Rachel Ganani

Show Notes

This week I talk to Rachel Ganani, an attorney who currently serves as the Chief of Staff at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. We talk about what she does in her role, how she got interested in public interest law very early in her career, and BBYO – which is getting ready to celebrate its 100th anniversary in Minnesota on Nov. 22, on this week’s Who The Folk?! Podcast. 

Sponsored by: MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger

The Who The Folk?! Podcast is part of the Jewfolk Podcast Network, a product of Jewfolk, Inc. Episodes are produced by Jewfolk editor-in-chief Lonny Goldsmith. If you have questions, comments, or a guest to nominate, send an e-mail to [e-mail]. For more information, go to TCJewfolk.com/podcast

Creators and Guests

LG

Host

Lonny Goldsmith

Host/Editor/Producer

What is Who The Folk?! Podcast?

This is the Podcast home of TC Jewfolk's Who The Folk?! Podcast. Hear from interesting Members of the Tribe from all over the Minneapolis and St. Paul area.

Welcome to this week's Who the Folk Podcast.

I'm Lonnie Goldsmith, the editor of TCJU Folk.

And this week I talked to Rachel Ganani, an attorney who currently serves as the Chief

of Staff at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

We talk about what she does in her role, how she got interested in public interest law

very early in her career, and BBYO, which is getting ready to celebrate its 100th anniversary

in Minnesota on November 22nd, on this week's Who the Folk Podcast.

But before we hear from Rachel, this week's episode is sponsored by Mazone, a Jewish

Response to Hunger.

Inspired by Jewish values and ideals, Mazone, a Jewish Response to Hunger, is a national

organization fighting to end hunger among people of all faiths and backgrounds in the United

States and Israel.

To learn more, go to Mazone.org, that's maz.on.org.

Rachel Ganani, welcome to The Who the Folk Podcast.

Thank you for joining me.

Thank you for having me, Lonnie.

It's good to be here.

It is great to talk to you.

Thank you for having me in your lovely home.

I appreciate getting to talk to you in person.

You have a really cool job title.

You are the Chief of Staff at the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

And we're not going to talk about, you know, we're not going to get too much in depth of

the MPCA.

This is sort of you in your personal capacity that we're talking.

But just out of curiosity, because the job title itself is pretty cool.

What does a Chief of Staff do?

That's a great question.

Well, you know, this, my role right now is Chief of Staff.

I'm the first Chief of Staff at the MPCA.

Oh, okay.

I'm sort of a newer role.

But generally, I advise the Commissioner and Commissioner Katrina Kessler on strategic

decisions, help implement cross division functions.

It's the MPCA has about a thousand employees.

We are, well, I'll give you a little bit of background on the MPCA.

Please.

That would be great.

So the MPCA is the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

And it is the state version of the Environmental Protection Agency.

So our mission is to protect Minnesota's environment, you know, clean air, clean water,

and just have sustainable lands, all of that stuff.

So in that capacity, we permit all sorts of companies and agriculture and industrial,

and we have a lot of facilities.

And so there's like 29,000 permits that the MPCA, you know, regulate.

So, yes.

And that's not all facilities.

There's, you know, some facilities have more than one permit.

So, you know, that's sort of like the nuts and bolts of the work, but there's also, you

know, we have several divisions.

And so it really works across the state, but then also we work in partnership with the

Department of Agriculture, MDA, the Department of Health, MDA.

So there's just a lot of work across the state government enterprise.

And so my role is really to help the commissioner and the administration be successful in making

sure that the environment is safe and clean.

And we love our clean air and clean water in Minnesota.

It is, we are, it is an outdoorsy state.

It's the lakes, the hiking, the state parks, all lend itself to odouriness and being out

in the environment.

Yes, yes, yes, definitely.

So as your background, do you come from like an environmental, environmental work that

sort of background or is yours or policy, where does the background lend itself to this

work?

Well, if you saw my background, you would probably be surprised where I am right now.

