Getting on the boat with Starboard Society to help local families in need

Helping local families facing urgent hardships has always been the goal of Starboard Society and longtime friend Cindy Atkinson of Hartman Associates joined Nestor at State Fare in Catonsville on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour to provide us the full scope of their work and impact. Join them at the Concept House in Timonium on Saturday, November 7th along with our friends at Ink + Numbers and learn about their local mission.

Nestor Aparicio discusses the Maryland crab cake tour and his long-standing friendship with Cindy Atkinson, who represents the Starboard Society. Cindy explains the Starboard Society’s mission to provide short-term financial assistance to working Maryland families facing urgent hardships. The organization, which is entirely volunteer-run, has helped individuals with eviction notices, utility cut-offs, and transportation costs. An upcoming event on November 7th at the Concept House on East Seminary Avenue aims to raise funds for the Starboard Society. The event will feature curated bites, craft drinks, and a tour of the unique repurposed house.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Explore having Dave Hartman and Anne Balduzzi from Hartman Associates as guests on the show to discuss AI and cybersecurity.
• [ ] Promote the Starboard Society event on November 7th at the Concept House.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and Business Networking

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland crab cake tour, mentioning various celebrities and Maryland lottery scratch-offs.
• Nestor reflects on his radio career, starting in December 1991, and his transition to becoming a businessman.
• Nestor recalls his first business card made by Cindy Atkinson and Curt Hoffman at a printing store in Dundalk.
• Cindy Atkinson joins the show to discuss her involvement with the Starboard Society charity work in Baltimore.

Reconnecting and Starboard Society Introduction

• Nestor and Cindy reminisce about their past encounters, including a recent meeting at a gas station.
• Nestor explains the purpose of the crab cake tour, which is to feature guests who do good things in the community.
• Cindy shares her excitement about being on the show and their long-standing friendship.
• Nestor mentions Cindy’s involvement in charity work and introduces the concept of the Starboard Society.

The Concept House and Event Details

• Cindy describes the Concept House on East Seminary, built with repurposed materials, and its unique features.
• Nestor expresses his interest in visiting the Concept House and attending the event.
• Cindy explains the nonprofit’s policy of allowing free use of the venue for other nonprofits.
• The event aims to benefit the Starboard Society, which provides short-term financial assistance to working Maryland families facing urgent hardships.

Starboard Society’s Mission and Impact

• Cindy shares the origin of the Starboard Society, starting with a friend who couldn’t afford food despite working multiple jobs.
• The organization helps individuals who are paycheck to paycheck and face unexpected financial hardships.
• Cindy provides examples of the types of assistance provided, such as eviction notices, utility cut-offs, and transportation costs.
• The Starboard Society aims to support people who are doing the right thing but need temporary financial help.

Personal Stories and Community Support

• Cindy recounts a story about a family in White Marsh who faced eviction after the wife’s death, and how the Starboard Society helped them.
• Nestor shares his own experiences with community support and the importance of helping others.
• Cindy emphasizes the need for volunteers and the challenges of running a volunteer-based organization.
• The Starboard Society conducts one or two fundraisers a year, including a cornhole tournament at High Tops.

Networking and Hartman Associates

• Cindy discusses her role at Hartman Associates and the company’s focus on IT counsel for businesses.
• Nestor and Cindy talk about the importance of technology and AI in today’s business environment.
• Cindy mentions Anne Balduzzi, a former president of Tedco, who now works at Hartman Associates and specializes in AI.
• Nestor reflects on the rapid changes in technology and the need for businesses to adapt.

Influence and Community Involvement

• Cindy shares a quote from Tony Spaulding about the impact of influencing people, emphasizing the importance of positive interactions.
• Nestor reflects on his own influence through his radio show and social media.
• Cindy encourages people to support the Starboard Society event on November 7th at the Concept House.
• Nestor promotes the event and thanks Cindy and Karen for their efforts in organizing it.

Final Thoughts and Event Promotion

• Nestor and Cindy discuss the importance of community support and the impact of the Starboard Society’s work.
• Nestor promotes upcoming events and locations for the Maryland crab cake tour.
• Cindy highlights the unique aspects of the Concept House and the opportunity to support a good cause.
• Nestor concludes the segment by encouraging listeners to attend the event and support the Starboard Society.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Starboard Society, charity work, financial assistance, Maryland families, eviction notices, utility cut-offs, transportation costs, volunteer board, concept house, fundraising event, networking, Hartman Associates, AI in business, cyber security, community support.

