Cristina Perez

Cristina Perez (00:00):
I am a firm believer that I am not where I am if it wasn't for the assistance of another hand that is not my own.

Bob Simon (00:06):
But that's the way that it should always be. I tell people all the time, somebody's messaged my Instagram the other day like, "How do I get to where you are? Blah, blah, blah." And I was like, it just takes your intuition, trying hard to find a good mentor group to help guide you. Because I was blessed to meet some of my mentors and I've stalked them to be honest.

Mauro Fiore (00:26):
He stalked me.

Cristina Perez (00:26):
Did he?

Mauro Fiore (00:27):
I can't believe it.

Bob Simon (00:28):
Well, he's easy to find. He was on the OnlyFans before OnlyFans, you just find Mauro.

(00:56):
Welcome to this episode of Bourbon Approved, where we interview people that are successful at law and life. We do it over a series of spirits, usually very high proof, and we have some very high proof ones today, which we'll talk about with Cristina. So our special guest comes today from Glendale, Arizona, are her offices and we have Cristina Perez Hesano.

Cristina Perez (01:15):
Well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here.

Bob Simon (01:18):
And of course, our co-host, the notorious Mauro Fiore.

Mauro Fiore (01:22):
At your service.

Bob Simon (01:23):
Surprised you didn't fall asleep. Now, we are at a very famous bar right here. This is actually The Bike Shed, which Charles Lew, who's an entrepreneur, restaurateur/lawyer/ AI specialist that I'm friends with. Been on the show, episode one actually. But this is him and what's his name?

Mauro Fiore (01:39):
Tom Hardy.

Bob Simon (01:39):
Tom Hardy, of course.

Mauro Fiore (01:41):
The actor.

Bob Simon (01:42):
The actor. Actor. This is his private bar, him and Charles. So we're going to start off. I always like to start with little conversational piece and there's no better way than to do this with whiskey. So, this is the Hillrock. This is Solera Age Bourbon whiskey, but this is from Hudson Valley, New York. There's a reason that we chose this, but this is a beautiful, this is going to be hot episode. This is a BevMo Barrel Select, and this is 59.5% alcohol. I think all of these are very-

Mauro Fiore (02:14):
Hudson Valley. I would be... Bob-

Bob Simon (02:15):
I never had this one.

Mauro Fiore (02:17):
I hate to interject my personal stories.

Bob Simon (02:19):
Oh my gosh.

Mauro Fiore (02:19):
I know you hate when I interject my personal stories, but I'd be remiss that being today's September 6th, today is my good friend Rhett Miller, the lead singer of the band, the Old 97's, today is his birthday and he lives in the Hudson Valley in New Paltz. If anyone's ever been to Hudson Valley, New Paltz is right in the middle of Hudson Valley, New York. So happy birthday, Rhett.

Cristina Perez (02:39):
Happy birthday.

Bob Simon (02:40):
Thanks for coming on, Cristina. I've never been to this area of New York.

Mauro Fiore (02:44):
It's about two hours from Manhattan, Hudson Valley. It's pretty nice.

Bob Simon (02:49):
It's pretty good.

Cristina Perez (02:51):
Has a bite.

Bob Simon (02:52):
It does have a bite, but you don't taste the bite for 60%. So Cristina-

Mauro Fiore (02:56):
59 proof?

Cristina Perez (02:56):
59.

Bob Simon (02:56):
59.5.

Mauro Fiore (02:59):
A little bit weak for what we usually do around here.

Bob Simon (03:01):
Oh my gosh. So Cristina, we picked this because it's a New York whiskey, Bourbon.

Cristina Perez (03:07):
I gathered, I gathered. So I was born and raised in New York and then moved out to Arizona in 2001. And so I went and found myself in Surprise.

Bob Simon (03:20):
Surprise, Arizona.

Cristina Perez (03:21):
Surprise, Arizona, and went to law school there.

Mauro Fiore (03:25):
At what law school?

Cristina Perez (03:25):
ASU.

Mauro Fiore (03:27):
That's in Surprise?

Cristina Perez (03:28):
No, that's in Tempe.

Mauro Fiore (03:30):
Oh, Tempe.

Cristina Perez (03:30):
Tempe.

Bob Simon (03:30):
Come on.

Cristina Perez (03:31):
That's where the Suns Devils-

Mauro Fiore (03:31):
I know because I'm-

Cristina Perez (03:31):
You're a big Cardinals fan.

Mauro Fiore (03:34):
I'm always over in that area. I like Paradise Valley, Scottsdale, Tempe. And then I go to Glendale for the games.

Cristina Perez (03:40):
So I live in the Arcadia, Paradise Valley area now. But when I moved out, my parents had moved to Surprise, and it was a little bit of a culture shock when I got there and it was very different than what I was used to.

Bob Simon (03:55):
Why?

Cristina Perez (03:56):
Because I grew up in Elmont, New York, which was borderline Queens, right in front of Belmont Racetrack. Really busy, hustle and bustle, nightlife. And then I come to Surprise, and it was a lot of cotton and orange fields went back 20 years ago. It was super quiet and there was a Chili's and a Walmart and-

Bob Simon (04:18):
Holy shit. 2004 was like 20 years ago. That's fucking weird.

Cristina Perez (04:21):
Yeah.

Mauro Fiore (04:22):
That is weird.

Bob Simon (04:23):
Yeah, I moved to California in 2002, same culture shock situation. I mean fast forward today, you have a successful practice. You started off a BK lawyer. Did you know that she's a BK lawyer?

Mauro Fiore (04:34):
So was I.

Cristina Perez (04:34):
Really?

Bob Simon (04:35):
Well, you went BK. It's a different story.

Mauro Fiore (04:37):
Well, more than once. No, I was a bankruptcy lawyer too when I first got out of law school. The only thing I've ever done besides personal injury.

Bob Simon (04:44):
I did not know this.

Cristina Perez (04:46):
Look at that. So I started as a law clerk for Judge Redfield Baum over in Arizona. And then I ended up getting into bankruptcy and that's what I did for the first nine years of my career. And then I moved into the personal injury space, which was a funny story because I didn't mean to get into the personal injury space. It just kind of fell on my lap. So my first case was a case where it was like, it happened to be a mom who called in and was like, "I can't make my student loan appointment. I have to cancel it." And I'm like, "Why?" I could hear that thing in her voice. She sounded really concerned. She's like, "Well, something happened to my son, but I don't know."

(05:28):
And I was like, "Okay." I go, "Where is he?" She's like, "I don't have to go to the hospital." So all of a sudden those little antennas go up and it turned out that he was an autistic adult and he had left the day treatment facility, got hit by a car, and then getting a pretty severe TBI. And so that was my first case out of the bat.

Bob Simon (05:51):
Wow. So this is late 2000 teens then?

Cristina Perez (05:53):
It was 2017.

Bob Simon (05:53):
Wow.

Cristina Perez (05:55):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (05:57):
I mean it's crazy to think, I mean I didn't know both of you started in the BK law. I mean I'm a pure bred, I only did personal injury trial work, no defense-

Mauro Fiore (06:06):
You're gold star PI lawyer.

Bob Simon (06:07):
Gold star, five-star general. But why did you start where you did?

Cristina Perez (06:14):
You know what? I always wanted to be a trial lawyer and I was at the county and I was going to be a prosecutor. Don't hold that against me. And then there was a hiring freeze, and so I needed to get a job. So they hired me. I had done legal work for the judge, so they hired me at a bankruptcy firm and that's how it happened.

Bob Simon (06:34):
And is that all federal work? Is it all?

