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Live Like Bella CEO Nicole de Lara Puente: Fighting Childhood Cancer in Miami + Beyond
00:31:04
Today we’re joined by Nicole de Lara Puente, CEO of Live Like Bella—back on the pod to share how Bella’s legacy has grown from a community hashtag into a nationwide (and global) force supporting families battling childhood cancer.
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- [00:04]
A
Good morning. Buenas dias. Welcome back to another episode of Cafecito. Icroqueta is brought to you by State, Rankilo and H and co. Today we're joined by Nicole, CEO of Live Like Bella, who we've had on the podcast before. We had Raymond on the podcast. A very emotional and impactful story. But today we have Nicole here, who's with us. And I just want to say thank you again for being here on all that you guys do and being such a big part of the community.
- [00:30]
B
Thank you, Andre. It's a privilege to be on here, so thanks for having us.
- [00:33]
A
Absolutely. So we had Raymond on a few months ago, and of course, he was able to give, you know, his story, obviously, the. The legacy of Bella and what she left behind now with the foundation. So I definitely want to, you know, touch on that, but also hear kind of your journey into getting involved with Live Like Bella.
- [00:51]
B
So I joined Live Like Bella almost nine years ago this summer. And I have to tell you personally and professionally, it's one of the biggest privileges of my life. How did I end up here? I think it was Bella tapped me on the shoulder. There's nothing else I can tell you. The first half of my career, I spent working in media. I worked for mtv. I worked for Sony Pictures. With anything that I'm doing now. I had left the television industry and was working for Baptist Health when Baptist Health opened the Miami Cancer Institute, which was right around the time that Bella passed, I had followed Bella's story forever. I'm sure Raymond told you it started with a hashtag. Everybody in this community was praying for her. If you don't know the story, it's because you didn't leave here at the time, right?
- [01:37]
A
Pretty much.
- [01:39]
B
And I followed her story forever. And I met Raymond and Shawna, who had started the foundation in her honor when they named the pediatric proton cancer center at Miami Cancer Institute after Bella. If you walk into Miami Cancer Institute at Baptist, it says, live like Bella. The family fought really hard to bring a proton machine for children in Miami. So we met, and, long story longer, like my friend says, we had a conversation over Cafecito. As a matter of fact, De la Carreta and Kendo, we were sitting, having coffee and just talking as friends. And we had started to work on some legislation, which I can get into a little bit later. But we had this conversation, and I said, oh, Raymond, what's next for Live Like Bella? And he's like, look, we're at the kitchen counter. I have a job. Shawna has a job. We do this as volunteers, but I don't know where to go from here. And I said to him, I said, we should think about working together, but I kind of meant like, what can I do to help?
- [02:39]
A
Of course.
- [02:39]
B
And two weeks later, I was sitting in front of the board of directors, and they offered me this opportunity because, I don't know, Bella just started talking to me. So I left and came on to go work in the garage, which everybody told me I was crazy, but Bella didn't. And I took this opportunity to get involved at a time that was a big crossroads for Live Like Bella of keep it in the kitchen counter and do what we're doing or move it forward. And that's what children battling cancer needed. So I took the opportunity, and at that point, we were a team of three. And now we're 10 and serving families across the entire nation and 38 countries. So I ended up here. The answer to your simple question is because Bella tapped me on the shoulder. Yeah.
- [03:22]
A
And I remember. It's crazy that you said that, right? Because I remember when Ray came on, it was always like, Bella was in everybody's life, right? And she would come in and. And you would feel her, right? And I remember even, like, the day that I recorded with. With Ray, like, I could. I could feel her. Like, I'm like, she is here in the room. She is with us. And she's like, I'm glad we've gotten to. To this point, right? Because it was Bella's legacy, right? And then, like, for you to say that now, it's kind of like, wow, like, this is the actual legacy and impact that Bell is leaving on an everyday basis by bringing in people like yourself, right? Because like you said, it was a crossroad that the organization was at. And there were so many, I guess, challenges of what they went through, right? And they were like, how do we fix some of these problems, right? So that other families that are going through something similar don't have to fix that. So if you can kind of touch on what were some of those challenges that Ray and the family and Bella were kind of facing through that process that inspired Live Like Bella to become the foundation that it is today.
