Ep. 113: Stephanie Threlkeld and Shaneka Cunningham on the ACBL's Viral Bridge Videos

S00 E023 3rd Revision: My favorite video was actually the cat video. It was like th one cat bid something and the other cat bid and then it was the wrong bid so the other cat beat him up. Lots of bridge players related to that video. I am a competitive person and I am a gamer. Not like video games, but I love games. It's really hard to get people to turn out for a public facing event at an NABC a lot of times because the location is usually downtown. The parking's usually like forty bucks. And I say you can't trust everyone, but you should always trust your bridge partner. Hi, I am delighted to have the two stars of the ACBL's social media channels, Stephanie Thralkeld and Shanika Cunningham here today. You guys have both been at the ACBL, Shanika since twenty eleven and Stephanie since twenty thirteen. And I was just watching one of your one of your clips on Instagram the other day, the one with the box. And y I just thought, okay, I gotta I gotta interview these I gotta interview you two because this is you know, let let's play it. Let's let me let me play it for you know, you you're not necessarily gonna be able to for just the listeners, let's see. Are you still waiting for that box to hit me? Well, I'm still waiting for you to sign up for bridge license. Go to acbl.org slash playbridge to find out more. Are you still waiting for that box to Okay. I laugh every time. So for those for those for those who are just listening and not watching, basically what happens is Shanika throws a box at Stephanie who's sitting at a desk and then Stephanie's like does this kind of I I mean a read guess and then and then the and And then eventually the box hits her, but Yeah. She hits her during her monologue. Eventually. We have a lot of fun with these. There are a lot of outtakes, Who Who's your camera person? A tripod. Me most you just use a tripod? Yeah. And like sometimes it's like duct tape. Yes. It's it's wherever it has to be. Sorry, this layout keeps changing. It's disorienting. All right. I'm s I'm more I'm changing it to more static. So so you don't even have somebody you you just you just ha you just use a tripod for to we use a tripod. Unless we're walking, then we'll grab any employee that's walking by us. We'll say follow you know, just but it's typically a tripod or I'll give Stephanie the camera when I do my part. And then I record her when she does her part. And then we edit them together. I fuse them all together and make the video, whatever. And you guys have gotten to a hundred thousand subscribers on YouTube. That's amazing. We're at one nine now probably, yeah. Wow. I know it's crazy. Millions of views. Millions yeah, some of the yeah, some of have gotten like three point five million views. So it's Wow. But it's kind of funny. And I don't know exactly how YouTube decides who to show things to, but I kind of joked. I don't know if you remember like David Hasselhoff back in the whenever that he was he got to be really big in Germany and it's like he wasn't very big over here, but he was like Elvis in Germany. And we're like the David Hasselhoff of India for some reason. A lot of our views are in India and I don't I don't quite know why. That's okay. So for w whatever reason, we have a lot of we get a lot of views in India. And I don't know why they they serve us that way, but but they did. And now so you know what? I was just gonna say India 'cause we we're doing our top ten right now of the top ten videos with the most views. And we used to did not I didn't see India on the on the stats for Facebook, but now that I'm posting the top ten, now India is looking at us on Facebook. Now they're showing up now. I don't even know. But this is their first time ever being on our tab of which countries are watching us. Well, I was just gonna say, so the the thing about it to me is that the Facebook stuff is not gonna get somebody to play bridge today, probably. Yeah. But it's an awareness thing. It's just like staying in front of people. And then so the more followers we end up getting, then the more we're gonna get pushed out to other people. And then at hopefully at some point somebody who's at that point in their life where they're ready to learn bridge will go will see it and remember that bridge is an option for them. So that's the strategy behind it. we know it's not an instant conversion to the game. But hopefully it's awareness of the game. It's awareness. Yeah. Yeah. How much fun is it? More fun than anything else we do. And it takes a lot of it takes a lot of tape. 'Cause I can't I can't act. Like Chanica can act. I can't act. And I get I get really tippled. So she won't have to like. Like we have one with the cow kicking Stephanie over the disc. Yeah. We probably had to kick her over the disc ten times. And she had a bruise to sh Yeah. I thought two days later. I had this giant breeze on my leg and I was like, Where did this breeze come from? I was like, yeah, the cow kicking over I do like that it it is amusing too that Stephanie, who's the younger of the two of you, is like the stunt person. That's on purpose. That is on purpose. Well, I mean, don't think that people always assumed it's like Shanika's coming up with the crazy ideas and trying to get me to do it. And it's usually me going, Right. They're always like, You have her, you have her all on the ground. I'm like, she's like, I want to be the one to fall. I choreographed the fall. I'm like, no, you should go this way and kick your legs in the air. But she wants to do that. My other favorite my other favorite one is the is the chicken. The chicken is very popular. The chicken is popular. The chicken is popular. It's a it's a it's a it's like a it's like a drumstick of a chicken and you put it into air tag in the chicken. You put the air tag in the chicken. And then you throw it the woman throws it in the ocean. It's like a pre cut thing. And then it like tracks the chicken and then it there's Shadiga to this