SPEAKERS

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Cindy Atkinson, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T. Am 1570 tacit Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively out on the road. We’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour. I am here at State Fair. I’m underneath of sort of a Ziggy Stardust David Bowie. I’ve got Eddie Vedder to my left. I’ve got the great Joan Jett to my right, and I’ve got Maryland crab cake tour Raven scratch offs in the Maryland lottery, giving these out out here in Catonsville. But make the guys at the bargain a couple. I got you. I’m coming over to get you a little bit. And I got more guests and friends of mine. And I tell you what I go back to see. I started on the radio December 13, 1991 sometime. I left the sun in January 92 sometime around March or April of 92 I realized that I’m a businessman, you know. So I had to become a businessman and get a card, get a business card, and I went to this little printing store in the next Plaza over in Dundalk, next to what is now the baseball card outlet, there was there was a diner, there was buds. Exxon station was there on the corner. And there was an Amoco, I don’t know what it was, and ruggieros, where we could go get crabs for takeout or carry out. And city Atkinson was there along with the Curt Hoffman and made my first ever business car. And 33 years later, Cindy is the guest on my show on behalf of the starboard society. Yeah, you asked before I sat down, what’s the crab cake tour? And it’s an excuse to have people like you on a show telling me all because I’ve had Dave on talking Hartman, talking security and cyber security and all that. Have an AI yet, but this gives me an excuse to have anybody I want on the show, just because I like them and they do good things, and that’s who you are.

Cindy Atkinson  01:53

I love it. Love it. I’m actually thrilled to be here. Really excited. So funny that we have known each other for so long and keep bumping into each other. I

Nestor Aparicio  02:04

saw you at a gas station I ran into in the ROFO pumping gas at bedonia Road about six weeks ago. That’s right, we did your hair wasn’t done. I didn’t shave. I think, you know, I don’t go out in my bedroom slippers, in my in my pajamas, but I was this close. I was like, in sweatpants and ball capped all up, but you work for Hartman associate. So I see Cindy and I get together, man, I mean, we’re together in Vegas. We’re together in Ocean City, Mako, where I do the show and and my wife knows you and knows of you, and has been to your parties and whatnot. And she said, What are you having her on for? And I said, well, she’s doing this charity thing. It has to do with inking numbers, and I’ve had Stacy Munsell on and I’ve had Karen Sagal books me guests and carries me over the weekend. She’s like, well, Stacy can’t do it on Tuesday, but Cindy Atkinson, yours. I’m like, and this is a real small tomorrow story, and I’ve gotten to know you through your business networking and through what Hartman does, but this is a whole new thing. I didn’t know you were involved in starboard, and you sent me all the notes here. You’re doing an event, and I want to give you all the oxygen in the world, because you’re actually doing this event in that big house on seminary, near my radio station. I’ve seen it many times. That is part of the restore thing. And like all of that, right, owned by second chance. Second Chance.

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Cindy Atkinson  03:19

By second chance. It’s called the concept house on East seminary, and we are thrilled to be holding our event there this this house was built as a way to help their clients learn skills and building every single thing in the house is repurposed. It’s super cool just walking in the house. You can look up on the ceiling, and you’ll see ceiling that’s made of old doors downstairs in the basement, walking through one of the hallways, floor to ceiling. The whole hallway was made with picture frames.

Nestor Aparicio  03:53

I’ll be honest with you, I want to come to your party just to see the house. I mean, that’s kind of what I want to do, but we were excited. You invite me to the Peabody downtown. I’ll come to your party because it’s the best room in the city. I agree. I agree with that. I mean, so places that are unique or interesting, people want to go. That house kind of has some, and it’s had some, you know, it’s been written about in other ways and like all that. But I’ve always wanted to see what’s in it.

Cindy Atkinson  04:19

It is, yeah, we’re actually doing a walk through this afternoon, so I’m excited about it, but I did go through it about a month and a half ago. And each room is more unique and wow than the next room. So it’s it’s really cool to see it and to understand how it was built and why it was built. And so one of the things that they do, which I love, is they let nonprofits use the venue for free, which is really big deal. So I’m sure that I got to create a nonprofit, right exactly, or know somebody. So a friend of ours introduced us to the folks. We went over there. We saw it, got together with Stacy and Lisa with Inca numbers. I love them.