So I, I, you know, I studied in college political science and international relations and went

to law school.

I was a lawyer for about a decade in New York City.

And so, you know, that was sort of my first stage career.

But I've always been interested in policy generally.

And so when I moved back to Minnesota eight years ago now or so, I wanted to take

the opportunity to pivot into sort of policy work.

So my background is really like housing and the professional capacity, like the, the, the

first, you know, chunk of my career when I was a practicing attorney, I was an attorney

at the Legal Aid Society in New York City representing tenants in housing court.

And, but then when I moved back to Minnesota, I, you know, started working at the Minnesota

House of Representatives as a committee administrator and they, because of my law background, put

me on the judiciary finance and civil law committee as that CA.

And so I, of course, was exposed to environment law.

So any law that gets any bill that was introduced, you know, goes to the committee structure.

And I, I as a committee administrator, sort of administrative, how to that committee run,

right?

All the committees are chaired by, by representatives, but the staff kind of make the, the house

from the Senate run.

So, so I was a committee administrator there and then did that for about three sessions

and then went over to the governor's office as a policy advisor.

And so that was my first really sort of toe dipping into the environment sphere.

And I joined the governor's office as a policy advisor part of my policy portfolio besides

housing initially was, was the environment portfolio.

So I worked in that capacity with the MPCA, the pollution control agency where I am now,

Minnesota housing and DNR, the Department of Natural Resources and all sorts of stuff

there.

So I really kind of learned, started working in the environment space over there at that

time, but it's like alphabet soup a little bit.

It's a lot of, yeah, there's a lot of acronyms you mentioned.

Yeah, oh, God.

I thought I was pretty good about like, you know, but still like I still, even if you didn't

as I get that, definitely can be an acronym didn't do something.

Yeah, yeah.

So I almost, I didn't even say the EQB, which is the environmental quality board and

Bowser, which is the board of water, soil and resource.

Yeah.

So it's just, we love acronyms and government.

Oh, sure.

Go on question.

What was, I guess, what, as you sort of made the transitions, like, did you get poached

by, by the MPCA from the role you were in?

Because obviously that's, you know, working in the governor's office a pretty cool, actually,

I should, I skipped a position.

Oh, sorry.

No, but when I, so yes, at the governor's office, I covered the environment and I covered

Minnesota housing, which is the housing agency as well.

So I actually left the governor's office to become the director of federal affairs at Minnesota

housing.

Oh, works with the wonderful commissioner over there as well, Jennifer Ho.

And so I, I did federal relation type stuff in that role and then also helped run the,

the programs that were funded through federal dollars at Minnesota housing.

And so I did that for almost two years and then this position opened up at the pollution

control agency commissioner Kessler did reach out and say she was creating this position.

So it's my career in Minnesota has really been just a bunch of amazing opportunities based

on, you know, working relationships, meeting people and like, you know, digging in and learning.

So it's been, it's been a great, a great experience, but you know, one that you couldn't necessarily

predict, I couldn't have predicted when I was in school.

I mean, it's interesting to say like the relationships and the networking is, I tell my kids all

the time.

It's like it is, it's who you know, it's who you chat with and like, you never know when

that chance meeting of somebody can come back to benefit you down the road.

Yeah.

Even, you know, starting from even law school and being a practicing attorney in New York,

like, yeah, I worked at the Legal Aid Society.

I represent attendance and housing court who have no power, right?

Like it's just a very, it's a very, um, imbalance power dynamic and, you know, oftentimes, like,

the law actually might be against my client, but if you have a decent working relationship

with opposing counsel or, you know, just the landlords in general, like you might be able

to get an outcome that, you know, is actually beneficial for your client.

So that's sort of those sorts of lessons have carried with me throughout my career because

it really does, you know, taking even like whether or not this person can help you professionally.

Because if you like to be with somebody and you connect with them on some level, like,

you're just more willing to, to figure out like, how can we, you know, how can we work together

in a productive way rather than fighting about things all the time?