bridge. And there's definitely eating the chicken. my god. It's so much fun. It it really is fun. It is fun. Yeah. How did it start? Well, so our first kind of semi viral video was during COVID. We did the Hamilton spoof or whatever, the epic lot of there were a lot of kind of things like that going on during COVID, people being shut in. So the Hamilton video was kind of our first one that actually got some engagement and we hit I think we hit somewhere around 40,000 views on that, which at the time we were like, my gosh, it's 40, you know, 40,000 views, which was great. and so that was kind of the first one. And then we were we were trying different things. We were doing some like interview employees and stuff like that. And then the one that kind of really started this whole season of of videos was there was there's this guy on TikTok that takes really awkward Tinder conversations and he puts them to music and sings them. Mm-hmm. And and then people were taking that and lip syncing to it. Making parodies of it with other stuff. And making parodies of it. So the first song we did was he had this there was this one it's th where it's a awkward tender where the guy goes, you know, do have any kids? And she's like Yeah, I have one daughter, how about you? And he's like, Well, how many baby d daddies do you have? And she's like, I've got one daughter. So and and so we were like, that could kind of fit with like bidding gone wrong, kind of, right? Because it's like, so we did it with stamen, where it was like asking, Do you have any, you know, do have any a major? You know, and it's like, no, I have diamonds, and it's like, You have them and so it's like it keeps and so that was like that was the first one. And and and then we just kind of we got some traction on that and then we just started looking for trends to jump on. We always try to keep Yeah, 'cause we try to keep it bridge themed ish. So that so there'll be like a trend on social media and we'll kinda talk through about how can we make it bridge related or how can how can a bridge player relate to it? And then think it's funny because then they share it on their page because bridge players have bridge playing friends or people who might be interested in bridge. So that's the whole point. We jump on trends and try to turn them make them relate to bridge. Yeah, it's been a great learning experience too. Like just you know, and it's funny 'cause like we'll get s we'll be at the N A B C and we'll get stopped by people and go, turn up social media girls. Yeah. Somebody actually watches them. Right. Right. Stephanie, you've got I yeah, I think you have kids, don't you? I do. I have four kids. What do they think about it? And they think it's hysterical. And so like that especially my d my daughter will actually go in and comment and like and share. My sons are just like, haha, that's funny, but they don't see that. My friends think this is the best thing since sliced bread. They share our video. They laugh. They they don't even think I have a real job. They they think it's just the best thing going. They signed up for bridge battle. Like just no intention to play. It's just we're we're funny. So and that's again. People understand it's an option, to do. Yeah. I've got some friends who are, Bridge Curious, I call them. And I've sent a couple of the the the you guys send out you I don't know, you have do you have a monthly you have something v virtual where you can learn bridge? and I get an email about it. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I've sent that to a couple of friends, but It's hard, it really one thing I've learned, I did that documentary movie about bridge 'cause I wanted to introduce it to a new generation of players. it's it's not for everybody, and as much as I want people to play, it's really challenging to to get somebody to commit the brain power t that's gonna, you know, get them to, you know, really really enjoy it and Well and the time. You know, it's just The time it it's it's rough. one thing I think that is gonna help and then and that which one? The box. Actually, I don't know if the box one had it, but we have this new boxed game called Bridge Battle. and I don't do you have one over there, Shanika? I do not have one over here. We sold out of There we go. so it's literally like it's literally like a like a Not shaped like a monopoly box, but like similar to It's it's a tabletop game. So and it's it's basically no bidding. So but you earn like it comes with like when you win a trick, you get a jewel. You get it comes with a little bag of jewels. so the two partnerships get a jewel in their bag, but it's a very the whole point of it is that you you can get start playing in and less than a minute. So and the way this came about was Shanika and Brony and I about three years ago were going to pickleball. And Brony had decided that pickleball was a good potential overlap because it was very similar demographic, especially back then it was it was even a little bit older. So we went to a bunch of pickleball events and set up bridge tables and people would come by. And we learned very quickly that If you give people too much information, they just glaze over, right? So you're going, Okay, aces are four, kings are three, blah, blah. And they're just like So Bronya was like, We gotta make this simpler, we gotta make this simpler. So she was like, Game of War, the high card wins. So our tag was we can have you playing in less than a minute. So you it basically the way a bridge battle hand works, and there's different levels. There's classic heroes select, but a classic bridge battle hand, you Put people across from each other, you explain that the person across from them is their partner. The person you pick one person is the dealer. The person to the left of the dealer lays the card down and it I'm back up. You deal out all the cards and you tell them to sort them by suit. And sometimes you gotta tell what that means. so person to the left of the dealer plays the first card, and then we say the