- [04:27]
B
I think the basics, which are still our. Let's call it bread and butter today, is providing financial assistance to families while their children undergo treatment. Okay, I know Raymond mentioned that I say this all the time. When a child is sick, and we see this every day, one of the parents has to stop working, and that's if there are two, if not you can end up in a situation that families like you and I that have had everything we need, we can't pay our rent, or we're having a hard time checking out at Publix, and there are really not a lot of resources. There isn't a comprehensive place. There's different foundation across the world that do work, but it was very hard for families to be able to pay their very basic bills. So Live Like Bella to this day, I would say has three lines of service. The primary one being the basics of providing financial assistance. The other one, which I know Raymond mentioned, which is very sad, but from my perspective, very privileged, is to be with a family if their child were to pass away. It may be the saddest thing that we do. But from my perspective, one of the most privileged to be with a family, especially when it's been a family we've been taking care of for a long time. There's the financial assistance. There is the in treatment support. I mean, the memorial support. And then the research, which I want to talk to you a little bit about, which that, at that time, there was nothing. I remember that Cafecito conversation in La Garreta.
- [05:47]
A
Yeah.
- [05:48]
B
Raymond and I had talked to a mutual friend a couple of months before who had been in the legislature for, like, 16 years. And we asked her, we said, oh, yeah, what has ever been done in childhood cancer? She was, man, I've been here a long time, and I don't know, I got to go back and look and see, you know, if there's ever any. She went and she checked, and she came back. She's like, the state of Florida has never done anything in childhood cancer.
- [06:10]
A
Wow.
- [06:11]
B
At the time, I'm like, I don't understand. Because you're like, okay, if somebody told you, Andre, what do you mean? That people don't care about kids with cancer. It's not that they don't care. It's just that the funding had never been allocated. Together, we created something called the Live Like Bella Pediatric Cancer Research Initiative. It's a partnership between the Florida legislature and the Department of Health. And Live Like Bella that it's a grant program that essentially takes several million dollars in recurring funds a year that applicants or researchers in Florida, regardless of whether they're part of a major cancer center or whether they're part of a university, are eligible for funding to do childhood cancer research. Right now, a lot of Even in the state, if you weren't what they call an NCI center, there's four major NCI centers in the state. That do incredible work. But this fund was particularly important because the NCI centers get regular funding and some of the other ones don't. You're an FSU alum. FSU was never eligible to apply for funds to something like that, even here in Miami. And FIU there was. Right now, since it's. Since it began, there are 75 studies being funded at 11 different institutions across the state. And so many of which we can be proud of, that are happening right here in our community.
- [07:27]
A
Absolutely.
- [07:28]
B
So there's. You can't get me started on that because this podcast is not long enough.
- [07:32]
A
No, no, absolutely. But I mean, I think you bring up, like, the most important part about all this, right? Like one of your initial meetings, that there was no assistance, right. There was no research, there was no funding behind something like this. And now I'm sure as you look back, you know, looking forward from that meeting to today, it's like, holy cow, look how much we've been able to accomplish, right? And being that pioneer and being that impact for so many different families. I mean, I can only imagine that just by starting these initiatives and having the universities involved in research and having, you know, kind of this funding now in place, like, how many lives have I actually been touched because of this?
- [08:11]
B
Look, I'll share a story with you that happened to have to happen here in the community, and I'll do my best not to. To get emotional. In full disclosure, when I started this, remember I told you I had worked in television, I didn't know anything about. About the healthcare profession, nothing about childhood cancer. One of the few families that had never been directly affected by cancer. So this was really something that I got into. I had no idea what I was doing. I'm not going to lie to you, Andre. This has been a pulmon, right? The Puerto and Puerto looking for these funding and building relationships with all of these different institutions. And I went to visit several labs across the state that had received funding from the Live, like Bella Initiative. You had brilliant people doing research across the state, many of which, though, if you're not a clinician, if you don't see patients, not all researchers are doctors, and not all doctors are researchers. Right. They all have a PhD, but they don't do the same thing.
- [09:02]
A
Exactly.