No question.

When you, as I want to go back to sort of write the post law school, yeah, going to New York,

no shortage of law firms in New York.

Why the Legal Aid Society?

Not saying that in like any bad sort of way, but I think that's a move like that, isn't

this, doesn't feel like the usual first step out of law school for most people?

Right.

Well, I, you know, I was always interested in, like, public interest work.

When I went to law school, I really wanted to do public interest.

I didn't want to do criminal defense.

And so, you know, when I, when I was doing internships, you know, I worked my first summer

in a New York City housing court as a, as a judicial intern for a New York City housing court

judge.

So that was sort of my first introduction into housing law in New York, which is its own

own, I'm sure it is.

You know, they have a whole court system in the city, you know, each burrow has its own,

you know, Manhattan housing court Bronx and Brooklyn.

And so work in that first summer, I worked as a judicial intern for a Manhattan housing

court judge.

And it was just, you know, like I could see like how much, you know, how much that interaction

or that, you know, a tenant going through that would affect their whole life.

And so, you know, that I wasn't like, I didn't go to law school being like, I want to represent

tenants in housing court, but that was the first experience I had.

And then I did a clinic in law school, which was, it was called Beth Settick, House of Justice.

And it what we did represented folks that are, we're trying to get social security benefits

in appeals and housing.

So I just really always wanted to do something public interest related.

And so the housing, the housing sort of, I kind of fell into it and it stuck and it was

something where I felt like I could help people on an individual level in their life.

So and that's just sort of like, I don't know, I kind of attribute that to probably just

like Jewish values generally.

No, no question.

So all right.

So I suppose your law school had a Beth Settick.

So I called Beth Settick.

It would be good to say where you went to law school.

Oh, no, no.

That would explain why.

Okay.

So I went to law school at Cardozo School of Law in New York City.

It's near NYU, but not NYU.

That was always my favorite one.

It's private.

It's Yashiva University is law school actually.

It's not on Yashiva's campus.

Yashiva is like an inward, I believe.

But Cardozo was right on 12th Street in Fifth Avenue, a very close to NYU.

Okay.

Got it.

All right.

So that would explain why.

Yes.

It was called that Settick.

But also, I think it explains why there is such a root in, in sort of Jewish values.

Definitely.

I mean, when I was applying to law school, I wasn't like, I need to go to Cardozo at all,

but I certainly was, I was never really interested in working in the private sector with my law

degree.

So like, I just, I didn't, like, I just only wanted to do either government or nonprofit

work and just finding my way, you know, within law school with the opportunities that were

given to me there and figuring out, oh, I can, I can do this.

I don't have to represent criminal, you know, people accused of crimes, but like, I can

still feel like I'm helping people in their day to day life.

I think there probably aren't enough people who are willing to do that with their, with

their law background.

Yeah.

You know, it's, it's funny.

I, like, we, there were so many great people I met in law school, so many, so many folks

that, you know, a lot of us aren't practicing anymore.

I will say that.

But a number still are.

And there are, there are definitely types of people that go to law school, right?

There are the people who want to like, like, you know, do public interest work, like serve

community.

And then there are folks there that, you know, want to go and work for white shoe law firm

and, and, you know, make lots of money.

So it's, I always thought it was very funny that we ended up with the same degree.

And like, I made like, you know, a quarter of what somebody else in my same class made.

Sure.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

No, it's quite the disparity.

Yes.

I mean, my, my wife is in attorney and went to law school at a time where I mean, graduated

in 2002.

So different times, we were session, uh, which I know really changed the law firms and the,

the market, uh, a lot.

And especially in, comes to compensation and things like that.

Yes.

And you had a ton of people graduating and not enough jobs either.

Like, we, I graduated in 2008.

So I graduated in May.

White in the middle of that.

And then, well, right before, so the economic downturn was, like, in August or September.

That's true.