person across from the dealer is gonna put all their cards on the table face up, grouped by suit. And the dealer is gonna tell them what to play. And your only rules are you have to follow suit if you can. And the high card wins. And the first pair of seven tricks wins the hand. And we stop at seven tricks. So it gets them playing really quickly. And the jewel thing came about. there was a Sue Miguel up in Rhode Island was doing an event and she was like, she was really trying to lean into the whole bridge battle theme and so she did a medieval kind of thing and she had jewels so when people want a trick, they'd get a jewel. And I was initially thinking it was super hokey. I was so wrong. the people love those jewels. The adult love the jewels. The adult so so we started we we had an online version and then we started doing at at NABC's doing bridge battle events because it's just such a low barrier. And then Shanik and I got to go to Europe last year of January to go to the European Bridge League Forum. Bridge League, yeah. And we did a demonstration of Bridge Battle and then and they loved it. they loved it. And then later we were broken all broken up into groups and we were every group was supposed to come up with a some kind of marketing idea to promote the game of bridge. And one of the groups, independent of us, came said, there needs to be a box set of this bridge battle game. So I came back or we both came back and we're like, okay, we got to get a box set. so I started researching like, where do you buy boxes? Like I and I was like, and how big does it say what we were, I was like, with pieces of paper like taping to f get the right size and putting little components in and then I ended up finding a manufacturer and we got the first initial run. We ordered five hundred and we just sold out of them. so now we've got I actually ordered five thousand 'cause the price break was so good and we've got five thousand. But then we have to put together. So it's like the boxes and the like we do all the little compost stuff. Beer and Barclays agreed to sell There's a little tabletop game store in North Carolina that he ordered ten and he liked them so much he wants forty more, but I don't have them yet. So so yeah, so I think it's a great gift. It's twenty twenty five bucks including shipping on we sell them through our Etsy store. And I think I think they're a potentially good way to get in, you know. So we'll see. So it it and it's steer steps, right? So it starts out classic, which is just a no trump hand. And then after you've played about four of those, it goes to heroes, where when the dummy goes down, they get to pick a trump suit. And we explain that. And then the third level is select, where when the dummy goes down, they can choose Trump or no Trump. And it gets them kind of thinking without even realizing the why. Like why would you why would you pick a no Trump? Why would you pick a Trump? And they start thinking that way. And then the final level is extreme and that's where they actually bring in it's basically mini bridge. you everybody adds up their points. We tell about high card points and they add up their points and the pair with the highest points gets to be the declaring team and the person with the highest points gets to be the dealer. And then it it they and it's a a higher risk. So they can they go for twelve And they miss, then the opponents get five jewels. If they win, they get up. So it's a little bit higher risk reward. But anyway, so so a lot of our videos, circling back to the videos, are gonna be promoting this game. This box game. Right. Yeah. I did play I played it online today, in preparation for the this video. Yeah. Yeah. It got me to choose I could choose Trumps I don't remember. I played one hand. Yeah, it has the hand of the day and it's a it's it's that's what it was, I think. It starts at select, so it it fumps you right into select. The online game needs to be tweaked a little bit. It's a little bit slow, I think, and but it's it's still a good, it's a good way to practice play the hand based, for that. But the the face to face version of it is just a lot more fun. It's just really it's a fun game. So a lot of our teachers are using it as game zero. or class zero. Right. so if they do a free class or an intro class, they'll do bridge battle for their first class and then go into their regular curriculum. and the feedback we're getting is pretty good. So but now our strategy or our our our our puzzle is to figure out how do we promote it. So that's what Sneak and I'll be trying to come up with fun with I know I've got like six hundred less than six hundred subscribers on my YouTube. So just a just a smidge, you know, like but bridge battle, folks. Yeah. Bridge battle to get people yeah, I wonder if I should be sending that hand of the day to people, like as a as a you know, 'cause I send them an e I forward somebody an email and I don't think that really like you know, you get a million emails, so and it's like you gotta commit it's like asking you to commit an hour. So probably what I should do is Is send them in the daily bridge files. The daily duel. The daily duel daily duel. Well and we have a URL, the playbridgebattle.com, and that takes you to a page where you can either order the box game or you can play online. So Okay. so playbridge battle dot com is the the URL. So you guys have been working at the A C B L for a long time, both of you. But this social media stuff is only like it's only in the last few years, I guess, that it's been a year or two. Yeah. Yeah, we've had social media. I mean, we've had like a Facebook page and we had a YouTube channel. We just didn't do a lot with it. And then Shanika took it over, and really kind of stepped up like just what we've been posting, like even even other than the videos, just a lot of good. Yeah, we try to find memes that we can repurpose. that kind of thing. one of my favorites is the one where the girls lying in bed. And no, it's a brain. Is it a brain lying in bed? It's