You're listening to the village thrives, a podcast about parenting and community. If you like this episode, be sure to hit like and subscribe. Go on then. You know you want to. Hello, and welcome to the Village Thrive's Meet the Hosts.

We have Bradley Hazemeyer in the house. Bradley is our dad for the show, bringing in all his knowledge and all of his tech and gadget and just fatherhood experiences. And he's just very funny and very witty. And we love Bradley. Bradley, tell us about yourself.

Tell us all of the ways that you're fantastic, Bradley Well, I

mean, I think that was it. I don't know if there's much more to say. I think we could just move on. Well, I was born when I was very young. Great stuff.

And everything has changed since then. No. Let's see. We've got about three minutes here for the listening audience to sum up my 45 of life. So let's get to it.

I was born in well, grew up in the South. Grew up in New Jersey. Southern boy. Boy. Let's go.

Say my yes ma'am's and my no sirs and all of that. Let's see. Loved to play sports growing up. Loved cars. My dad and I really connected on cars.

We would go to used car lots after they were closed. We could walk around and look at cars. I'm the oldest of three. It's me, three years my sister, three years my brother. And, you know, my parents said they didn't really know what they were doing.

So like a lot of firstborns, we were just kind of like a test. But I stayed in Knoxville, grew up there, went to high school there, went to college there, was a public relations major, while at the same time always had a video camera. I was always doing stupid sketches and skits, kind of Andy Samberg style, But never ever thought that I would get into acting or anything like that. I grew up in Knoxville. People have regular jobs.

And so, you know, but growing up in the family, always had the camcorder, was always shooting videos, and well before I even knew how to edit. I was just like editing in camera and have a brother and a sister. I'm close with them. Probably closer with my brother now than I was growing up. I think some of that's just sibling ness and then some of it's just similar life perspective and just being dudes.

And I think family to me has always been a very, very important aspect. So growing up, parents are still together. That's kind of a rarity in terms of percentages but that really put into me kind of a vision of what marriage and family life was. Certainly not perfect but one of the things that we love to do is travel. And so travel has continued to be something that I find super valuable.

And you know, I, when I went to college, I actually did a travel overseas, did a study abroad in Australia. Always found

come back with an Australian accent?

I learned a lot when I was over there about some of the Indonesians, and it really does depend where you are because a lot of the words go up when they talk. Australians are always optimistic. Whereas Americans, we always talk down. I had a good day. I went to the store today.

Australians say, yeah. It was a great day. I went to the store. And it goes up. And so there's like fun stuff like that.

And that came in handy because after college, was a journalism major, PR major, and I got into videos. And I was shooting videos back when I was a kid. My grandparents had a camcorder. You know, at the time it was massive. It was like a bazooka.

That's what you were shooting a camera. But in college, I had an 08:00 class my senior year, and then I didn't have anything until two. And I was like, I don't want to drive back to my apartment, so I want to teach myself something. So I taught myself editing using Final Cut in the library. Always loved photography.

And all this is kind of stemming or is coming to a head for me trying to figure out my career. I was pre med. I didn't know what I wanted to do and ended up, you know, getting really into video and video editing and decided I'm going to move to LA. So moved to LA, pursued acting, was in some commercials, got a job hosting a car show for a few years, and that kind of is what led me to meet you guys at the list. So as a host, that job came up and I was like, I don't know, but let's see.

And at the time, Christina, you weren't there yet, but Donna was. And I was like, okay, she's cool. I could I could work here. We could do this. And so did that.

I'm looking over my sheet here. I'm I'm already over time, so I'm gonna move into parenting life. So being a dad of three, so we have my five year old son who's adopted. His name's Loic. We have my 12 year old, so that's seventh grade daughter who is middle school, which is crazy, and she's bio, it's a strange thing to say, but they say bio.

So from my wife basically and myself. And then we have a foster daughter through kind of kinship who is almost 30, which is crazy. Ashley's almost 30. And she now lives near us. We live in Atlanta, Georgia.

We've lived all over the place, Brooklyn, LA, now Atlanta. So dad life for me is so interesting because I'm also freelance. I'm around a lot more. I'm around my kids a lot. We're involved a lot where we can kind of travel.

I think a defining parenting moment for me, I don't know if there's a it's hard to pinpoint a moment, but it's almost kind of like if you work out or if you run or you're working on a language or something like that and all of a sudden you look back and you're like, wow, I've really grown. I think being a parent, my patients, especially with Loic, he's autistic, specifically on the social side, and so his brain works very differently than my brain works. And so for me to understand him and to understand that I don't need to understand him, I just, you know, loving him and trying to be patient in those moments, especially when his brain is firing like crazy. It looks like he's trying to be, you know, a kid who's yelling and having a tantrum. And really, he's inside his body going crazy.