And so, um, like, yes.

And I was wanting to do public interest.

And I remember talking to the career counselor who is basically like, well, you just got

away till after the bar and then you start, you know, because we had front, I, we had,

I had friends that were working, going to work for firms because they had a, you know, second

year summer associate job.

And I was just like, okay, I got a graduate.

I got to take the bar and then I'll, you know, so it was a very scary time.

Yeah.

And, you know, I ended up for, I think six months, I did a public interest, um, internship

that was like partially, I had a stipend that was paid from, may law school.

And then I ended up working for a small nonprofit doing housing.

And I, I was lucky because I had happened to have good experience with as a brand new attorney,

because of my summer, you know, judicial internship and then my clinic that I did, um, that,

you know, I, I was able to, to get a job.

But I had, we, I had friends that were at a work for, you know, or didn't ever get their

first job for a year after graduation.

I mean, and that's got to be so stressful and the best of times and then you factor in

what some people's law school debt or undergrad, like all of that debt that's, you, is now weighing

on you with no job.

And we were living in New York City at the time.

Yeah.

I mean, I, I, if I wasn't, you know, married to my husband, like I, I don't know what

I would have done during that time because I, uh, wasn't, I didn't have an income for

a while.

Right.

I had, you know, I was deferred my loans for a little bit, but yeah, it was, it was not a

good time.

No, sorry.

So the importance of, you know, giving back to community when you're in that position is,

was definitely, um, you know, an important lesson to, to remember too.

No, absolutely.

Absolutely.

So you say you've been back here about eight years now.

What was it that brought you, uh, you and the family for you back home, Minnesota?

So I grew, I grew up here, um, and, uh, I, I went away to college in Wisconsin and then moved

to New York for law school and I didn't, didn't really have an intention ever to move back.

But, uh, both my boys were born in New York and, um, life gets harder with kids and all my

family lives here and, um, and we had, my husband and I didn't have any family, um, no immediate

family in New York City or the New York area.

So, um, it made, it made moving to Minnesota kind of a peeling and then also my mom, um, was,

uh, very sick with cancer.

And so that was kind of, uh, another reason to want to move back here.

So after my kids were born, like, I was sort of, the, after my second one was born, I was

like, I don't know if I'm going to be able to make it in New York City, like, raising

two kids, like, just the lifestyle.

Yeah, no, I get it.

I get it.

And, you know, uh, like, moving back here, there's just, it's a wonderful place to live and

to raise a family.

And so there was so many, um, there was a lot of pros and so an opportunity, um, uh, uh, came

about for my husband and he was excited about it and we, um, you know, it just made a lot

of sense and like, we moved here right before my oldest, sturdy kindergarten and now he's

in eighth grade.

Wow.

And so it's been, it's been great.

I mean, we've all, we're all very happy here.

That's awesome.

Yeah.

It is definitely hard to not be your own family, but also the idea, like, when we were in Chicago

and my wife is a law school, we made the decision to not stay in Chicago.

Mm-hmm.

She had an offer, would have had an offer at a firm and, you know, interviewed here earlier

in her law school career and decided to make them move here.

I have some extended family here, both of us are from Michigan and that's okay.

It was okay.

But it's still like you, Lonnie.

Thank you.

I appreciate that.

The idea of raising kids in a city in Chicago, um, sort of similar to New York is a very

different sort of lifestyle.

Yeah.

We know people who do it and you know, did a good job with it or, you know, the alternative

of moving to the suburbs and having an hours long commute in is just, it's so unappealing.

It's really funny that you say that because when I was, you know, when we were living in

New York and one of my good friends from the Legal Aid Society basically grew up in, um,

in Brooklyn and she lived in a two bedroom, shared a bathroom with her, you know, family.

And when I was looking, when we were looking, when we were looking at like, can we afford

to buy an apartment in, in, in New York, um, everything that we could maybe afford was like,

my kids would have to share a bedroom.