a brain lying in bed. And it's like, yeah, I can't wait. Or it's a girl lying in bed. I can't wait to go to sleep. And then the her brain turns on and goes, Why did you play the two weeks back on the hand six? and then she's like awake. Yeah. Yeah. So we try to find those that are that are trending and then make them make them breathe. My favorite video was actually the cat video. It was like the one cat beat something and the other cat beat and then it was the wrong bid so the other cat beat up. Lots of bridge players related to that video. Yeah. It actually made the top ten, but because it was not Stephanie and Shanika, I didn't include it. Because it's gonna be posted for like Pro Back Thursday or something. yeah. And that's a good one. The other one that was like one of our first memes, it was kind of a little bit and some of these are a little on the edge, right? Or a little bit. And one of them was that one that's real popular. It's like It's Will Farrell and he's yelling and everything's on fire behind him, right? And and and we did something like and it was it was probably in the middle of COVID when everything was gonna go into pot. And it was it was that meme and it was like the world's on fire, but the bridge like Bridge is looking for a fourth. And that one is also coming back. It's on the schedule for throwback Thursday. So you'll see that one again. So we'll put a link to all the all the All the videos or reels, I guess, that that you're talking about in the show notes. And then if they wanna what's what's your preferred? Do you guys do you guys care? Would you ace I see I see all mostly on Instagram, but obviously your following is bigger on YouTube. Like should everywhere. We're on every platform and it's at A C B L Bridge. fa we're really big on Facebook too. we we get a lot of views on Facebook. But we're Facebook, Instagram. That doesn't surprise me. YouTube, short. We have a X page which does not get as much traction, but we also have TikTok. We have TikTok. We have not figured out yet like like what we haven't cracked TikTok. Like what's gonna get TikTok. We tried. And with YouTube, it's the YouTube shorts. So it's like our regular YouTube does okay, but it's it's a mix of like lessons and sometimes NABC content and live streams, stuff like that. But it's the YouTube shorts are where all the the sunny videos are. Yeah. So I imagine the fact that you guys are doing these I think it's fair to say semi ridiculous videos. Like that must be it must have something to do with the fact that Bronya Jenkins, who who who we all love is the executive director of the ACBL. I mean, that has to have I just I feel like we were we we did receive a little more freedom with social media once we got her. I mean we probably always had it, but it was more vocalized this time like We can do fun stuff. It's accepted. Yeah. Well and and one of the great things about Bronya is that failure's not fatal usually. and so it's really nice having a boss that 'cause that gives you freedom to try things that that might be a little on the edge. And we we do sometimes get we'll get especially members that see something really one of our silly ones on Facebook and they'll go, This is the dumbest thing. I just wanna know what what my hand was from the I results from whatever. and we're like, Well, this really isn't for you. Thank you. Share it with your friends. But, you know, you're not really our target audience right this second for this one. But but I do think I think Brony she's a lot of fun, but she also, you know, lets us lets us try things. Let's let's try things. And if they don't work, then we go, okay, well that didn't work. But it's not like that didn't work. Goodbye. Right. You're fired up. Yeah. So So who's the better bridge player between the two of you? Stephanie. No. Okay. Yes and no. So Shanika is a way better card player. Like she she if you once you get past bidding, if she s like she knows she knows where every card is almost immediately. And I she's got such good card sense and she's very strategic and she's a really she's really good at play of the hand. Bidding is still We're still working on bidding. So it's because I feel like with bidding I have to actually sit down and read. It's like studying. But playing is just playing. So it's a little just you know. We've got some master points together. So yeah. We don't get to play very often. I would say also It's not easy. Yeah. Stephanie's also more willing to play. Yeah. you've both been at the Seneca, you've been there for fifteen years. Stephanie, you're you're not that far behind. So there must be phases of your bridge. There must there must have been a point where okay, I gotta really learn I gotta really get into this. Or or was there? I don't know. I I enjoy it and I I just don't get I don't have time to play very often. So it's funny 'cause if I look at my master points and I've it's taken me I have a hundred and fifty, but it's taken me wow thirteen years to get here. But Most of mine are red, which means that I played at an NABC. So it's usually I'll play once or twice each NABC if I'm like each some NABCs I don't play at all. But but I'll try to play at least once at an NABC and so that's where that's where most of mine have come 'cause I just don't have time. Yeah. You know, we don't I don't try to get it going at work. For me I don't feel like I ha felt ever felt like for the job I had to learn, but I am a competitive person and I am a gamer. Well not like video games, but I love games. So for me, when I learned that it was kinda like counting cards, it was interesting. Cause then it's like it was somet it's the strategy part is what I like about it. So I've wanted to learn. I just don't like she said, we don't have time to play more. But I like the game with bridge. I like the idea and everything that it takes to play bridge. Just don't have the time to put into it. Right. It's kinda like a golf pro when they work at a golf shop, they they they spend their whole day on golf but they don't actually they don't actually play, they So how did how did you how did you start? How did you how did you Srinika, how did you how did you end up at A C B L? that's a good question. A CBL used to I don't know if they still do they did active like hiring, like they go they sear they seek out people. And so I think I had my right resume on Indeed or LinkedIn or something. And that's actually how they found me. I came from a hospital. I'm a respiratory therapist. And I was I was looking for other work though. And I guess I had myself open for that. 