Mauro Fiore (06:36):
Yeah, it's all federal.

Cristina Perez (06:38):
Yeah. It's federal. And I mean there's state nuances to it.

Mauro Fiore (06:42):
Bob, I never tell anybody this. I don't know if I've even told you this, but when I got out of law school, I got hired by the district attorney's office in San Bernardino and I went through the DA training and then I was going to be a DA. And at the time they tried to send me to Victorville. This was in 1998. And I'm like, "I'm not going to Victorville." So I refused to go. So then they said, "Well, you go to Victorville or you're out." So I didn't. So I quit being a DA before I even had my first case.

Bob Simon (07:13):
Did you go through all the training and shit?

Mauro Fiore (07:15):
I did the training and everything. They said, "Okay, now your assignment's Victorville." I was like, "I'm not going to Victorville, it's in the middle of the desert."

Cristina Perez (07:19):
I don't even know where Victorville is.

Mauro Fiore (07:20):
You don't want to know. They call it Victimsville.

Bob Simon (07:21):
Victimsville? I'd actually never heard of that.

Mauro Fiore (07:24):
Yeah. So then I got a job at a bankruptcy firm and I lasted there for a year, then I went to PI.

Bob Simon (07:30):
But you did nine years and you were on a lot of the boards and the the high-level shit. I saw your resume, that was pretty impressive for-

Cristina Perez (07:37):
Thanks. I am still involved. I'm pretty heavily involved. I currently carry two different books of my PI book and the personal injury, but I'm moving away from the personal injury.

Mauro Fiore (07:47):
Do you get cases-

Bob Simon (07:49):
From the BK?

Cristina Perez (07:50):
I'm sorry, moving away from the BK. Not the personal-

Mauro Fiore (07:53):
Do you get cases where the bankruptcy trustees hire you as-

Cristina Perez (07:55):
Yes. So I did.

Mauro Fiore (07:57):
... [inaudible 00:07:57] debtor's counsel and stuff like that? That's interesting.

Cristina Perez (07:59):
So I served as a special counsel for a chapter 11 liquidating trust this past year. So I got to shake people down for money.

Bob Simon (08:07):
Well, that's what he does. Well, people do it for you now.

Mauro Fiore (08:09):
Yes. Yes.

Bob Simon (08:11):
Mauro's a big shakedown guy.

Mauro Fiore (08:12):
Interesting.

Cristina Perez (08:13):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (08:14):
So, I mean what do you think of this one, Cristina?

Cristina Perez (08:16):
You know what? On the second it was lighter. It has a little bit of a spice to it, but I like it.

Bob Simon (08:22):
It's kind of that New York though.

Cristina Perez (08:23):
I know.

Mauro Fiore (08:23):
Secondary Spice.

Cristina Perez (08:24):
Spice.

Mauro Fiore (08:25):
And you've been in Arizona since what year did you say?

Cristina Perez (08:27):
2001.

Mauro Fiore (08:28):
And you don't lose that New York accent?

Bob Simon (08:30):
No, she's still got it.

Cristina Perez (08:31):
No.

Mauro Fiore (08:32):
I hear it. I hear it.

Cristina Perez (08:33):
Do you? Let me tell you, I've done so much work to try to keep it down. It's probably because I had a drink before I got on.

Bob Simon (08:41):
You're drinking. So when I drink, a lot of my Pittsburgh East comes out and people are like, "What the you fuck are you talking about?"

Mauro Fiore (08:46):
So what is your background? Are you Latina? Armenian? I mean what is it?

Cristina Perez (08:50):
No.

Bob Simon (08:52):
Just makes up words.

Cristina Perez (08:54):
No, but my mother-in-law loved me because she said I could pass for Lebanese. My husband's Middle Eastern. I am-

Bob Simon (09:01):
We have a lot of Lebanese friends here.

Cristina Perez (09:03):
So she wanted my husband to marry a Middle Eastern girl, but she figured, "Okay, you look like one so you'll pass." And she gave me the green flag. Ecuadorian and my dad's from Spain.

Bob Simon (09:13):
Wow.

Cristina Perez (09:14):
Yeah. So they met in New York when they were in junior high. It was like love at first sight.

Bob Simon (09:22):
So what does your parents do for a living?

Cristina Perez (09:22):
They are blue collar workers. My dad has an entrepreneurial spirit. They currently have a recycling yard where they work together and spend all their time together.

Bob Simon (09:37):
Wow. Still?

Cristina Perez (09:38):
Still. Yeah, they're happy. So my family's very dynamic. If you ever-

Bob Simon (09:43):
This is now too hot.

Cristina Perez (09:44):
Is it too hot?

Bob Simon (09:46):
It's tongue burning hot.

Cristina Perez (09:47):
To hear that coming from you, it's pretty impressive that that one did it for you.

Bob Simon (09:51):
This one, but it's... I don't know.

Cristina Perez (09:54):
It's East Coast, man. What happened? You're losing your East Coast.

Bob Simon (09:57):
You don't want that edge. Once you taste a little bit of the West Coast, that's just not... By the way, West Coast or East Coast rap? You grew up in the mid late 90s there then.

Cristina Perez (10:05):
East Coast rap. I was just talking to the-

Bob Simon (10:08):
Really?

Mauro Fiore (10:08):
She's from the-

Bob Simon (10:10):
Biggie Smalls, Christopher Wallace.

Mauro Fiore (10:12):
She's more from-

Bob Simon (10:13):
Wallace, right? Christopher Wallace, right?

Mauro Fiore (10:15):
Yep. Yep.

Bob Simon (10:16):
Trivia. Okay, let's go.

Mauro Fiore (10:18):
Tribe Called Quest era.

Cristina Perez (10:19):
That's right.

Bob Simon (10:20):
Tribe is Philly, right?

Mauro Fiore (10:22):
No, Tribe's from New York, man.

Cristina Perez (10:25):
Tribe Called Quest. Yep. And then-

Bob Simon (10:26):
Who's the ones from Philly?

Mauro Fiore (10:26):
Tribe Called Quest.

Cristina Perez (10:27):
And then Run-

Bob Simon (10:28):
Roots. Roots is Philly.

Mauro Fiore (10:29):
Can You Kick It. Can You Kick It. That's the Tribe Called Quest.

Cristina Perez (10:30):
And then Run-D.M.C. yeah. Biggie Smalls was big. 50 Cent came from Jamaica.

Bob Simon (10:37):
What's 50 Cent's real name?

Cristina Perez (10:39):
Curtis Wallace.

Bob Simon (10:40):
No, it's Chris Wallace is Biggie Smalls, but it's Curtis-

Cristina Perez (10:43):
Curtis. Oh, I don't know.

Bob Simon (10:45):
You're right though. Curtis what? You didn't even know. Usually you know all this stupid. It's Curtis Jackson.

Mauro Fiore (10:49):
Curtis Jackson.

Cristina Perez (10:50):
Jackson. Okay, so it's Christopher Wallace, Curtis Jackson. Yeah, you're right.

Mauro Fiore (10:53):
But New York is where, in Queens is where hip hop started. Afrika Bambaataa and those old school guys like Curtis Blow. And those are the New York rappers that started the whole thing.

Cristina Perez (11:07):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (11:07):
So even if you grew up on more Midwest, East Coast. I still like the West Coast shit.

Mauro Fiore (11:11):
I grew up out here in LA. When I was in high school is when NWA was out. I went to high school in the late 80s. It was NWA, it was West Coast rap. So that's what I grew up with.