We'd all have to share a bathroom.

The school district wasn't great and it would have been really hard.

And my friend was like, well, why do you need like so much space?

And I said, I realize I'm like, I don't, I don't need that.

But like, I kind of want it.

I had it growing up and like, if I'm going to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on

a thing to call my own, I kind of don't want to share a bathroom with my two boys.

So, like, I want that.

You're right.

I don't need it.

I want it.

That's right.

Yeah.

So, and yeah, the commute all, all that we looked, um, we also kind of looked at, well,

what would it look like if we moved to New Jersey?

We had some friends that were doing that.

And same sort of thing, we're not really wanting to commute in for an hour.

And it just really made a lot of sense to move, um, care.

Yeah.

It's been great.

Well, that's great.

It's good to be back.

I'm sure it's good to have family around.

It's good for your boys to be connected with their family from there.

Yes.

And that's got to be nice.

Yes, definitely, definitely.

So one of the other reasons I wanted to connect with you is they, uh, as folks will read in

TCG Folk later this week, there will be an article coming up talking about the 100th

anniversary celebration of BBYO here in Minnesota.

Uh, seems to be as popular now as it ever has been.

The numbers are pretty phenomenal.

But as we were talking before we started recording, I know that BBYO was a pretty integral

part to your teenage experience.

Totally.

How did you connect to it originally?

You know, I don't actually, I was thinking about this after I agreed to do this interview.

I don't remember what brought me to my first BBYO meeting.

I don't, but I just remember like, um, really liking it.

And, you know, a lot of the reasons were, yeah, I, I went to USY and some tipsy things too.

And I loved that it was non-denominational, right?

Like my, my parents were divorced when I grew up, my, you know, my brother was Bar Mitzvahed

at a reform synagogue.

I was Bar Mitzvahed at a conservative synagogue.

My stepfather sort of grew up in modern orthodox.

So sort of been exposed to like all sort of, you know, run the gamut of, um, Jewish religious

observance.

And BBYO is super special in that like come as you are, you know, your Jewish teen

like you belong.

And so loved, loved that.

And, and really, you know, I think about where my career, my life has gone and it's sound

so cheesy, but it's so, like, I really sort of trace it back to getting involved in BBYO

because just the way how the youth group is set up where like, you know, all the youth

groups are great.

And like whatever your kid connects with awesome.

But what I found so cool about BBYO is that, you know, they're smaller chapters.

And while every youth group is, you know, relies on youth leadership so much of how a

chapter is run is based on the kids running the board.

Like we all obviously had like, you know, the advisors, but, but, you know, like, you know,

deciding to be on board or running to be on board at in BBYO, whether it was your

chapter or the regional board, like you were really like getting committed to like run

this thing and do the programming and making sure folks are showing up and recruiting people.

And so that, you know, after I, you know, started going to, to like, a chapter, I ended up

being nominated to be like the chapter secretary and one of the things you're kind of supposed

to do is go to CLTC which chapter leadership training conference.

And so, you know, that was like a camp in a Webster was not Webster.

It was not, that's hurts.

That's hurtful.

Um, it was outside in a Bieber camp.

I, it was like outside of Milwaukee, I think.

And you spend two weeks there and you like learn how to run a chapter.

And just, but those are like integral skills of, you know, relationship building, but

also just, you know, hurting cats, everybody has different opinions and it just was an

amazing opportunity to, to start developing those skills as what, like a 15, 16 year old.

And, you know, that led me to after that year running for regional board.

And like, I just, I wasn't, I, I didn't necessarily, I have friends that, you know, did international

convention and did all sorts of other things, but it just like that, those experiences of,

of being accountable and running, really sort of having to, to lead together with other

peers, you know, planning different activities and, you know, your, your, your sort of philanthropy

and giving back that sort of stuff, the conventions, all of that, you know, finding, you know, space

where somebody who's like, you know, doesn't really ever, wasn't Potmits, but, or Barmits

Fud, but, you know, was, you know, a little bit interested in Judaism, you know, having

programming that they can identify with along with somebody who's more observant.