'Cause when I yeah, when I started I thought it was a nursing home interview, honestly. It was the people outside. But then I knew it was a bridge. 'Cause it was one day. It was like, Hey, we found you can you come in tomorrow to take do an interview? So it wasn't like time to research and I was like, sure, I'll come for an interview after work and got off work and came to the interview. Now it's like, there are cards on the wall. What is this? So it's kinda how it happened for me. I can't imagine you thought you'd you thought you would be there for fifteen years though, probably at at the beginning I I I'm pretty sure I didn't I didn't I've moved around also through three different four different departments probably. So I originally with my original job in club and membership, I d probably didn't see myself being here that long. But once I moved over to education and marketing, I was like, this is my thing. Like marketing's kinda Yeah. Yeah. She's very creative. Thank you. I think we met I think we met when we were doing the spades thing in Atlanta. I think that's when I first met you. What hap what ended up I remember it happened, but w what what was kind of the takeaway from that? From the spades tournament? yeah, we had a spades tournament at like the Atlanta fall on ABC in twenty twenty four, I think it was, maybe like two days of the weekend. Well the problem with that tournament, I don't think it was promoted. We didn't it was kind of added on. It was a sub yeah and it was a lot going on in Atlanta and Yeah, I think we just really didn't promote it outside of bridge players and it was like during the time of a game because we didn't want bridge players there. But I think I don't know. Right. It's a Georgia game. It was definitely a yeah. Some stuff going on in Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. the other thing that we've run into with NABC's it's really hard to get people to turn out for a public facing event at an NABC a lot of times because the location venue's usually downtown and parking's usually like forty bucks. know, and so somebody that's that's in the area, like they've gotta really decide that they wanna either come learn bridge or come play spades or come play bridge battle and then for forty dollars pay to go to you know, go downtown and find a parking place and pay forty bucks for it. And so It it's it's hard. We're we're we're looking at like for some of those events, changing our strategy to maybe trying to find a restaurant or something that's close, not too far from the venue that might be a good place to do like a bridge battle event or even a learn bridge in a day or something like that and take off site because it's just it's hard to get people to come on site for that kind of thing if they're not part of the the tournament ecosystem, either a spouse or Something like that. So that's been a struggle lately. If if you have a hundred and fifty points, I'm switching back. I remember what I was gonna ask you earlier. you have to be pretty good, honestly. No, I don't. No, I mean, like I played bridge. I'm doing a thing where I'm teaching bridge to this guy, Sean Singletary, who was an all American basketball player at UBA. And we went to the local bridge club and we got thirty four percent. Like we're very far. we're we're very far from from cracking, you know, the master point echelon. Like you gotta score over fifty percent for starters. The first game I ever played in, I think at a an NABC, Liza and I played in Las Vegas and we got we got forty three percent and we were so excited. We actually made the bulletin for our forty three percent. Like it was when Brent was still alive and he was really trying to No, I mean, I think I've been very lucky. I've had good partners too. when I when I get to play. But you know, the thing about Bridge for me, I love it. I I I really enjoy the game. Yeah. I am not a strategic person. I am a reactive person. And I'm probably more of an intuitive player, which doesn't always work. And Bridge has sort of made me work that strategic muscle a little bit and try to it so I've it's definitely helped me be a little bit more strategic. But I am never It's just not my brain. I am never gonna be like a super good player, but I'm fine playing at my level. it's tennis or golf. I love the game enough that I don't I don't care about playing up here. I am perfectly happy to just enjoy it and play here, if that makes sense. So yeah, I think I'll always play it. but I I don't think I'll ever be particularly good. there's I've had some good hands, every night I'm like, okay, I did that one pretty well but I've also just not so good sometimes. But I've had good partners too. How many master points do you have, Shanika? Five, maybe. Maybe maybe a little over five. And and I'm the opposite of Stephanie. If I get into bridge, my goal is to beat Jeff. But you know, the thing is she could. Like if Shanika can never get the bidding, Shanika could be a force to be reckoned with because she her Her card play is so, so good. she really has a good card sense. She's just gotta do the just gotta get through the video. Who's Jeff? Jeff Mickstroth, I'm sorry. my god. I used to have a segment on this show. It started with Maxstroth. There's this there's this Polish guy named Yacik Falita, you guys You guys he comes to all the NABCs. He plays with Kukowski now, who a lot of people say is the best player in the world. And I and I was interviewing Mech and I started asking him about Khalida 