There's fireworks going And off in so Kirsten has taught me a lot because of her patience and her ability to research and that kind of thing. So I would say just the thing that's really kind of defined my parenting moment and what I'm excited about for the Village Thrives is the community aspect of, you know, people know they're not alone. It's so easy as a parent to feel like your situation is unique and individual. And we've really turned to social media on our side to find other people, even though we don't know, just watching other videos of people saying like this is what it's like raising a kid with ADHD or autistic or this is what it's like being a content creator and not knowing where your next paycheck is coming from and also feeling like you need to support your family. So anyway, that's a little bit about what I am in terms of what the IRS thinks I am.

I am a content creator and I own a social media agency that works the brands and to kind of help them translate their marketing objectives into actionable posts.

That sounds like a real job.

I know. That's why the IRS doesn't check me on it. They're like, Okay, he's boring. We're moving on. So that's a quick flyover.

That three

minute Although can I just jump in really quick because you said pre med? What? Went from PR to pre med?

Yeah, I was pre med. I actually took a PR class on accident thinking it was a Pre med? No, that's funny. And no, I failed organic chemistry my sophomore year, and I tried as hard as I could. I genuinely was

the guy

that was like, if I try it, I can do it no matter what. And I tried it, and I did not do it.

I was like, And Yeah. This is a

was like, not made for this. I'm made for other stuff, and I'm great at other stuff, but this is not Not it. Yeah.

Well, I'm just gonna add something to all the wonderful things that you've shared with us. I just wanted to share that when I first met you and working with you, what I learned about you, I didn't even know necessarily that it was a thing until you did it and I was like, wow, you're a very active and intentional listener. I say that not because other people don't listen, but the way you would do it is very, I'm listening to you right now. And I've said that with other people, I'm like, and so now I I pay attention to know when someone's actually really listening or just listening or not listening at all. And I always put that down to you, recognizing that that's a thing, and I think that's a wonderful thing and a gift that you

What a give compliment, to thank you.

Really, it's amazing.

Yeah, really sweet.

I'm like, it's just in the middle of our busy day at the studio, we're recording and I'd have an idea and I can be quite spontaneous and I'll be like, Oh Bradley, excuse me, I know you're in the middle of something. I've just got a question And to you would literally stop calmly and face me and look at me and give me your 100% attention, and I was like, that's, you know, and then you'd be, okay, you get back to what you were doing.

Do where that comes from? I'm not kidding, comes from raising a kid, Because Ellis would come to me in the middle of the day, I'm doing something else, and she's like, Dad, what if astronauts landed on the moon and it was made out of wood and they drilled a hole And you just have to be like, that's a great question. I don't know. What do you think they would find if they drilled a hole of it? Like, that's a part of that intentional parenting is those And moments, so I think I just got good at that without even trying because I was just so used to someone's asking me a question in this moment, let's focus in, let's see what it is.

And that provides such value to that person. As a parent, you want your kid to feel supported. You want your kid to feel like eventually, right? I always tell people, I know we're kind of getting on a tangent here, you're not raising a kid, you're raising an adult. You're raising the stuff, Kirsten brought this to me and I thought it was so brilliant because what you're doing is setting the foundation so that when she's in her teens and twenties, she can still come to you with stuff that feels awkward or weird or a great idea because she never felt shot down or her knees were cut out from under her, you know, that kind of thing.

Yeah. Or him, whatever your child is.

It's thank a beautiful thing that you do appreciate it. And I'm sure anyone that interacts with you appreciates it.

Not everyone, but yeah, thank you.

What do you hope the Village Thrive becomes for families? Would you like to accomplish with this?

Way I use podcasts is really as kind of like, almost like an audio book, right? It's kind of like, I like to listen, take in what's going on, mix it with my own life, what's going on with my own life and use it as either like, oh, I heard this great quote from this podcast or know that there's a place I can go. I like the familiarity of certain podcasts that I listen to a lot. And I would hope that for hours. I would hope that people may never meet us until we go live on the road.

Come see us in Dallas. And they may never meet us, but I want them to know that they're a part of this, that they're in it. And that's really hard as a parent. Like I said, it's like your situation is both unique to your situation and your kids and your background and where you live and solo parenting or together or whatever, you know, all those are unique. Yet the parenting life or experience is not.

You're not alone in that, you know, you're unique but you're not alone.