Like, all of that stuff was, was, you got to experience in, in BBYO.

So that, that was, that was, it just was a wonderful experience.

I'm super excited for the 100th anniversary party and later, later this month on the

second.

Yeah, it, it sounds like it's going to be a great event.

I was talking with one of the, the people I've interviewed for it is the, and I've gotten

to interview people across generations, which has been really fun.

So people closer to R.A.

I talked to somebody who was in it, he was a teenager who's now, I'm not, put an age

on him, so actually don't know, but definitely older, you know, closer to, you know, our parents

generation, I talked to, you know, a 17 year old or almost 17 year old who's, you know, the

chapter membership person who I've known almost her entire life and to sort of hear her

talk and hear the passion of she has for it and how it's, how much she's learned from

it.

It's, in here and you sort of talk about the same things, you know, there's an age gap

there, but it doesn't matter because like the lessons still sort of hold.

And I see it, you know, my wife was also super involved in BBG and Michigan growing up and

Michigan is very much a BBIO town.

So and I know that's, you know, USY and Nifty not really a presence growing up, so going

to do a Jewish youth group stuff, it was BBIO and there were a lot of chapters and what

were your friends went or went where your sibling went and that was your, that was it,

that was sort of your tribe.

Yeah, no, that's the other thing is, you know, if you leave the Twin Cities, like it, like

if you meet other Jewish people, that is sort of the youth group that a lot of folks belong

to.

So I, I, I will, people who are good at math can probably figure it out, but I was, I was

involved in the late 90s and, you know, up until I graduated high school in 2000 and like

it was, you know, when I was growing, like USY was always I think probably bigger here when

I was growing up, but we did, like we grew BBIO at the time to, to pretty, pretty big.

I don't, I think it might be bigger now, but that was, it was, it was cool.

It was a very cool experience for me to go away to school and meet people from different

areas who were involved in BBIO and it was like, yeah, the big, the big, big thing.

Yeah.

Just the, the ability to like do summer programming and, you know, all the leadership opportunities

is just been, it's great to see that it's thriving.

Yeah.

So, no, it is, I know it's sort of gone through some, you know, highs and lows, ups and

downs in terms of numbers, but, you know, the convention that they, they'll be coming

home from as folks are listening to this or just came home from, depending on when you

listen to this, more Minnesota kids there than any other region going to see this.

Really?

45 kids packed up on a bus Friday morning to, to add to St. Louis and, yeah, it's great.

And the, the joy in, in people's voices is they told me that it was, like you could really

hear it.

There's a ton of pride that comes in that.

And it's, it sort of shows that like generation removed from your experience, kids are having

that here again.

Yeah.

It's, it's really, it's strong.

Yeah, that's awesome.

Oh, I'm glad that your experience is the same that so many kids are having today and

that so many had before you.

Yeah.

I mean, two of my, like my dearest friends that when I think about high school or like,

two this day are folks that like, some of them I went to high school with, but most of them

are baby, y-o friends.

And so, and it's, it's lifelong friendships.

It's amazing.

Yeah.

Well, it's great that these kids, that the, they're, these conventions are having these

opportunities and your, your oldest is about ready to, I'm also realizing as a parent,

which is very humbling experience, as I'm sure you know, Alani.

Oh, yes.

Kids are not us and so if you pressure them too much to do the things that you know were

awesome for you, that it might turn them off.

So I, um, you know, I, I, I, my kids went to camp when they were ready to go to camp to, to

the camps that they wanted to go to and I, that sort of worked out pretty well.

And so I also want to be very conscious of not pushing, um, baby, y-o, too much and honestly,

you know, being involved in the community is, is really the key.

So, yeah.

Yeah.

I think it's true and I know that this is something that, um, you know, current and past leadership

at Herzl camp, for example, have, have always said it's like, would they love all the Jewish

kids to go to Herzl camp?

