winning? It's, you know, if it's gonna be very clear, I was like, I could give these funds to someone else that probably needs a little bit more in their in their campaign.

SPEAKER_00 36:41

On our last episode, Delia talked about how sometimes people have the same amount of means but don't know exactly where to start. As a person who's given to different opportunities and organizations, are there any like tips that you would give to people so they can have a better rubric for considering like how much to give to a whether that's a nonprofit or uh to like a PAC or to a politician on a campaign candidate?

SPEAKER_01 37:04

It depends. I I would say for for a political candidate, um, take into consideration if they have an opponent, what they're on the local level, state level, national level, the higher the levels, the more they need, obviously. But if if you're limited in what you're able to donate, make sure you're donating to someone, to a candidate that you truly believe in, that you believe is gonna make the change that you are hoping to see. And if you cannot give financially, share, inform others. It's very cliche, but it's the truth. Knowledge is power. If you're thinking about uh donating to a nonprofit, there's so many nonprofits. It's I think especially just in central Texas, there's just so many different organizations, it's a very uh giving community, and it might be a little overwhelming to decide, like, well, who can I help? Make sure that their mission aligns with what you believe in. A lot of these nonprofits, and even for political candidates, it run on human power. So if you're able to give your time, whether it's to canvas, whether it's to um write postcards, whatever it is, it's donating your time that's also very powerful.

SPEAKER_00 38:17

Well, thank you so much, Beth, for sharing all of your insights on how to create a nonprofit organization. If you could give one piece of advice to all the huntresses listening, what would you give to them?

SPEAKER_01 38:29

Sometimes there will be tables that you're not welcome at and rooms that you're not even wanted in, and it doesn't matter. Either knock down the door or set up your own table, build your your own rooms and and welcome others behind you. And don't be afraid to ask. Because the worst someone could say is no. I mean they might be rude about it, but who cares? Like it's it's fine. And even if you don't have a plan, just try. And then the last thing is what does rich mean to you? It means having the power of choice to do what you want, having opportunities and balance. Balance that's what I strive for in life at this point is balance between all the different spheres of of my of my life. Having that power of of choice means also having that duty to others and creating those opportunities for other people. Don't close doors behind you. Just if you have those options, help other people who have those options as well.

SPEAKER_00 39:30

Thank you so much, Beth, for joining us and being a guest on Talk Rich to me. Thanks for having me. Of course. Bye, Huntresses.

SPEAKER_01 39:38

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