- [09:03]
B
You have researchers that are working in a lab that perhaps have never met a child with cancer. And it was a resounding no. Every time I asked, hey, has anybody in this room ever met a child with cancer? Nope. Never met a child with cancer. I'm like, man, There's a disconnect here because I think it's important for families to have access to researchers and vice versa. That happened in Jacksonville in the summer of 2021. That it was still Covid in 2021. But you'll say, yeah. I was visiting the University of Florida, their cancer center. One of them is in Jacksonville. And I met with one of the researchers who had been one of the originals to receive funding. And as we were leaving, I had been, you know, had toured the lab. And he walks me out to the lobby. He was, man, it was so nice to meet you. Wouldn't it be cool if we got all of the researchers that so far have gotten funding in one room? And I was like, yeah, we're actually. We're going to do it at our first annual research symposium in Miami in September. This was like July. Okay, maybe it was June. But we're meeting. We're that summer. And I'm like, we're having our research symposium in September. He's like, I'll be there. Count on it. And I was like, awesome. And I walked out into the parking lot, and I called Raymond. I go, oy, I just invented a research symposium. Right? What happened?
- [10:18]
A
What is that?
- [10:19]
B
So I had no idea what we were doing. And I did it the day before Bella's ball. They're really the team at that point. I thought they were gonna quit anyway. How did we structure? We're in year six now. We have huge, tremendous partners to help us do it. Cause it's expensive and complicated logistically. But one of the big things when we built this symposium was to give access to families to attend. You talked the same way. I was talking to researchers that had never met a family. You were talking to families that didn't know anything about research. Right. So in one of the symposiums, about three years in, a researcher that's become a dear friend, Dr. Diana, she's at Florida International University. She's doing a study, actively doing a study that I'll do a poor job at explaining. But basically, it takes patients who are relapsed, takes a tissue sample of that patient, takes it to Nicholas Children's Hospital, sends it back to the lab, they run a test on it with already approved FDA drugs and see what hits, right? So, like, if a child was under X protocol, we say, okay, that protocol didn't work. And now drug A plus B plus Q works, and they give it to a patient.
- [11:24]
A
Wow.
- [11:25]
B
That study was featured on the COVID of Nature, Said Nature Medicine, which is like, I don't Know, if you're a fashion designer, you're on the COVID of Vogue. I mean, it was one of the most major research studies. What happened? We're at the research symposium. Diana, the researcher, is presenting, and there's a mom in the room who had been there all morning. And during lunch, there was a poster session which, imagine like a science fair, okay? So there's a poster talking about the study, and a mom is looking at it, and she's like, my son is patient number 13. And look, I told you, I'll try it again. So the researcher standing there, you have a mom there, her son was very, very sick. He had relapsed. They had told her there are no more options for him. His name is Logan. He's playing soccer. Logan is a super cool kid. He has a brother and a sister. And this is a child that had there not been somebody fighting a pulmon to make sure that this can happen, especially I say it very proudly here in this community. Logan might not be with us. And stories like Logan's, there are dozens, right? So I share that story with. You can talk about research, and research is complicated. You and I, like, you don't know much about research. You're not. You're not a physician, right? But when you talk about this and you humanize it, you know, both of those women were in tears. The researcher was in tears, the mother was in tears, because you're sharing a story, you know, I'll send you stuff if anybody wants to see it, to meet Logan. But. But anyway, that's why we do what we do. It's complicated to talk about research, but you don't have to even talk about people, right?
- [12:54]
A
Yeah, but I think that's the gist of it, right? You may not have to know everything, you know from the outside about exactly what's going on behind the scenes in this research, but that's the perfect case study. That without the research, right, and without the testing and learning and having a budget to be able to execute this, right? Because like anything, it's going to cost money. But if you have the. The backing and the support to do something like that, you're going to find solutions like this. And to your point, if, if that trial doesn't even happen, who's to say that it doesn't save Logan's life? It doesn't save God knows how many other people's lives, right? So I. I think more than anything, I think this is like you would hope, a. A recipe for success for other organizations to follow, right? I Know, we were talking kind of like offline before, but one of the biggest thing was like, pushing the legislation, getting the state of Florida, you know, to be an advocate for this. So if you could just kind of talk about that process as well, of like, how it was, like, I want to say, like, going to battle with the state, but like, convincing the state and finding solutions to work with the state that maybe other states can kind of follow to replicate what you guys have done.
- [14:00]
B
Look, to be honest, I think you don't always have to be the smartest person in the room. You have to be the most resourceful.
- [14:06]
A
Right.
- [14:06]
B
And anything you want to get done, you have to have a champion if you're not in that space, because you could have access to money, to contacts, but if you don't have somebody that's willing to go up to bat for you. And we had a friend that was working in the legislature who just cared and knew how to find funding that. It's very difficult to get funding when there's a taxpayer burden. Taxpayers want to pay more taxes, even if it's help kids who counter. Right, right. None of us do.