'cause I think maybe they had won the world championships around that time, the polls, and I said and I asked him if he was better than Khalida. And he was like, Well, I wouldn't I wouldn't say I forget I forget and but That's a great answer. I thought you were talking about some A C B L employee. You're talking about the the number one. Number one master club. Exactly. We gotta send we're I'm gonna send him this clip. Does he know you? he's probably seen me before but doesn't know who I am, but we I've like helped him or said hey or saw him at a help desk or something, but I don't think he knows me by name, I'm sure. He might. He might. He's like, she looks a little familiar. She's the girl sells those T shirts. Mm. So do you guys go do you guys go to all the NABCs then? We do. We do. Yeah. Yeah. So like we have events a lot of times the first weekend and then we do help desk and then we'll we'll do our social media stuff. We'll do really whatever. Help pack out. You know, it's like if you're there, you're there to work. So we we work. But what what day do you go to the fall one? We'll go I go Wednesday the day before 'cause I help set up stuff. so you skip Thanksgiving. Well Yeah. Yeah, me too. Well, and I have, you know, 'cause I'm over education, so I've got events. We've got a teacher training to search Friday. We have free lessons, we have one bridge a day, we have a bridge battle game. So there's always stuff and then we also we run the karaoke room at at Beyond Bridge, which is really fun. So we have a lot of fun doing that, running that. So so yes, so we're we s we start at the beginning and we usually stay right through the And I've had to hit the president suite and board meetings. So I go early is Stephanie. What did your family s think about you skipping Thanksgiving? Well last year my sisters came wherever we were. They were like, you're missing Thanksgiving, we coming with you and they just came to Vegas. This year I don't think they're coming. I don't know what they're gonna do this year. Yeah. We were say we were we were in San Francisco last year. yeah. That's what I meant. They came but they came to Vegas too. They came to A Vegas. My sisters will follow me. It's like all the all the ABCs start to blend together and you're like, wait a minute. Right. Stephanie, you're also in charge of the collegiate you're like the primary contact point for collegiate stuff. Yeah. Love that. That's that's been a great and we've we've really built it back up again. I think the combination of the support from the Ed Foundation, Mitch Dunn's foundation that that pays the kids, plus ours, I think that those three legs of the stool really are helping us build it up. Build this program back. Because we took a hit during COVID and it's funny, like right before COVID we were we were working with about fifty just under 50 universities or colleges. And it one way or another. And sometimes it's like one kid with a few friends that's creating a team. And other times it's like a super well organized, I mean it just kind of runs the damage. But when COVID hit and everything went virtual, I thought, well, at least I know my college will be okay. It tanked. And it was because all those kids were having to do virtual classes and the last thing they wanted to do was stay online because You realize that the college bridge club was their social outlet and and so we've had to really have a rebuilding process. So but we're back up to close to fifty schools, maybe a little even a little bit more now. So the trick is you know, keeping it going like like you can have a super you know, outgoing person who organizes like say Zach. Zach at Tufts got a great thing going. And then when Zach left, it just folded, So when you've got that charismatic person, if there's not a structure put in place with a with a a line of succession, then it doesn't. But then on the flip side, we have Rohan and I never say his name right, Service Strava. I think that's he's gonna get me for not saying that right. But he got something going at at Wash U. And would just still go. And then he went to grad school at North Texas and got it going there too. And I have filmed that one. So it can be be done to where it it it has legs, but it it can be it can be hard where you just you lose the person and then it just falls. So but yeah, it's an ongoing job. It's fun. That's one of the college the summer college term that is I love that. But I love that maybe then ABC or the my T Faker A. Mm-hmm. And sit with me. And Shanika's she she she helps me or she runs the youth and she Yeah, she's the organized she's so organized. And so we've been doing the youth NABC together for quite a while. And it's it's a fun, it's really the highlight of the summer in ABC. What are the numbers like for that? They're building again. Once again, prior to COVID, we were up to about two hundred and fifty kids coming. It we've I think we've been a hundred and thirty ish the last couple of years. I think we have one fifty more in Vegas the last time. 'Cause remember I made the video it was a hundred and forty college and a hundred and forty or fifty youth. Youth, yeah. So I think the jumpstart kids I think are gonna start getting to the point where they'll funnel into this. It's it's been too soon for the for that group to be ready to come to a a youth and ABC but I'm hoping that I think they in Vegas is also a good easy to get to place. So I'm hoping that the the summer in Vegas will be a little bit bigger. I'd love to get over two hundred again 'cause that's so fun when you you know, you walk into a room with kids, that many kids, and they're all playing bridge. They all and they never turnout. Yeah. was b no d was D C the biggest? the biggest one. before COVID? Maybe it was Vegas. Before Covid yeah. Maybe it was Vegas. Probably was Vegas. Yeah. I think D C was big too. D C was big though. 