Yeah. I think too, having a dad perspective is so important. I mean, on the, you know, on the ladder of dads, you're certainly up there, right? You're intentional, you're present, you're involved, you're-

This is my favorite episode so far,

by the way. You know, and so, I mean, I feel like moms are gonna be like, well, want my husband, my, why ain't my baby daddy doing all that?

Pearson says this all the time. My wife is Pearson. She's amazing. And she's like, I'm amazing too. And I'm like, of course you are.

She's like, but the bar is so low for dads that if you just like, like stand next to your child and like just, even just you're, like, kind of close to them, they're like, oh my gosh. Look at him. He's so involved.

So amazing. Wow.

It's so beautiful. But you really are. She is, of course, great. Moms are great. But you you really are a great and intentional dad.

And and that's just great perspective, I think, for anybody who's listening who's like, oh, I could really like the bar is so low, but that doesn't mean I have to stay at that said bottom bar. I can, you know, rise to the occasion every once

I in a think I think dads I hosted a podcast for about a year and a half called Attempting Fatherhood, and what I learned is like most dads want to be good at being a dad. We just don't know where to start. We're not great at asking questions, we're not great at asking for help, We just usually rely on what we know. And sometimes that's your dad was a great dad and sometimes your dad was not a great dad. Maybe not And even so it's hard.

There's not, there are a lot more places to go now for dads to try to find advice, tips, chats, conversation. But genuinely speaking, the dads want to. So if you're like a mom and your husband, you feel like your husband's like not like raising up to the level or whatever, you got to sometimes you just have to have a conversation, not like a you're not, but like, I don't know, sometimes if it's not right in front of me, I don't even think about it. Know? It's like Kirsten's like she'll say things that I'm like, she's like, I'll be like, oh, you look so pretty today.

She's like, oh, you haven't said that. I'm like, I've never said that? Are you kidding? Wait, really? And she's like, well, I mean, you know, like you said, I was like, I said it last week.

I remember it was Tuesday, you know? And she's like,

it It was was Tuesday, 02/2008. Yeah.

It's all to do with our hormones, If you haven't learned that yet, Bradley.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure.

Depending on what day of the month it is, we're gonna hear that sentence differently or maybe not

do That's it at so true.

Anyway, we're going

to get straight into rapid fire.

Yeah. Let's go.

We are going get straight into rapid fire now. 10 questions.

Let's go.

Quick questions, quick answers. Okay. Morning person or night owl?

Morning person.

Go to comfort food? Scon. Parenting superpower you wish you had?

Oh, unlimited patience.

A book or a show you always recommend? Bluey. I love Bluey. Oh my gosh.

I love Bluey.

One word your kids would use to describe you? Energetic. Favorite way to unwind?

Coffee in a corner.

Hidden talent.

Hip hop dancing.

Oh. If you could live anywhere for a year, where would it be?

Paris.

Something you believed as a kid that you no longer believe.

Easter bunny. Yeah, don't believe that anymore.

Is it was that hard? That a Yeah, hard it's

slow burn. Know what, actually, you know what it would be? I would say this. I always thought my parents didn't have enough friends. I was like, My parents have like three friends.

This is stupid. I have 100 friends. And now I'm older. I'm like, I cannot maintain 100 friends. I just want three good ones.

Can't can't maintain them to be like them. Oh, got three right here. Two. Hopefully you got one more. Two thirds of your friendship.

And finally, one thing that always makes you laugh.

My wife. Kirsten's hilarious. Nice.

Okay. So, well, thanks, Bradley. We've got to know quite a bit about you in such a short amount of time.

It was so I'm so sorry.

Part two coming soon.

Please. Maybe we'll dedicate a whole hour in the future. Oh boy. We'll just No one

wants an hour. This was a good move. I would have just kept going. This is good.

Oh, but thank you to our listeners for tuning in and if you just can't get enough of Bradley, like you want more, of course you do, everyone wants a bit more of a Bradley. Then of course check out our episodes of The Village Thrives and Bradley, where else can our listeners find you?

On TikTok Hassemeyer, Instagram BeHaz, that's H A Z, and we'd love to connect with you guys there. If you have any questions or parenting advice, I'm here for it. I'm here to hear.

He's a very active hearer.

Lot of hearing. So make sure you're subscribing to our show as well because we'd love to keep you guys in the village and we'll keep on keeping on. We got more to come.

Thank you so much for listening. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and follow us the village thrives. And remember, parenting isn't meant to be done alone. When the village comes together and supports one another, we thrive. See you next time.

Well. The way you took the heat in Texas and cooked it in the breakfast, paving the way for me to excel. I'm in your presence. You make my world go round and round. Oh, every single second with you's another present.

You lift me up when I'm feeling down. Life is so precious when you're around. Everything's precious when you're around.