- [14:31]
A
Yeah.
- [14:32]
B
So it's hard to. To find it. So the state was very creative and pulled funding from cigarette tax dollars. The state has to use that money for different things. There was something called the bank had Coley Fund, the James and Esther King Fund, but none of those funds that existed similar to live like Bella were eligible for pediatrics.
- [14:50]
A
Right.
- [14:50]
B
Pediatric researchers were, like, looking for scraps everywhere, and there was no scraps to be found. So it was a very creative way to say, okay, where do the funds live and how do we use them for a good purpose. In Florida, we did it with cigarette taxes, but you can do that with any other money somewhere else.
- [15:04]
A
Right?
- [15:04]
B
Right. Different. I can't pretend to know about different legislatures, but there's always something somewhere.
- [15:08]
A
Exactly.
- [15:08]
B
Every year. And right now, Florida is in the middle of the legislative session. We just started a few weeks ago, and every year you hear the same story from every single state. This year is going to be the worst year. There's no budget, nobody gets along. And I'm like, dude, this is the same story. We've been hearing this story forever. But there is. There is a glimmer of hope. If you have somebody that really cares that's like, you know what? We have to get something done. And if you have somebody with influence and with knowledge of how to, I don't want to say work the system, but who knows how to find it, it's there. It's just, you know, I've spoken. I spoke at a conference at Texas Children's Hospital last year, and there was a lot of different folks in the audience from different organizations, one of which is based in D.C. and they were, like, shocked. They were like, how did you get this done? I'm like, man, the same way Casino, the research symposium. We fought for it, and we got it done. And I think, you know, you mention you spoke with Raymond. We have the opportunity here to serve as an example, to serve as an example to other states in terms of advocacy. I'm the first one to get on a plane. Tell me, where do you go? Who do you need to talk to? I'll help you. And Raymond said it, too. He's like, I don't care what you call. It doesn't have to be called the Liberty, anything. Call it whatever you want. But we owe these kids, I think, you know, one day, my sister lives in North Carolina, and I was flying back, and I was sitting at the gate, and the flight was late, and there was a guy talking next to me, just Orlando. And he says to me, he goes, oh, what do you do? And I said, oh, I run a childhood cancer foundation in Miami. And he says to me, did you lose a child to cancer or something? And I go, no, thank God I have two healthy girls. And he's like, oh, okay. Nice to meet you. So I get on the plane, I put my bag in the overhead bin, I sit down, and I'm like, you know what, man? The next time somebody asks me if I lost a child to cancer, I'm going to say, I did, and so did you, because Bella wasn't my daughter. But we all lost a child to cancer. And when we start thinking about it that way, you know, and some people will tell you, like, oh, you know, that not that many children die of cancer. Let's talk about years of life lost. And again, Bella wasn't your daughter, and she wasn't mine, but we lost her. And every day, 43 parents hear the words, your child has cancer. And it's on us to make sure that that changes.
- [17:20]
A
Oh, absolutely. I think you worded it perfectly. Right? Like, it may not be your child, but. But at the end of the day, it is directly, maybe affecting someone close to you. Right? A friend, another family member. Right. Someone that you know. It may not be you, but someone that you know probably has been affected by it. Right. And I think that is already too close.
- [17:39]
B
Look, there's a good quote that I'll butcher Probably a little bit. But it says justice has not been served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are. And I know you have a cousin who battled cancer.
- [17:53]
A
I did.
- [17:55]
B
All of us know somebody who has battled cancer. And even if you haven't been impacted, we should be as outraged as those who have.
- [18:02]
A
Absolutely. And I mean, I don't know fully the extent of her process. I do know that it was a very aggressive chemo process. She had stage four non Hodgkin's lymphoma. I think they had given her a like a 20 chance. Like, I mean, it was, it was, it was dark, it was bleak. Like it did not look good. But I remember she lives in Tennessee and they found good doctor here in Tampa. I forget the name of the doctor now, but apparently was one of the best, especially here in Florida. We have on her side of the family, she has some cousins that live down there. So logistically it also worked for her to, you know, have a home and family around. Because to your point, right, like, it's not that easy to just like uplift your life. Right. Like, my uncle had a job, has his job. Like, he can't just say, I'm going to move to Tampa because he's going to pay the bills for, you know, the hospital bill, his everyday living, you know, all these things that go into just like everyday life and then all of a sudden this is thrown at you. So it was, it was tough. Like, how do they make this work? And you know, knock on wood, here we are a couple of years later and she's, she's amazing. You know, she's, she's a teacher. She just finished her master's.