Cristina Perez (11:23):
Yeah. What do you think about the Southern rap?

Bob Simon (11:26):
Hate it. The bumble rap. I don't like that.

Mauro Fiore (11:28):
Not a big fan of that.

Cristina Perez (11:29):
No, me neither.

Bob Simon (11:31):
Okay, so trivia. Let's see if you can name. What is P. Diddy's real name?

Cristina Perez (11:37):
Oh, he's changed it so many times. I don't know.

Bob Simon (11:40):
I think I know. I don't even know if I know the answer. What's his real name?

Mauro Fiore (11:42):
I don't know.

Bob Simon (11:43):
I think it's Sean Combs.

Cristina Perez (11:46):
Sean Combs, yeah.

Mauro Fiore (11:46):
Yeah, Sean Combs.

Cristina Perez (11:47):
He had a clothing line for a while, right?

Bob Simon (11:49):
Probably.

Mauro Fiore (11:50):
I think he still does, Sean Combs.

Bob Simon (11:51):
How about Jay-Z?

Cristina Perez (11:53):
Jay-Z? I don't know his real name.

Mauro Fiore (11:55):
I see Jay-Z all the time-

Cristina Perez (11:56):
I like Jay-Z though.

Bob Simon (11:57):
I love Jay-Z.

Cristina Perez (11:57):
I do.

Mauro Fiore (11:57):
Jay-Z is a member of a cigar club in Beverly Hills that I'm a member of and I see him there all the time and it's weird because he always wears this scarf around his head all the way up high, like a beehive. I don't know what the look-

Cristina Perez (12:09):
That's the lately though. He just started doing that in the last couple of years-

Mauro Fiore (12:14):
Yeah. It's like I always see him and he's wearing a beehive on his head. But I see him in there smoking cigars.

Cristina Perez (12:16):
I was just talking to the guy who dropped me off here, the driver. And we were talking about music. So he was quizzing me too in the car.

Bob Simon (12:22):
Oh, interesting.

Cristina Perez (12:23):
Yeah, that's why I took a picture. So I sent Bob a picture of me and the driver at a light when you guys were asking where I was.

Mauro Fiore (12:30):
So you are what they call now, which I've seen is widely spread, they call you're a Law-tina?

Bob Simon (12:37):
Law-tina.

Cristina Perez (12:38):
Law-tina? I still-

Mauro Fiore (12:39):
A Law-tina, female Latina lawyer.

Cristina Perez (12:42):
Law-tina. Yeah. I think-

Mauro Fiore (12:44):
Which is a unicorn, right? It's like 1% of lawyers-

Cristina Perez (12:46):
It's 2%. So I did a-

Bob Simon (12:47):
Holy shit, that's it? I feel like I know all Law-tinas.

Mauro Fiore (12:50):
Well, you know all 1% of them.

Cristina Perez (12:51):
Well I did a presentation for it and it's true. Yeah, so it's 2%. 2% female. I think it's somewhere about 5% African-America, and even less Navajo-

Mauro Fiore (13:06):
Native Americans.

Cristina Perez (13:07):
Native Americans.

Bob Simon (13:07):
Blows my mind. I would've thought it would be much higher.

Cristina Perez (13:10):
No, we had to do this whole diversity thing at that group that I've never seen you at.

Bob Simon (13:15):
Which group?

Cristina Perez (13:16):
That products group that you don't-

Bob Simon (13:18):
Oh, AIEG. So she has a very good story. Let's do another pour because I want to hear Cristina's pour.

(13:27):
Are you in AIEG?

Mauro Fiore (13:29):
Attorneys Something Group Information Exchange Group?

Cristina Perez (13:32):
Yes.

Mauro Fiore (13:33):
I'm in that.

Cristina Perez (13:33):
Are you?

Mauro Fiore (13:34):
Yeah. I used to go to those back in my former life. I used to go to those.

Bob Simon (13:38):
I'm going to let you unveil this-

Mauro Fiore (13:39):
It was with a Raymond Johnson back in the old days.

Cristina Perez (13:41):
Okay. So this is my favorite of all times.

Bob Simon (13:43):
Have you ever had this one?

Mauro Fiore (13:44):
Booker's? I've had Booker's. I never had that Booker's.

Bob Simon (13:45):
This is the 2022 one.

Cristina Perez (13:47):
So this is my favorite. I don't know if this is the one that I've had, but I've been looking for this and after a whole weekend of trying different ones and thinking, okay, let me see what I can bring because since it was a lot of pressure just having one bottle, because it used to be three and I was like, "Oh, I could do three." But when it's one, it's like, "Oh, it's all about this bottle." So Booker's Bourbon is from the, I can't remember the distillery. It's from the Jim Beam family-

Bob Simon (14:16):
This was 59.5?

Cristina Perez (14:20):
Yeah. This one.

Bob Simon (14:21):
61.

Cristina Perez (14:22):
61. It is unfiltered and uncut. So no water, no charcoal.

Mauro Fiore (14:28):
So barrel strength?

Cristina Perez (14:28):
Yeah, barrel strength. White oak/.

Bob Simon (14:30):
We've had some hot, hot, hot whiskies on this show. The highest is that Canadian one, which was the 66.

Mauro Fiore (14:35):
Which was that Canadian one that I brought?

Bob Simon (14:38):
It was terrible. No, it wasn't the one you brought. It was the-

Cristina Perez (14:40):
Mauro, where's your glass?

Mauro Fiore (14:41):
Right.

Bob Simon (14:41):
We had Jack Newton on it and it was, what the fuck was it? It was the Alberta one. Oh my god.

Cristina Perez (14:47):
Let me drink mine.

Bob Simon (14:47):
I mean they drink that because it's so cold and they're just trying to find oil in the middle of ice.

Cristina Perez (14:52):
Let me finish.

Bob Simon (14:52):
[inaudible 00:14:53].

Cristina Perez (14:52):
All right.

Bob Simon (14:56):
Maur, what's the rule on the show?

Mauro Fiore (14:59):
We just drink a little bit.

Bob Simon (15:00):
No, the rule is you got to be on the show, you got to drink it.

Mauro Fiore (15:03):
Oh yeah, definitely.

Cristina Perez (15:03):
Drink it, it's done. Look, it's gone. It's gone.

Mauro Fiore (15:05):
Yeah, no, we have non-drinkers who come on this show and then they don't drink. But if you're not claiming to be a non-drinker, then you gots to drink.

Cristina Perez (15:12):
Well, I am-

Bob Simon (15:14):
This smells so good. I love this one. I love this one.

Cristina Perez (15:17):
This is my favorite.

Bob Simon (15:18):
This is usually my party starter.

Mauro Fiore (15:20):
This smells like caramel.

Cristina Perez (15:21):
It has hints of vanilla in it too.

Bob Simon (15:23):
Cheers. Cristina, thank you. This is a fantastic selection.

Cristina Perez (15:24):
Cheers.

Bob Simon (15:25):
The 2022 Booker's-

Mauro Fiore (15:28):
And if you can't fly back with that, I can possibly hold onto it for you.

Cristina Perez (15:31):
So I bought two bottles. I found a place here and they had three bottles. They only let me buy two. So I bought two. And so you guys can fight over that one.

Bob Simon (15:37):
Oh my gosh. This is so good. I mean taste the difference between that, this is hotter than that one.

Mauro Fiore (15:42):
Yeah, but it's way better.

Bob Simon (15:44):
Way better.

Mauro Fiore (15:45):
It's a much more mellow.