Sure.

But 20% of Jewish kids are going to overnight camp.

Go to whichever Jewish camp works for you, whether it's from all, whether it's Ezraway, whether

it's, you know, some other Jewish camp opportunity, that is what's most important is to involve

yourself and, you know, find a Jewish community and engage in it in whatever way it works best

for you.

And for some, that's going to be VVIO and some it's going to be USY and some it's going to

be NCSY, but find your path.

Exactly.

And find your people and, and, and that, yeah, that will carry with you.

Yeah, your whole life, though.

Absolutely.

Last couple questions before I let you, uh, before I leave your home, you know, again, you

have been graciously invited me before I kick you out on it, right?

Before you kick me out of here.

Last couple questions.

First, what is your favorite Jewish holiday?

Ooh, um, G is, that is a good question.

For me, is it weird to say, um, Yom Kippur?

No.

I, I, I, um, I hate it, but I love it.

I think it, it's, um, it's, it's a, it, it, you know, is a something that, you know, I don't

necessarily look forward to, but, um, it's really an opportunity to, to do sort of self

evaluation.

Yeah.

Um, I, I'm always, uh, I always like that.

Now my, my husband would say pass over, but I don't, I, eight days of Mata is not a bait.

I don't like that.

I don't, I don't play me.

I love, I really like Mata.

Yeah.

But I also like variety.

Exactly.

Um, and speaking of Mata, sorry, what is your favorite Jewish food?

Ooh, um, not Mata.

No, no, no.

Um, probably, um, um, Mata ball soup though.

I, I do love a good Mata ball soup.

Um, and, and Hala.

I mean, I don't know.

You can't go around.

Maybe it's, maybe it's that it's Friday afternoon that we're talking about.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Hala sounds really appealing.

Well, it's funny because, um, one of my co-workers recently was, uh, asking me about,

you know, she knows I'm Jewish and so she was asking me about Hala and, uh, she had had it

kinda, I don't know if it was the first time, but she had just learned about it somewhat

recently and was saying like how, we were just reminiscing or talking about how amazing

Hala is.

So that's how I, that, that was a conversation this week.

So I'm like, you know what?

Hala is delicious.

Hala is delicious.

Do you bake?

I have before, but not regularly.

Okay.

Um, like eating food, um, um, at home, out Jewish food, not Jewish food, but, um, I, I can

cook.

I'm not like a great cook, but my husband loves cooking, my, my mother-in-law loves cooking,

my stepmom, so around, uh, around good cooking often.

So where I am sitting, this is not a visual medium, of course, so this is going to be lost

on a lot of people.

But as I am sitting, I am looking into your kitchen and see all kinds of Jewish cookbooks

in there.

Oh yeah.

Yes, yes, yes.

Those are your mostly for your husband?

Mostly my husband.

Okay.

Yes, I eat, like I said, I like to eat them, but yes, there's a deena, sasmin there.

The Shabbat cookbook is wonderful.

So we have, we have a lot of, um, yeah.

Yes, Salomonov uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

Yes, those are not for, those are for me to eat the fruits of the labor of the

my husband, yes.

And it's delicious.

Um, I did see a deena sasmin is coming out with a new, uh, yes, I did see that.

So I'm excited for that.

And there's, it's supposed to be easy recipes.

So that's more like my speed.

Yes.

I'm like, uh, I'm like a Rachel Ray 30 minute meal type of cook.

Nothing.

Listen up.

And watching around in the kitchen is Tolganani.

No, that's, that's totally fair.

Well, it's good that you have a towel to be able to do that.

Yes, exactly.

Absolutely.

That's right.

We all have our own strengths.

Yes, yes, yes.

Rachel Ganani, thank you for talking with me.

Thank you for having me in your home.

It is lovely.

Uh, I appreciate it.

And, uh, best of luck.

Great.

Thank you.

Thanks for coming.

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