- [19:11]
B
That's awesome.
- [19:12]
A
You know, all these amazing things that, you know, she's doing. And you know, I think, and I'm actually curious to ask you this question, right? She wasn't necessarily maybe a child. She, you know, in college. Right. So obviously still young. Right. So I guess adolescent, you know, older, older child. But the kind of the post trauma that comes from, from cancer. What's kind of like, I guess some of the thoughts and reactions you've seen from some of the people that you guys have interacted with when it comes to that.
- [19:39]
B
That's actually a great question. And actually at the research symposium we always have a session about survivorship. We have a board member who's also a Columbus alum, that he battled cancer when he was in high school and today he's, I don't know, probably turning 49 or 50 this year. And he still struggles thinking about what he went through. A lot of survivors have something that's referred to as survivor guilt. You know, a lot of these kids, as they get older, you know, if they had a friend that passed away, like, why did I get to live and my friend didn't get to live? There are lots of issues, psychosocial issues, physical issues. You know, we've met. There's an incredible pediatric gynecologist at the University of Miami that I didn't even know there was a subspecialty. And I was like, why does. Why does that happen? Why do they work with kids with cancer, Young women who are undergoing cancer treatment? Their reproductive organs can be affected by the treatment. And you're already asking questions of, like, will they ever be able to have children? So I think, you know, and I was showing you earlier, my jacket, I'll show you later, there's a bunch of pictures of kids who are survivors, and they. And they still deal with it. You know, they still deal with it. There's a couple of different programs around the state, but there's a lot of disconnect. I think around the country. There's a program called Passport for Care. But what happens is, in terms of resources, if you receive treatment, even if you were in college, right, like, you may not remember the medications you were on, the doctors you saw, because in theory, you know, an adult would have taken care of it. And how do you go back later to talk to your doctors? Where are those records kept? How do you. So there's a big disconnect. And to address that, I think Raymond also mentioned we received another grant from the state last year, different than the existing research grant because that goes to other organizations. This one came to Live like Bella to create something called the cccn, the Comprehensive Childhood Cancer Network. That is a network that. The core of it is to connect researchers with patients, and vice versa. You have some researchers that are like, man, we have the money, but we can't find the patients or patients that say, nobody's ever offered us a clinical trial. That was the core of it. But one of the very important things as we're building it now, as we speak, is to have a survivorship component. So people like your aunt, she's, you know, a young adult, let's call it, right? And she's. She's going through places like, where do you go? You know, I'm sure. I'm sure if you talk to her and you ask her, like, what are the challenges that you live with? We're Working on making resources available for fans.
- [22:06]
A
That's amazing because, I mean, you know, now I'm seeing it on, like, on the other side, and I could see the, you know, the effect. Right. Yeah. And I think she's obviously done a good job of honing in herself and taking care of what she needs to take care of, like, you know, doing a master's and, you know, doing all these things to get over that hurdle. Right. But, you know, I think there's, like, you mentioned kind of like that guilt. Right. She. I've definitely seen that kind of the. The fear, like, is this going to come back? Right. And like, how do you deal with that? So I think there's like a lot of, like this mental component that. That you need. You need to go through a version of, like, now a different type of healing. Right. And I think that in itself is extremely difficult.
- [22:49]
B
I think it's important to find a network, a circle of folks, of somebody had lived it.
- [22:56]
A
Yeah.
- [22:56]
B
I think there's a lot of loneliness.
- [22:58]
A
Because I can't, you know, she could talk to me and I can't really relate. Exactly. You know, and that's the heart that, to me, is the hardest part too, like, being on the other side of it. It's like, I want to help you and I could give you advice and give you that, but, like, who am I. Who am I to say you should be doing this when I've never been in that situation?
- [23:14]
B
It's hard. And we. I think we try to do a good job of connecting people because there's like awesome support groups. So sometimes we don't want to go to support groups because they're sad, or sometimes you need a network, whether it be for the kids themselves or for the parents or for survivors. Somebody who gets it.