Cristina Perez (15:46):
So it's a cool story because the grandson of Jim Beam is who Booker Noe is. And he's the one that started crafting this and he started learning in 1952 over in Kentucky. Yeah. So it's a cool... I mean it's a cool story. So then they ended up naming the distillery after him.

Bob Simon (16:04):
I like this. It's like a wood shop test when you make this little Booker's thing. I usually keep this-

Cristina Perez (16:10):
I mean the box alone is-

Bob Simon (16:10):
The box is so cool.

Cristina Perez (16:11):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (16:12):
This is what I give my daughters to play with. They just like boxes. I buy them all this shit. They just want a box.

Mauro Fiore (16:19):
Yeah. My son just likes the box. Yeah. I bought-

Cristina Perez (16:21):
So how old are your kids? You both have young kids?

Mauro Fiore (16:23):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (16:23):
Yeah. Yours are four and three?

Mauro Fiore (16:25):
Mine are three and four, yeah.

Bob Simon (16:26):
Mine are five, or sorry, six, three, and one. But they're about the same, the two older ones are about the same age. They're within months separately.

Cristina Perez (16:33):
Okay. Okay. I have a seven and a five.

Bob Simon (16:35):
Oh, nice. Same.

Cristina Perez (16:36):
So I think that's how we started talking about our kids. Yeah.

Bob Simon (16:40):
It's hilarious.

Mauro Fiore (16:41):
They're fun at these young age, they're fun. They're a lot of fun.

Cristina Perez (16:45):
They just have so much personality.

Bob Simon (16:47):
Yeah. And by the way, this is their core memory stage. So you can't lie to them anymore and make up shit.

Cristina Perez (16:53):
Well, yesterday I had a situation where my girl, Eva, who's the perfect angel, I was blessed when God gave me her. She didn't do well on a spelling test and it's not like her. So I looked at her and I just happened to ask her, "Hey, how come you got four wrong?" And she just burst out into tears. She goes, "You're mad at me." And she locked herself in the bathroom and I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. What happened here?"

(17:19):
So I had to have this whole conversation with her. Okay, listen. Because I couldn't be like, "Mommy wants winners." You have to tone it down. So I had to be like, "I'm just asking so that we can work together. Let's work on spelling." But she took it so... Me just asking her, I have to be very careful at this stage with her. But, yeah, parenting is fun. My husband stays at home. He used to be a manager for Penske Automotive and was in cars. When I went out on my own and then once we got settled in and started doing, because I've been out on my own for four years-

Bob Simon (17:55):
How long did that take you to go out on your own and start actually being like, "This is something I could win at?"

Cristina Perez (18:01):
So I was a partner at a firm from 2013 and 2019, but it was a different mentality. And that's what I was talking to you about. My partner thought that litigating was bad for business because it takes you away from being able to bring in additional revenue. And we had about 25 people and so forth. We're 15 now and I'm not afraid to litigate something. So, I've been open now four years in November. So I left in 2019 and bought-

Bob Simon (18:29):
Right before COVID.

Cristina Perez (18:29):
Right before COVID. Right before COVID, four of us left. Two paralegals, one bankruptcy, one litigation, and one receptionist, and myself. And then we had another attorney come in-

Bob Simon (18:42):
Oh my God.

Cristina Perez (18:43):
... in February of 2020 right before COVID, and then the world shut down. And I was like, "Oh." We made it through though. And we did really well and we actually started growing. Every year, I mean we've grown about 30% since then.

Bob Simon (18:57):
That's amazing.

Cristina Perez (18:58):
So we've done really well.

Bob Simon (19:00):
And Mauro, she shared with me earlier, so with AIEG, which is a very hard group of product liability lawyers to get into-

Mauro Fiore (19:06):
Attorney's Information Exchange Group.

Cristina Perez (19:08):
Correct.

Bob Simon (19:08):
I mean they fact check you to the nth degree. And I think at our firm there's like four of us that are in it and they check you and every year it's a re-do type-

Cristina Perez (19:16):
Yes. They check you and it's kind of like an invite. And I was telling you in the beginning that when I went to some seminars, because I have an interest in brain injuries, so because of my son, I started getting into this whole, how does a brain work? Why does it do this? How does this recover from an injury? And I just started getting a lot of brain injury work, especially after that first case.

(19:42):
And when I went to NABES in New Orleans, right before COVID, I met these two attorneys and they started pitching for AIEG. I also had just had a really large case that had just finalized when I was pregnant with my son. And they were like, "Well you have to come join." And I was like, "I've only had one. I don't know." Because it was a little intimidating. I was just on my own. I didn't know much about it.

(20:08):
And I kind of got the cold shoulder at first when I was trying to get the application. And so the attorney texted me and was like, "Did you look into it?" I'm like, "No, but I will." So then I go and I try, I call. The lady kind of gives me the cold shoulder. Then I had put in my application online, requested information. So they didn't send you an application, you can't just apply online. And then I send a message to his office and I'm like, "Okay, I tried, but I'm not really getting a response."

(20:42):
Within minutes, that's when I get an application saying, here, join, do this and do that. I get the application and I'm like, "Oh." I'm like, "This is a lot of history. I don't know if I can do this." And so I call the lady back and I'm like, "I'm really new. I'm working. I've had great results, but I don't know if I'm here yet." Being really honest and vulnerable, talking to someone on the phone that I had no idea who it was. And she's like, "Just fill in your application. Mr So-and-So is on that board and you'll be just fine." And so I go and I send in my application and I get in. And so since that time, which was 2020, I'm now on the board. Right?

Bob Simon (21:25):
Oh, I didn't know you're on the board.

Cristina Perez (21:26):
Yeah. So I made it on the board last year.

Bob Simon (21:28):
So you're like the only woman?

Cristina Perez (21:30):
No, they have some women. I'm the first Latino woman.

Bob Simon (21:33):
On that Listserv, it's only white dudes.

Cristina Perez (21:36):
So we're doing a lot to change that.

Bob Simon (21:38):
Hopefully you can.

Cristina Perez (21:39):
Yeah, so there's a nice group of women that are there. So I've become really active in the group.

Mauro Fiore (21:45):
Good. It sounds like you've had some support there to help you with that group.

Cristina Perez (21:51):
I have. I don't think... I am a firm believer that I am not where I am if it wasn't for the assistance of another hand that is not my own.

Bob Simon (22:00):
But that's the way that it should always be. I tell people all the time, somebody's messaged me on Instagram the other day and like, "How do I get to where you are? Blah, blah, blah." And I was like, "It just takes your intuition, trying hard, and finding a good mentor group to help guide you." Because I was blessed to meet some of my mentors and I've stalked them, to be honest with you.

Mauro Fiore (22:19):
He stalked me.

Cristina Perez (22:20):
Did he?

Mauro Fiore (22:21):
I can't believe it.

Bob Simon (22:22):
Well, he's easy to find. He was on the OnlyFans before OnlyFans. You just find Mauro.

Cristina Perez (22:28):
He had his own-

Mauro Fiore (22:29):
Well, Bob, did I ever tell you about when I tried to join ABOTA?

Bob Simon (22:33):
No, the American Board of Trial Advocates? No.

Mauro Fiore (22:35):
Well, one of my friends was on the ABOTA board and I figured, okay, he can help me out. And then so I submitted my application and then my buddy called me who's on the ABOTA board. He's like, "Mauro." He's like, "Let me ask you a question. Did you really tell every defense lawyer that's a member of ABOTA to go eat shit?" I'm like, "Well, probably. Probably." So they're like, yeah-

Bob Simon (22:57):
TL;DR, he's not in ABOTA.