Nestor Aparicio  04:57

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And you know, they know that’s a ladies organization. Right? Primarily, actually, there’s a

Cindy Atkinson  05:01

lot of men that, okay, good, okay, yeah, they do that big one at US lacrosse every year. Okay, yeah. But we decided to, kind of, they kind of approached us about doing an event that would benefit starboard in the fall. So what

Nestor Aparicio  05:14

is starboard? Let’s, let’s talk about starboard. Society provides short term, high impact financial assistance to working Maryland families facing urgent hardships. That sounds pretty important.

Cindy Atkinson  05:29

So I started, co chaired, co founded the organization 12 years ago. And I’ll tell you a quick story and how it started, please. I was at high tops with some friends having happy

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Nestor Aparicio  05:37

hour and been there, done that. One of my Jimmy, one of my friends

Cindy Atkinson  05:41

had lost a ton of weight. And you know, women are always like, How’d you lose your weight? What are you doing? And she simply said, I can’t afford to buy food. Now, this was a friend of mine that worked two jobs, full time and a part time job. I said, How’s that possible? Now she says she almost thinks she’s kidding, right? I almost thought she was kidding, like it was like a punchline. On the way home, I called another friend, and I said, you know, this is terrible. This is somebody we know. Get 10 people to give you $10 I’ll get 10 people give me $10 and let’s get her gift card. So that’s how it started. Then we started thinking about, there’s a lot of people that go through just a like hiccup in time, you know, through, you know, a divorce or change. Somebody loses a job,

Nestor Aparicio  06:22

where a lot of that going federal jobs right now, in the state, where people are

Cindy Atkinson  06:25

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hurt, right? Really hurt. They don’t, you know, they’ve never been in this situation before. They may not have a back, you know, back up. Typically we would call them Alice, asset, limited, income constraint, employed,

Nestor Aparicio  06:40

got a job, can’t pay my bills despite having my job,

Cindy Atkinson  06:44

no savings, no additional assets, so if I have to take a week off, paycheck to paycheck is what we call it, right? And that’s the same thing. It’s paycheck to paycheck. So we started thinking about that particular group of of individuals that’s a lot of people. It is a lot more than you think, and it’s a lot of people that are like us, right, you know, and they’re too proud to to talk about it, and they, you know, if you’re unemployed, you can get a ton of assistance, right? You can get on BG and E fund. You can get rental assistance. You can get some people

Nestor Aparicio  07:17

getting furloughed. Here lately, I’ve seen a lot of restaurants saying, Come on, we’ll feed you. No questions asked, which I think is great, yeah, the equity I just seen on my time on, hey, if you lost your job and you’re furloughed in this mess, come in and we’re just gonna we’re gonna feed

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Cindy Atkinson  07:29

you. Well. If they lost their job and somebody else in the house is employed and they need assistance, they can reach out to starboard. What we’re typically paying is eviction notices, utility cut offs. We got the heat season, transportation costs. One thing that we don’t cover is anything to do with legal costs or health insurance. But our goal is these are people who are doing the right thing. They’re continuing to work, but they hit a bump in the road and they need help. I’ll tell you another story we had. We had heard of a family lived in White Marsh, husband and wife both longtime employees at their respective employers. Maybe combined income was, you know, 85,000 whatever they had, three boys living in an apartment in White Marsh, and they live paycheck to paycheck. The wife suddenly dies of brain aneurysm. Oh, man, the husband gets evicted, right? Because they relied on part of her income for their rent. So now he’s in his car with three boys, and he’s he has still going to work every day, driving them to the bus stop, still going to work every day. He has found a new place to move to, but he needs one month security deposit and first month’s rent, which is like his whole income for a month, right? So we heard about him. We came in, we paid security deposit, we paid two months rent, couple $1,000 and you get him stable, get him stable. And so we started this 12 years ago. And, you know, we’ve helped

Nestor Aparicio  08:53

people look at you, I know, right, so perfect. That’s what you should be doing, and