- [23:28]
A
Yeah.
- [23:29]
B
And we don't always get it. I mean, we see it every day. And I can tell you, Andrew, we see that all the time. I get it, but I don't get it. I haven't lived it. You know, Raymond has had that experience as a father.
- [23:37]
A
Yeah.
- [23:39]
B
I have only lived that, you know, from the privilege of the sidelines to see how we can be there. But I definitely think that survivorship is an issue that we're working to address, not just with kids, but with young adults. And I'm telling you, I don't think it's something. I mean, I can't speak to it myself, but I don't think I've ever spoken to somebody, even as a grown up that battled cancer, doesn't think about it every day.
- [23:59]
A
Yeah, I can only imagine. But that's great that there are initiatives. And, you know, honestly, I was just curious from more of, like, the personal experience side and just seeing it. But as always, you guys are doing, you know, amazing work. The research, all the initiatives that you guys have in place, I think is only the starting point with all of this. So I guess that takes me to. To my next question. What is next for Live Like Bella? What are, you know, obviously outside of continuing to do what you guys do, but what's kind of like the next vision for Live Like Bella?
- [24:28]
B
When somebody asked me sort of what my vision is, I always say it is for Live Like Bella to be the subject matter expert on childhood cancer. What do I mean by that? If you're a parent that needs resources, we can help with financial assistance. If you are someone who is doing a podcast and you want to talk about cancer, will you cause it Like Bella? If you're a journalist for a major news network and you're running a story on Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. If you are the governor of the state of Texas and you want to talk about, hey, who's doing this? Well, I think it's important for us to build a credibility and reputation of an organization that is the go to place for anybody living with childhood cancer. Going back to what's in the near future is the building of the cccn, the Comprehensive Childhood Cancer Network. It brings together. We were doing that anyway, but we had never formalized it. When we sat down and we saw that we might have an opportunity to receive a grant yet another time, I had no idea what I was doing. I can't lie to you here, but opportunities come and I just open my heart. Sometimes, like a young person asks me like, oh, how do I, you know, what should I do for my career? I'm like, dude, just open your heart.
- [25:37]
A
Exactly.
- [25:37]
B
Because you don't know. So we were doing a very good job at connecting people because we're not healthcare providers, but we're very good connectors, and this network that we're building now will do that. So I think the future of Live Like Bella will be to continue providing assistance, which is what we do, but to increase collaboration and access. So I would say that that's the biggest project we have on the radar right now.
- [26:01]
A
That's amazing. And then one last question. What does it mean to live like Bella?
- [26:06]
B
Oh, man, there's several ways to live like Bella. I can tell you my favorite, which is to show compassion. I have a poster on the wall in my office, it says, show compassion. Because the hashtag, Live like Bella. Side note, the way that it started, Bella was receiving. Bella had a major surgery at MD Anderson in Houston. The surgery was like 18 hours. And while she was in recovery, I wasn't at Live Like Bella at this time.
- [26:33]
A
Right.
- [26:34]
B
Her mom posted on Facebook, like, it's a beautiful day in. In Houston and Bella's in a coma. Please pray for her and do things today that she would love. Wear red, sing a song, take a bubble bath, eat s'. Mores. There was a whole list of stuff she liked to do, and one of them was to show compassion. And if you ask me what it means to live like Bella, there are so many ways. But I think showing compassion is something that we can all do more of. Absolutely. So that, for me, is what it means to live like Bella.
- [27:02]
A
That's amazing. Well, I know we have a 5k coming up, right. And that's a big thing for you guys. Great for awareness, great for fundraising. So talk to us a little bit about the upcoming live like Bella 5k.
- [27:15]
B
So our live like Bella 5k is our Superhero 5k. It's on Sunday, February. It's Super Bowl Sunday. But don't worry, you don't miss the.
- [27:22]
A
Super bowl because in the morning, it's.
- [27:23]
B
Early in the morning. At 8 o'. Clock. Yeah, it's at 8 o' clock on Sunday morning, February 8th, at Tropical Park. And it brings together, gosh, almost 2,000 people.
- [27:33]
A
That's amazing.
- [27:34]
B
Who come to run or walk. It's not like the Miami Marathon. You can chew. There's been people that walk with, like a wagon with their kids. You don't have to be intimidated by the. By the run or walk, but it's impressive. We call it the Superhero 5K, because really, these kids are superheroes. So it's the theme. And you will see kids who have battled cancer or are currently battling cancer who are there. It's an emotional experience.