Mauro Fiore (22:59):
They're like, "Yeah, you're not going to join ABOTA." I was like, "Why not, man? I mean I was more just friendly with them when I told them to eat shit." Thought they would-

Cristina Perez (23:06):
It should just roll off your shoulders.

Mauro Fiore (23:06):
Yeah, they didn't really take it that way.

Cristina Perez (23:06):
Tough skin. Tough skin.

Mauro Fiore (23:06):
Let's just say my ABOTA application is in transit.

Cristina Perez (23:14):
It's pending.

Mauro Fiore (23:15):
It's pending.

Bob Simon (23:16):
I was surprised you got into Justice HQ. I was sweating your application.

Mauro Fiore (23:19):
Why, man? Plaintiff lawyers love me. Defense lawyers are not really-

Bob Simon (23:23):
It's a plaintiff bar organization.

Mauro Fiore (23:25):
Plaintiff lawyers, I'm good with. I am a beloved figure.

Bob Simon (23:30):
Yeah. Oh god, I didn't know that story. That's pretty funny.

Cristina Perez (23:33):
That's really funny.

Mauro Fiore (23:35):
They're like, "We've never had this much response to a membership-"

Cristina Perez (23:37):
A member not wanting... They didn't want, they blackballed you?

Mauro Fiore (23:40):
Because defense lawyers-

Bob Simon (23:41):
But it's probably both people, many people will probably be like, "Oh my God, I love him. He has to get in." And the other people... Because I'm on a lot of those boards and the chatter is very funny. Because if it's polarizing like this guy-

Mauro Fiore (23:51):
Either I love you or I don't.

Cristina Perez (23:52):
Well that's how you know you're doing a good job I think. See? There you go. Look at the silver lining.

Bob Simon (23:57):
We were talking before we got, how we both used to drink malt liquor. Oh, so what was your malt liquor choice? What did you drink on the stoop?

Cristina Perez (24:04):
I can't believe you just said that out loud.

Mauro Fiore (24:06):
When I was in high school, there was this Jordanian liquor store. You know what I mean? I hate to throw the Jordanians under the bus, but there was your Jordanian guy that would sell anybody anything-

Bob Simon (24:17):
Why would you throw a Jordanian under the bus?

Mauro Fiore (24:18):
Well, because they would sell booze to you if you were like 12.

Bob Simon (24:20):
Okay. He did it.

Mauro Fiore (24:21):
This Arab liquor store where I went to high school and so we used to get our bang for our buck from the old Jordanian guy. He would sell us the 40 ounce cans of King Cobra-

Cristina Perez (24:31):
Oh my gosh.

Bob Simon (24:31):
Oh, the King Cobra.

Mauro Fiore (24:33):
... for like 99 cents and it would knock your fucking socks off. I mean knock your socks off.

Cristina Perez (24:38):
We were talking about this-

Mauro Fiore (24:39):
This was when I was like 17.

Cristina Perez (24:40):
And mine was... What was yours?

Bob Simon (24:42):
Steel Reserve-

Cristina Perez (24:43):
Steel Reserve. And mine was Old English and-

Bob Simon (24:46):
Oh, that was good.

Cristina Perez (24:47):
... Crazy Horse was another one that was big.

Mauro Fiore (24:49):
See, this is the thing. I went to high school-

Cristina Perez (24:51):
They also had Mad Dog, I think, at the time.

Mauro Fiore (24:52):
I went to high school-

Cristina Perez (24:54):
But that's my New York days-

Mauro Fiore (24:54):
I'm older than you guys.

Cristina Perez (24:54):
That's my New York days. I'm refined.

Mauro Fiore (24:55):
I went to high school in the 80s.

Cristina Perez (24:57):
I like to think of myself as a lady now.

Mauro Fiore (24:58):
I went to high school in the 80s. We drank King Cobra in the 80s.

Cristina Perez (25:03):
Did you?

Mauro Fiore (25:03):
Yes. Or one called Saint Ives. I don't know if you-

Bob Simon (25:06):
Oh, we had Saint Ives.

Cristina Perez (25:07):
I did. Yeah, Saint Ives. And then they came out with the women mix. It was a kind of like, it was supposed to bring it... It was pretty colors and they were in smaller bottles. It was like Saint Ives-

Mauro Fiore (25:18):
But talking to-

Cristina Perez (25:19):
Yeah, I actually tricked my mom into thinking that was lemonade.

Bob Simon (25:21):
So what are you doing now to be inclusive for women minorities to come into the space? Because it's a challenge. When we were on trial boards, very low percentage of women.

Cristina Perez (25:31):
Sure.

Bob Simon (25:32):
We're trying to bring in and give looks and ability to-

Mauro Fiore (25:36):
Yeah, my partner's a Latina. She crushes it and she finds it hard to be accepted in a lot of places and she's my fucking partner. You'd figure she'd be okay-

Cristina Perez (25:46):
I have to tell you that I agree with that-

Mauro Fiore (25:46):
Crystal Rossell.

Cristina Perez (25:48):
I have to say I agree with that-

Mauro Fiore (25:51):
She's Guatemalan.

Cristina Perez (25:52):
It's hard. What I do is I always believe in... I'm slow. You guys are just pounding-

Bob Simon (26:00):
Whilst you drink, I'm going to pitch this whiskey. This is the Penelope Barrel Strength.

(26:08):
My daughter's name is Penelope, AKA Poppy, and she's a fucking little barrel strength little child. So I want you to drink this for paving the way for women going forward. So little Penelope, little Poppy.

Cristina Perez (26:21):
For Poppy.

Bob Simon (26:22):
Little Poppy.

Mauro Fiore (26:23):
Where's this from? What is this?

Cristina Perez (26:24):
You've put some thought into this. You did.

Mauro Fiore (26:24):
I've never had this.

Bob Simon (26:25):
You've never had this. Again, this, I thought this would be a higher proof one on the show. This is 58% and it's the lowest on all of these.

Cristina Perez (26:33):
Well, I wasn't going to bring the lowest one.

Bob Simon (26:35):
We can start an industrial fire with this liquor and fly the flux capacitor.

Mauro Fiore (26:39):
So where's Penelope distilled at? Where's this from?

Bob Simon (26:42):
Well, I don't know.

Mauro Fiore (26:43):
Is it Indiana?

Bob Simon (26:45):
This is a-

Mauro Fiore (26:45):
These days, it's either-

Bob Simon (26:45):
Is that more wheat or more rye?

Mauro Fiore (26:46):
... Kentucky or Indiana?

Bob Simon (26:48):
This is New Jersey. Get the fuck out of here.

Cristina Perez (26:50):
Wow, you're going all East Coast today. Look at you.

Bob Simon (26:52):
Which exit in New Jersey was this one? Wow. Well, so there you go. The Penelope.

Mauro Fiore (26:57):
It looks good.

Bob Simon (26:58):
They came out with a-

Cristina Perez (26:59):
Cheers, to Penelope.

Bob Simon (27:00):
They have a new one that came out this year. It's very hard to get. I got to find it. Oh my God. Yeah, we're going to...

Cristina Perez (27:06):
Cheers.

Mauro Fiore (27:06):
So let me ask you, as many people know...

Cristina Perez (27:09):
Oh, cheers.

Mauro Fiore (27:11):
I am born and raised in LA and I am a diehard Arizona Cardinals fan. I live and die with my Cardinals every year. I love my Cardinals. I go to first game of the year-

Cristina Perez (27:24):
It's good.

Bob Simon (27:24):
It's good.