'Cause we even had bigger New Jersey groups and bigger groups that came from those places. I think D C was the first time we hit two hundred. Okay. Or beat two hundred, yeah. And that we were also getting some groups from China. Yeah. which last year it we had we had a like thirty coming from China. They did not come this year. I think they might do it every other year. So they they might show up in place soon. Yeah, we had that Bermuda group with at least Toil, tenor Toil key. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, I'm part of this group. We're planning a tournament that Bronya's involved with that we're gonna have. It's called we're calling it the In and Out. Uh-huh. So it's like an alumni cup. you have to play with a active student from your school that you're an alumnus of. it's in January. It's January twenty fourth. I think it's gonna be at seven o'clock Eastern on Real Bridge. And how do we get the how do we spread the word to the college students about that? Well, I'm I'm gonna put the flyer, make it a link and I was gonna send it out to all the college age kids that we have in our database to let know. I'm wondering we might wanna do some kind of partnership form maybe because you're gonna have then you've got to have a way there to to connect people. So we might it might be worth doing some kind of Google form where people could choose their school and then say they're looking for a partner and see if we can't match people up. Yeah. but but I am happy to promote it a hundred percent to to the our college age students. So absolutely. yeah eighty sent people flyer. I think that's part of the the the idea of the event is is it like that that partnership form because there are people, that are I there's people at UVA who are older than me, that that played bridge and I've met through like a bridge winners post about UVA. So you know, it's cool that it's we we hope that to to help make new connections. Like that's that's part of like what the You what we're what we're doing with the tournament. So Yeah. How many kids how many email do you have for for active college students, you think? What it's hard okay. It what I have in my database Is about seven hundred They may or may not be active. It's it we don't always know when they graduate and and we don't always know like if they let their membership lapse. So I can pull from active A CBL members, but I can also email out to this college group where not all of them may be A C D L active A C B L members anymore. So I can do that and I can also I've got a database of people who have gone through this program who graduated. So I could actually email that group too. The only issue with those will be that a lot of them gave us their school emails. And so if they're the school doesn't let them keep that that dot EDU address, then the emails are going to balance. But we can we'll we'll try it both ways. What's a typical day at the working at the A CBL? it's pretty it's pretty calm. give that answer. Really my my typical day at A C B L is I mean it's just pretty normal. It's pretty upbeat, you know. Every day you might get a new project, but it's okay. It's just something to roll with. What do you think, Stephanie? We jug well, so I'm marketing education. We juggle a lot 'cause there's a lot of like marketing ends up touching a lot of departments. Yes. And so They're always like we have ongoing projects, but then there's always something that's gonna come up. And then in between that we're filming social. Yeah, what's our next social media video? It and like what are we gonna film and and when are we gonna post it? So we always try to work those in. We try to get a few in the hopper. Yeah. So a lot of times we'll film like three a day at least. Two or three three in yeah, three in a day. And then we have we've got a few in the opera right now and that also cause bruises, I will say. So we'll see. My favorite one that has not been as popular as I really thought it was gonna be, but my favorite one is one where I've got Shanika in the back of a truck. The truck? And I've got a shovel. I saw that one. Actually, made it on the list. It's number eight. did it? Okay. I love that's my favorite. That one makes me laugh every time. See, as far as organ I went in the in the order of organic views for how I put them in the because we promote some videos, but we get a lot of organic views as well. So I kinda put in order kinda like that, but still, you know, was a little biased, like, okay, this one I really think should be here. So but the trunk video was number made it on the list on its own. So people really like that video. It's Barbara Seagram's favorite one. One of our other ones that was actually one of the first ones too was the trust fall one. where And just just a spoiler alert, that's like in the top three of the organic view. That one's millions of views. I'm not sure if I've seen that trust fall one. yeah, it's like it's like I'm doing a trust call and and Tanika's supposed to catch me and then she just walks away. And I say you can't you can't trust everyone, but you should always trust your breeze partner. That's what that one was. And I'm like lying on the floor going, I'm okay. So how many people work at the so you guys work at the at the headquarters in Horn Lake. How many how many people work there? We got about thirty five people in here, I think. Yeah, I think it's somewhere in the mid thirties. And how long how how how did you two become friends? Hmm. We ended up in we were in the same well, we were in the same area. So Shanika was in education and I was over in marketing and those two were in the same bay area. Like Bay. Yeah. And and then kind of the turning point and I think initially we both annoyed each other like like we were we were with each other and then we we got sent to Gatlinburg. yeah. When you're seven hours in a car with somebody. Yeah, we did a road trip. And you're either Yeah, we said we road tripped and and had such a good time. And I think that was I think that was kind of the turning point for our relationship. And so ever since then, you know, we like we hang out a lot at at the NABC, even when my wife not not doing stuff together. We