- [27:55]
A
I can imagine.
- [27:56]
B
It's beautiful. We have a huge party afterwards with a beer garden. I didn't know people drank beer after five kids, but they drink. It's like a whole thing.
- [28:02]
A
It is a thing I think we have. It's part of the 80s runners experience.
- [28:06]
B
So there's like seven breweries there that are going to be there. There's music, there's vendors. It's a. It's a really special event. I think it gives us a chance to. To do something cool together. And I know in Miami there's something every weekend. Yes, there's A gala. There's a 5K, there's an arts festival, especially during this time of year.
- [28:21]
A
Yeah.
- [28:21]
B
But this is one of the opportunities that you can take a couple of hours and bring your family and run or walk and support children battling cancer and have a really good time.
- [28:30]
A
Absolutely. No, I've been to a few 5Ks in my. In my time, and they're always a great time. And it's always great that you could do something like that to support, obviously, a good cause. Right. How long has the 5k been around?
- [28:43]
B
Since before my time. I lived, I think.
- [28:45]
A
So it was one of the earlier initiatives.
- [28:48]
B
I lose count because of COVID but one of the years of COVID we did it anyway, and we did a virtual 5K, which actually was awesome. It was awesome. It was like. We didn't. You had to run one on your own.
- [28:57]
A
Oh, okay.
- [28:58]
B
You know, like, we still did the medals and the shirts and we did it. But, like, you did it, you know, even if you weren't there, you did it sort of in solidarity.
- [29:05]
A
Right.
- [29:05]
B
Which, by the way, if you can't go that day, you can still run virtually.
- [29:08]
A
Right.
- [29:09]
B
And in solidarity, when you go online to register, if you're like, no, I can't go because my son has soccer practice or whatever it is, there's an opportunity to register. Yeah. It's called. They also call it the sleep in option. Okay, but you better be in town if you're.
- [29:22]
A
No, no, that's the thing. I'm not going to be in town.
- [29:24]
B
Okay.
- [29:24]
A
No.
- [29:24]
B
Then you're a virtual participant.
- [29:25]
A
I'm going to do a virtual participant. Yeah. And then we're not in San Fran at the. At the super bowl, you see?
- [29:30]
B
Okay, so you're going to the Super Bowl. Good excuse.
- [29:32]
A
Good excuse.
- [29:33]
B
It's a good way. You don't have to do it at the right time because of the time difference.
- [29:36]
A
Exactly. I have a little bit of leeway because I'm three hours behind.
- [29:39]
B
I'm going to send you the shirt beforehand.
- [29:40]
A
I want a picture. Do it. I will do it.
- [29:42]
B
I want a picture of you there.
- [29:43]
A
Absolutely.
- [29:44]
B
No, but it's a lot of fun.
- [29:45]
A
That's awesome. Now. Well, I'm excited for Anyone that's listening. February 8th, right.
- [29:49]
B
It's Sunday. February. Hold on, back it up. We're doing a coupon. A code.
- [29:55]
A
Yes.
- [29:56]
B
That all of the listeners of this podcast, if you write the word tranquilo, when you go register, you register at livelike Bella5k.org livelike Bella5k.org and when you go on there to check out. It'll give you the opportunity to add a code. So put tranquilo. And then people will know. And I'll go back and tell you how many people registered.
- [30:13]
A
Go register. It's going to be an amazing event for an amazing cause. It's an opportunity to embrace the live, like, Bella lifestyle. Right?
- [30:20]
B
Yeah.
- [30:21]
A
Like she mentioned compassion and so many other things that. That Bella represented. So it'll be an amazing time. Whether you can go right or not, you still have the option, so there's no excuse, but we. If you're in Miami February 8th, be there. Great time. Tropical Park. Absolutely awesome. But no, thank you so much for being here, as always. Again, thank you so much for everything that you guys do, everything that you guys represent. And whenever we want to do this again, it's always here.
- [30:45]
B
So awesome. Thank you so much. Awesome.
- [30:47]
A
Absolutely.
- [30:47]
B
Thank you.
- [30:48]
A
Thank you guys, as always, for tuning in. Make sure to enjoy your cafecito, enjoy your croquetas, and this time also join the 5K February 8th at Tropical Park. See you soon.