Cristina Perez (27:24):
I go to four or five games every year up to see my Cardinals play. Spend a lot of time in Scottsdale. I like to hang out at the W, go to the games. Good times. Have you ever been to Scottsdale? Go to Scottsdale. It's awesome.

Bob Simon (27:37):
I love it.

Cristina Perez (27:38):
It's a good time.

Mauro Fiore (27:40):
So being from Arizona-

Bob Simon (27:45):
2001 on.

Mauro Fiore (27:46):
Yeah.

Cristina Perez (27:46):
Okay. 2001 on.

Mauro Fiore (27:49):
Do you notice it or, Bob, you've been there, right? I don't think I've ever been to a town like... Phoenix is like LA, it's giant. Phoenix is one of the biggest, it's got to be one of the top five biggest cities in the United States. Massive-

Bob Simon (28:03):
Growing, it's probably one.

Mauro Fiore (28:04):
Just a massive place. But I've never been to a place that has more personal injury lawyer advertising-

Bob Simon (28:10):
Oh my god. Vegas.

Mauro Fiore (28:10):
... than Phoenix. I don't know. I don't even know-

Bob Simon (28:11):
Vegas or Phoenix.

Mauro Fiore (28:14):
Phoenix, you can't go two feet anywhere without seeing a billboard or a cab or a bus-

Bob Simon (28:20):
Are you on a billboard?

Cristina Perez (28:20):
No. No.

Bob Simon (28:22):
It's the most advertising I've ever seen-

Cristina Perez (28:23):
No. And I'm not knocking billboard attorneys, I'm not, because if it works for you, great. And I know people who have billboards and great, wonderful. I just picture my practice being different. I really want to be in a courtroom and it's probably because, like I said, I realized it as I was writing to you guys yesterday. It's probably because I wanted to be an actress and I can't act or sing or dance. Right? So it was like-

Bob Simon (28:48):
She was a voice actress and a bartender. We all did these...

Cristina Perez (28:52):
We all did these random jobs-

Bob Simon (28:54):
What was the show that you did? You did a voiceover for some...

Cristina Perez (28:57):
I did a voiceover for a lot of commercials. I did commercial voiceovers and I did commercials and I did a really bad indie movie and then I realized that I wasn't going to make it and so I went back to law school.

Bob Simon (29:11):
Was it English or Spanish?

Cristina Perez (29:12):
It was English.

Bob Simon (29:13):
You're fluent Spanish?

Cristina Perez (29:14):
I am fluent Spanish. And actually a lot of the voiceovers, this is going to sound so racist, a lot of the voices that they had me do were for people who had too thick of an accent and so they needed me to do a thinner accent.

Bob Simon (29:26):
Wow.

Cristina Perez (29:27):
Yes. And so, because my mom, my parents have a very thick accent, I've kind of mastered that accent, so it's kind of easy for me to do it. So I would do commercials and have my mom's accent.

Mauro Fiore (29:43):
Is your mom or your dad from Ecuador?

Cristina Perez (29:45):
My mom's from Ecuador.

Mauro Fiore (29:47):
I used to play on a adult soccer league here in LA and the guy who ran our team was from Ecuador. So I always used to wear these ugly yellow uniforms with Marathon, which was the Ecuadorian team. It's like the Lakers for Ecuador.

Cristina Perez (30:01):
They're big, man.

Mauro Fiore (30:02):
It's Marathon. So everyone would be like, "What team are you guys?" The other teams would be Real Madrid and Barcelona. We're in these ugly yellow uniforms that said Marathon on it. We're like, "No, we're from Ecuador." The guys would be like, "Who's from Ecuador?"

Bob Simon (30:17):
My daughter, Poppy, her favorite show, which for the past two years, which is hard for a child, they switch.

Mauro Fiore (30:22):
Yeah, like my son was-

Bob Simon (30:23):
Encanto, she watches Encanto on fucking loop.

Mauro Fiore (30:23):
Encanto?

Bob Simon (30:23):
Encanto. So she has a-

Mauro Fiore (30:26):
Condo? What?

Bob Simon (30:28):
What's this shit? No.

Cristina Perez (30:29):
Encanto. You've never seen that movie?

Mauro Fiore (30:30):
Ellen Kanto?

Cristina Perez (30:31):
No. Encanto.

Mauro Fiore (30:34):
Oh, Encanto. I've seen it, yeah.

Cristina Perez (30:34):
Yeah.

Bob Simon (30:34):
You see that live action. She watches all of them and asks to watch this and that.

Cristina Perez (30:38):
My daughter's big into that. So right now they're into superheroes. But Encanto is a big deal in my house and I like that. I like that whole-

Mauro Fiore (30:46):
Yeah. It's sad to me this whole thing, how they progress because from my kids, three and four, my son's almost five, my daughter's almost four, from when they were really small we always watched Blue's Clues and we watched-

Bob Simon (31:04):
The old animated-

Cristina Perez (31:04):
Did you watch Carmen Sandiego?

Mauro Fiore (31:05):
No, we just watched Blue's Clues and-

Bob Simon (31:06):
Original OG. I was on the pilot for Carmen Sandiego.

Mauro Fiore (31:09):
And now my kids are getting older and they don't want to watch Paw Patrol. They don't want to watch Blue's Clues. And it's breaking my heart, it was like, I kind of like those shows.

Bob Simon (31:19):
We were on an early episode a few weeks ago where he disclosed he got kicked out of a Taylor Swift concert.

Cristina Perez (31:24):
Oh, I don't let... You went, did you take your daughter to Taylor Swift?

Bob Simon (31:28):
No, he went on his own and he was-

Cristina Perez (31:31):
My daughter wants to go so bad.

Mauro Fiore (31:32):
I went with my wife and her friends and we just got blitzed drunk and it was bad.

Cristina Perez (31:36):
Oh. Well my daughter wants to go really bad, but we almost went... Just here going into Indianapolis. They have the show in-

Mauro Fiore (31:45):
She started her whole tour in Phoenix. Why didn't you go to the Phoenix show?

Cristina Perez (31:48):
Listen, I can't go by myself. Have your wife take your daughter and I will take her with. We'll buy tickets and go all together.

Bob Simon (31:52):
[inaudible 00:31:55].

Cristina Perez (31:54):
Because I don't want to go just me and my daughter.

Bob Simon (31:55):
But her first show of her world tour was in Phoenix. Why didn't you go?

Cristina Perez (31:58):
Yeah. So if you want to have your wife go, we can take the girls.

Bob Simon (32:03):
My wife was showing me, when she went to the Beyoncé concert and she was right next to the whole Kardashian family. They had the kids there with all of them with the aunts. And she was like, it was just awesome to see them just-

Cristina Perez (32:14):
Well, I think it would be a good concert. I think it would be. I mean I'm not going to get blitzed drunk and get kicked out when I have a seven-year-old with me, but-

Bob Simon (32:20):
He showed up like that.

Cristina Perez (32:23):
But she wants to go so bad. So I'm like, "Oh." I'm like, "Do I give it to her now? Do I let her go now or not?" It's like an experience.

Bob Simon (32:29):
My six-year-old daughter, she's in the back of the car the other day and she just burst out, she's like, "Do you want to know my top five songs?" My wife and I are like, "Yeah, Remy. Say your top five songs." She was like, "Number one, Cry Me a River, Justice Timberlake." We're like, "Okay, where's she getting this?" And number two she's like, "Adele." I was like, where did she fucking hear Adele? She had five very pointed, we were like, where are you listening?

Cristina Perez (32:49):
You got an old soul on your hands.