went to we went we got to go to Europe last year and the the the thing, the only way Brandia would send both of us is with if we agreed to room together. So no problem. Which we did it. We were like, if that gets me to Amsterdam I'm going. Yeah, I will do that. Top bunker bottom 'cause I'm going to Europe. Yeah. Which we did. We and we had it we had some. We had some. Let me just go on record and say I did not know that I used to annoy Stephanie. I I think no, I think it was just kidding. I think we used to get on each other's We just weren't in the same department and and and they were a little clicky. No, just kidding. We might have been a little clicky. Once we found each other, I think it became a good little map. We're really like we're really like a good funny partnership with Bridge, like with everything. Me, Stephanie. She's tall, I'm short. She's a little bit older. I'm a little bit younger. You got any good bronya stories for me? I don't think I have it. Do you get bronya stories? I'm sure she could have. No, Bronya's first NABC, I will die young. She was so she was a little overwhelmed. She was so overwhelmed. She was like, I will die young. I No, you're not. She's like, I will. Like her first her first week here, I heard something, I was like, is that music? What is that? And I go out in the hall and she's walking through the building with her guitar. Yeah. So I was like, well, okay. This is what we got now. It's great. I love it. I love it. Yeah. We have a lot of fun. She's she is a lot of fun. If if there's anybody watching, then you could that you could tell give what you what would you want them to do? in in after watching this conversation, what would you want them to do? Follow us on social media because you gotta follow us. We need to follow and then to share our content. That's a big one. So share it with your friends. Comment on the video. A comment pushes us back out into the algorithm because if you're engaging with the post, then that makes them think it's it shows that it's a real post. It's real people actually like it. And playbridge battle dot com. That's what I want people to do. Okay. So share, comment, and then play bridge battle. Yeah, I'm gonna s I'm gonna start sending that daily bridge battle deal to some to some of my friends who are like interested. Yeah, that's great. 'Cause yeah, that'll be you give something they can do. It's not it's like easy. And you can share your results. So it's it's set up so you can share your share your results on social media. So it's gives you a grid you know how when Wordle first came out, you saw people sharing those little grids and yeah. And nobody knew what it was. So this is the same thing you can share and it shows like how many tricks you got that day. okay. From it l in a little s a little kind of square thing. So you know, that's a Good way to do too. I see it. I see what you're saying. So so it doesn't care it doesn't care what strain. It just cares how many tricks you got. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. It it doesn't di differentiate. So if you got if you got ten tricks and diamonds, you did just as well as if you get got enough hearts. Got it. Yeah. all right, I've got a new last question. And I just I just debuted it last episode with Emma Kalesnik. when's the next time you're gonna play bridge? I plan to play in at the next NABC. I s I like I wanna try to play every NABC at least once. Yeah. Will you play with me? I'm gonna play in a zero to twenty room if no one has a partner. I I'm the default. No one has a partner called Nile. Yeah, we do we do stick Shenica in with the in the the free the free games sometimes. It was a good partner for that. And they're probably fired up when they hear you work for A C B L they're like, Okay, I'm I'm gonna I have this pro player and then it's like, I don't I don't know these bits. What does that double mean? Then they're like, What did I give myself? Tell people we just tell people that our job is to help them get master points. So that's what when we when they play against us, yeah and they'll go, you're from A C B O, you must be really good and we're like, no, no, we're here so you get Right. And then I go take all thirteen tricks and then they're like, wait a minute. What about you, Stephanie? I'm gonna try to play. I'm gonna play in San Diego, I hope. I just have to find somebody to play with. If Shanika Balls I'll play with you. I've played with you. Okay. It's on record now, I gotta do it. Yeah, now you gotta do it. It it up. No. It's funny to think that you might go to San most of the people that I interview for this podcast, the idea of going to San Diego and not playing bridge is just it's like not even so it's it's a n it's a refreshing change. Yeah, we're we're out we're behind we're the little elves behind the scenes making sure everything happens. Alright, well I appreciate everything you're doing. and you know, thanks for thanks for making the time for me. Well thank you, thank you for for asking us. I'm I'm excited, I love your podcast. So it's it's fun. It's fun it's fun to be able to to have conversations like this, to get to know you know, know people better and to share, you know, things that I love about bridge and definitely you know, I've watched that chicken. You know, like I mean it's just like it's so absurd. That's my kind of humor. That's my kind of humor. So you know, I'm I'm delighted to share it. I'm delighted to you know get in on it. It's our humor too. Right. Yeah, I mean I'd love to be part of a skit if you know If stu if you need two students or something. We will now write that into the program for San Diego. We're gonna find something. We're gonna find something for San Diego. Yeah. Yeah, someday I think we need a blooper reel because there's some just I'm working on one for the end of this year, just like the end of the year and show since we're doing the top ten, we made a hundred thousand, you know, it's I'm working on something. Okay. All right. Well thanks a lot. Thanks. All right.