Bob Simon (32:50):
She was like, "I was watching Kids' YouTube and I was searching songs." And so then she was showing it to Poppy, my middle child, who's three and they were singing Adele in our car. I was like, "What the hell, you guys?"

Cristina Perez (33:01):
I know, they do. Okay, so here I have a question for you guys.

Bob Simon (33:01):
Shoot.

Cristina Perez (33:02):
Okay. If you had to have an entrance song, let's say you had to walk in, what would your entrance song be?

Bob Simon (33:09):
I would 100% pick a show tune and it would be like a Disney, like a Little Mermaid.

Cristina Perez (33:15):
Is that just for show?

Bob Simon (33:16):
No, I like the song.

Cristina Perez (33:18):
That's just for show.

Bob Simon (33:19):
I'll tell you, when I used to-

Cristina Perez (33:20):
I'm saying like, something to pump you up. What makes Bob Simon-

Bob Simon (33:24):
I don't need to get pumped up.

Cristina Perez (33:24):
You walk out to song-

Bob Simon (33:24):
I like 90s hip hop.

Cristina Perez (33:26):
Look, Mauro has one.

Bob Simon (33:26):
See he likes Old 97. I know what it's going to be; Time Bomb-

Mauro Fiore (33:29):
Mine would be Time Bomb by the Old 97.

Bob Simon (33:31):
He has a fucking tattoo right there. I know what it is Time Bomb.

Cristina Perez (33:32):
Is that what it's called? Time Bomb by-

Mauro Fiore (33:33):
Time Bomb by the Old 97.

Bob Simon (33:34):
Time Bomb.

Cristina Perez (33:35):
I don't know if I've ever heard that song.

Bob Simon (33:36):
You would know it if you heard it. It's his friend.

Mauro Fiore (33:38):
Look, I'll show you, I have a tattoo.

Cristina Perez (33:40):
Give me a couple bars of it.

Mauro Fiore (33:41):
See? Time Bomb tattoo.

Bob Simon (33:45):
(Singing).

Mauro Fiore (33:45):
I got a time bomb in my mind, mom. It's good.

Cristina Perez (33:46):
Okay. Okay. Okay.

Mauro Fiore (33:48):
But that's that.

Bob Simon (33:49):
When I was playing baseball for a long time, I would sing children's song show tunes to calm me down when I went up to the plate to make me laugh because you would be loose.

Cristina Perez (33:59):
Ah, that's nice. But don't you want to get pumped up?

Bob Simon (34:01):
I'm pumped down.

Mauro Fiore (34:02):
Me and Bob [inaudible 00:34:04].

Bob Simon (34:03):
I don't need more. I mean I like to be calm.

Cristina Perez (34:06):
So you want a Disney show tune?

Bob Simon (34:07):
Disney show tune.

Mauro Fiore (34:08):
You were on a baseball team, Fast Pitch Men-

Bob Simon (34:13):
[foreign language 00:34:13]. No joke, because we were the all white lawyer team forever. And then... yeah.

Mauro Fiore (34:18):
We had walk-up songs. Bob would have his song.

Bob Simon (34:20):
We did. We had a little thing.

Mauro Fiore (34:22):
We had a speaker and-

Cristina Perez (34:24):
Interesting. I'm learning so much about you guys.

Mauro Fiore (34:25):
They hated us because we were the white lawyer team. And then at one point, Bob had this guy that somehow he played for the Dodgers, but then he washed out and then we had him on our team. What was that guy's name?

Bob Simon (34:38):
Scott.

Mauro Fiore (34:40):
No, no, it wasn't Scott. He's a lawyer. He works for Gibson, Dunn or something. He was a shortstop and a pitcher and he played for the Dodgers-

Bob Simon (34:46):
Oh, was it Adam? No. Oh, it was Dave Iden.

Mauro Fiore (34:48):
Dave Iden, yeah. So this guy played for the Dodgers, then he ended up washing out.

Bob Simon (34:53):
He was like a five foot eight white guy.

Mauro Fiore (34:55):
And he played shortstop and he pitched and he was truly like a head and shoulders above this whole league. He was a professional baseball player, disguised as a lawyer because he became a lawyer after. And man, he would come in and Bob would always put him in, because Bob was our manager and player, player manager.

Bob Simon (35:12):
Player manager, slashy.

Cristina Perez (35:15):
I'm so surprised.

Mauro Fiore (35:15):
So Bob would put him in to close for the last two innings. And this guy had the nastiest cut fast ball, that cutter-

Bob Simon (35:22):
I couldn't catch it. I used to try to catch this guy-

Mauro Fiore (35:23):
You could not-

Bob Simon (35:24):
I have scars on my legs from catching ball from this human.

Mauro Fiore (35:28):
He had this crazy-

Bob Simon (35:28):
We had a guy that used to throw a 75 mile per hour knuckle ball and talk about the hardest pitch to fucking catch in your life. Dave Rackie. He was on the show.

Mauro Fiore (35:34):
Yeah, Rackie.

Cristina Perez (35:35):
I played softball when I was in high school. I tried playing softball, I tried doing the same thing you guys did. We were not that good. We were not.

Bob Simon (35:46):
And softball's a quicker, I mean it's a quicker throw, catch.

Mauro Fiore (35:47):
So then after all these years, the Guapos finally make it to the World Series-

Cristina Perez (35:51):
So your name was actually the Guapos?

Mauro Fiore (35:51):
The Guapos. Yeah.

Cristina Perez (35:51):
The [foreign language 00:35:57]?

Bob Simon (35:56):
So we broke off from a team called the Knights. We were the Squires. One is the Squires, we're the all-white lawyer team. So I rebranded it to the [foreign language 00:36:03].

Cristina Perez (36:02):
[foreign language 00:36:04].

Mauro Fiore (36:04):
We make it to the World Series-

Bob Simon (36:05):
We wore gold chains, we popped the chain-

Cristina Perez (36:06):
I think you guys should get a tattoo of that.

Bob Simon (36:06):
If you saw the logo, you'd be-

Cristina Perez (36:06):
You should get a tattoo of that.

Mauro Fiore (36:10):
So we make it to the World Series final and then Bob was like, "Mauro, I need you to coach the team in the World Series because I'm going to be on Below Deck-"

Bob Simon (36:21):
I was on Below Deck.

Mauro Fiore (36:22):
"I'm going to go on Below Deck fucking TV show in the Mediterranean."

Cristina Perez (36:25):
Who was? You were going on Below Deck?

Mauro Fiore (36:26):
Yeah. And I was like, "What the fuck? What do you mean you're leaving-"

Cristina Perez (36:28):
There's a lot of controversy right now with Below Deck.

Mauro Fiore (36:30):
"... it's the fucking World Series-"

Bob Simon (36:31):
Really?

Mauro Fiore (36:31):
"... How could you leave?" So he left me to manage the team in the World Series and he went on Below Deck on a crazy episode where he's drunk. It's a great episode. They replay it all the time.

Cristina Perez (36:39):
How do you get onto all these TV shows?

Bob Simon (36:41):
My wife-

Mauro Fiore (36:41):
They replay it all...

Bob Simon (36:42):
They wanted my wife to be on the show, so we did the first two episodes of Below Deck Mediterranean. It's very good. It's very good television.

Cristina Perez (36:51):
Oh, I need to-

Mauro Fiore (36:51):
It's really good. You got to see it.

Cristina Perez (36:51):
I want to see it.

Bob Simon (36:51):
And I kept checking my phone at night-

Mauro Fiore (36:52):
So I kept texting Bob, we were up like six nothing, and we lost.

Cristina Perez (36:57):
This is amazing. So where can I find those shows? Because-

Mauro Fiore (37:00):
It's on, whenever you go Bravo-

Bob Simon (37:01):
They still replay. You go to Bravo. They're still playing them. You go to Bravo right now on demand-

Cristina Perez (37:04):
Okay. So they wanted your wife to go on the show, so you went on the show?

Bob Simon (37:07):
Yes.

Cristina Perez (37:07):
And so... So I heard the story about Carmen Sandiego.

Bob Simon (37:11):
Oh, I was on-

Cristina Perez (37:12):
That was back when you were in Philly.

Bob Simon (37:13):
Pittsburgh. God.

Cristina Perez (37:16):
Okay. Oh, Pittsburgh. And then you were on Smart Enough to Beat a Fifth Grader?

Bob Simon (37:19):
Correct.

Cristina Perez (37:19):
Okay. And then, now this one, those are the three. Is there more? Are you like a secret wannabe actor like me?

Bob Simon (37:27):
No, but I probably might've been.

Cristina Perez (37:28):
You are. I think you are.

Bob Simon (37:29):
I was on the Red Shoe Diaries.

Cristina Perez (37:34):
What's that?

Bob Simon (37:35):
Oh, that was supposed to make you laugh.

Cristina Perez (37:36):
I don't know what that is.

Bob Simon (37:36):
Oh, come on. It was this old like Cinemax show.

Mauro Fiore (37:39):
That is shit.

Cristina Perez (37:40):
What is that?

Mauro Fiore (37:41):
I was on Lady Chatterley.

Bob Simon (37:42):
See, that was the joke I should have made.

Mauro Fiore (37:45):
I was on Lady Chatterley's Lover.

Bob Simon (37:46):
I might've been on a few other-

Mauro Fiore (37:46):
You ever see that?

Cristina Perez (37:48):
No. I'm going to look all these up afterwards.

Mauro Fiore (37:49):
Very serious cinema.

Cristina Perez (37:50):
Very?

Mauro Fiore (37:52):
Very serious.

Cristina Perez (37:52):
Okay, so is it that you wanted to be an actor? Is that what was-

Bob Simon (37:56):
No, I actually was hustling business when I got on Smarter than a Fifth Grader because I went to some chiropractor's office to try to get business and one of the producers from Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader was there and I got on the show. My brother got Trivial Pursuit and that's why I made $175,000 in a week.

Cristina Perez (38:09):
Wow. That's good. That's really good.

Mauro Fiore (38:13):
I was born and raised in LA. I spent almost more than half my life in Hollywood. I've never had any interest in being an actor, because if you meet actors, okay, you see their bullshit personas and whatever, their whatever. But if you meet them, they're fucking nuts. They're weirdos-

Cristina Perez (38:30):
I think we all are.

Mauro Fiore (38:31):
They're out of their fucking minds.

Cristina Perez (38:31):
I think every attorney-

Bob Simon (38:32):
If you Google Mauro Fiore, it comes up as some producer who's won an Academy Award-

Mauro Fiore (38:36):
Yeah. No, no, not a producer. He's a cinematographer. Same name as me, Mauro Fiore, I have a weird name. No one's named Mauro, let alone the same last name. This guy's got both. Mauro Fiore.

Bob Simon (38:48):
He lives like blocks within him.

Mauro Fiore (38:48):
And he lives in Hollywood-

Cristina Perez (38:49):
Do you think he's like...

Mauro Fiore (38:51):
He's a cinematographer and he only does blockbuster big huge movies. He does like Armageddon and what's that one with the people swimming in the-

Cristina Perez (38:59):
So you've researched him?

Mauro Fiore (39:00):
Avatar. He won an Academy Award for Avatar-

Bob Simon (39:02):
It's because he gets shit shipped to his house-

Mauro Fiore (39:03):
Yeah. He won an Academy Award for Avatar.

Cristina Perez (39:06):
Did you open it before you get it?

Mauro Fiore (39:06):
Yeah-

Cristina Perez (39:06):
Yeah you do?

Mauro Fiore (39:07):
They send me Avatar shit to sign and I'll sign it and I'll send it back to them because people can find anything on the internet, so they must figure out, "Well, fuck, this has to be-"

Bob Simon (39:18):
Maybe they say Mauro Fiore Hollywood and he's like-

Cristina Perez (39:19):
He's signing. They think they have an original and they don't even know.

Mauro Fiore (39:23):
And they get to my address. And I tell my wife, "I can't throw this in trash. This is from Peoria shit." I send it back to them. "Best wishes, hope you like my movie." And I send it back.

Cristina Perez (39:35):
You send it back?

Mauro Fiore (39:35):
I send it back to them.

Cristina Perez (39:35):
You know what? I was telling him before we started that a good friend of mine, which you met, Freddy Saavedra, who's a lawyer in Phoenix. He loves your stories and you know what? Now, I hadn't listened to them all, but I think I love your stories too. I do.

Bob Simon (39:51):
After we wrap here, we're going to wrap in a second because I'm going to ask you a Bourbon of proof here, but spend 10 minutes with Mauro Fiore and it might change your perspective on everything.

Cristina Perez (39:59):
I want to take him to a Cardinals game. That's what I'm going to do.

Mauro Fiore (40:01):
Hey, let's do it, man. Let's do it. I'll be there for opening day. They're playing against the Commanders. So as long the Commanders-

Cristina Perez (40:06):
Okay. Well, I don't know, I'll just worry about football-

Bob Simon (40:09):
They are just TBT right now because their ownership changed.

Mauro Fiore (40:11):
So they're not the Commanders anymore?

Bob Simon (40:13):
They don't know what they're going to do.

Mauro Fiore (40:14):
They're just Washington?

Bob Simon (40:15):
They're the football team.

Mauro Fiore (40:16):
They're playing the Commanders and I'm going to be at the game.

Cristina Perez (40:18):
Okay,

Bob Simon (40:18):
So, James Connor, big game for him I hope because he's from Pitt and big. Okay, say-

Cristina Perez (40:23):
Do we say which one's the best?

Bob Simon (40:25):
Only your vote.

Cristina Perez (40:27):
Well, I'm a Booker's girl.

Bob Simon (40:28):
Oh, wow.

Cristina Perez (40:29):
So that's mine.

Mauro Fiore (40:29):
All right. You know what-

Cristina Perez (40:31):
Penelope's second and-

Bob Simon (40:33):
So Cristina, your Bourbon of proof is Booker's one, Penelope second, Hillrock third?

Cristina Perez (40:38):
Correct.

Bob Simon (40:39):
Same.

Cristina Perez (40:41):
Same?

Mauro Fiore (40:42):
I really liked the Penelope.

Bob Simon (40:44):
It was good.

Mauro Fiore (40:45):
I give that my Bourbon-

Bob Simon (40:46):
I mean this is just, for all those listening or watching, usually 50% is bottle and bond alcohol. Usually it's like 45%, 90 proof is where most liquors lie. These are 60% average.

Cristina Perez (41:01):
I think we... I mean we-

Bob Simon (41:02):
These are fire.

Cristina Perez (41:03):
Overachievers today.

Bob Simon (41:04):
This is an overachiever. So your Bourbon of proof is hot.

Cristina Perez (41:06):
Thank you.

Bob Simon (41:07):
Cristina Perez Hesano, thank you for coming on. Thank you for sparing this generation. Mauro?

Cristina Perez (41:09):
Thanks for having me, guys.

Mauro Fiore (41:09):
[inaudible 00:41:16].