Cindy Atkinson  08:57

it we’re all volunteer board. We haven’t gotten to the point where we can have paid, you know, people. So it is a little it’s a little stressful because we can’t get the word out. Like I when I first started this, I envisioned this like in every state, like, I think every state could use an organization like ours. And we wanted to, like, partner with all the other nonprofits so that we can refer people to the fuel fund. We can refer people do Maryland New Directions, for example, if they need a GED. But it’s just really difficult when you’re all volunteer. So we do, typically one or two fundraisers a year. Every spring. We do one at high tops. It’s really fun. It’s cornhole tournament. You got to come to the next one, maybe even broadcast from it. Let’s go. It’s every it’s every year in June, real

Nestor Aparicio  09:41

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casual. I know the weather’s good in June. We’ve

Cindy Atkinson  09:45

done the, you know, years gone by, we’ve done the different galas and everything. They’re just too labor intensive. You just don’t make a lot of money.

Nestor Aparicio  09:52

Oh, I know golf tournaments part. I’ve done it all. I’ve done parties. I’ve done events. I mean, 35 years into this, and I think keeping it small. And keeping it, you know, keeping the purpose, you know, up in front of trying to help people. When you do help people, it’s a celebration, I think, right? I mean, absolutely, absolutely this man out of his car and White Marsh, and knowing you’re a part of that. I mean, I do this thing called cup of Super Bowl every year. Now that I don’t go to the Super Bowl, and we did it here. I do nothing for a week, but talk about and this is in February. This is when it’s cold out. All the pantries food from Christmas is all dried up. So I think it’s important. But I’ve learned I’ve sat here, and I think I cried a dozen times two years ago sitting here, you know, I got to meet Caitlin here, right down the street, Catonsville family. I mean, every one of these communities, from Dundalk Soup for the Soul, I mean, there’s kitchens, food, yes, helping children’s pantries, clothing, electronics for kids, all sorts of things that I see you’re not in it alone, but sometimes you feel like, hey, you know, where are my friends? They all got to help out. So what can people do? You got a big night? I want to get everybody out to this house, because it is an interesting place. It’s the concept house at 600 East seminary Avenue. It’s in a little enclave between Delaney Valley and province. You can see my radio tower from there. It’s a mile from my radio

Cindy Atkinson  11:18

remember watching it be built. It took about a year or so to build because they were using it as a tree. I want to say about two years ago.

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Nestor Aparicio  11:25

Two years ago, okay, I think so I see, I’ve seen the trucks out in front of there at various points. There’s a big, beautiful Tuscan home, sort of in an adjacent property that was, and all those homes up there beautiful, you know, my mom, that was where she would want to go and drive to the Christmas lights. So, um, it’s beautiful. So seventh of November, so next Friday,

Cindy Atkinson  11:47

next Friday, and it’s gonna be really cool. Because, like, every The reason we came up with culinary concepts to kind of go with the theme of concept house, and each room is going to have, like, a different experience. So we have different, you know, curated bites, charcuterie boards, lots of different people have, so there’s food at this joint, lots of drinks

Nestor Aparicio  12:08

every party you, I’ve ever been to with you, you’re feeding me and drinking me. Yeah, you’re a hospitality ladies, which are, I’m

Cindy Atkinson  12:16

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a people person. Nestor, that’s my thought, well, that’s your networking thing. That’s my networking thing. And, you know, it’s like, I guess that’s one of the reasons that drew me to Hartman, honestly, because I have always had, and this is way back when, from my family’s servant leadership at Mike. Where’d you

Nestor Aparicio  12:34

grow up? I don’t even know. I don’t I met you in Dundalk, but I don’t really know that much about Yes, I met your old partner, Kurt at the Costas met six months ago. Did you see him there? Yeah, I saw him right after you and I were talking about, no, I took a picture with him. Oh, wow, I didn’t send it to you. Now, you didn’t. I sent it to somebody else, because we had a Then and Now picture from 1992 I would love to see that. So Kurt was her partner, and was the name of your KC, form, Casey KC, Kurt and Cindy, that’s it. They did my first business card in 1992

Cindy Atkinson  13:05

That’s right, we worked out at 7500 Eastern Avenue.

Nestor Aparicio  13:09

And Kurt was an usher behind home plate at the ballpark when the new ballpark camp in yards. Picture, mean, Kirk during a rain delay.

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Cindy Atkinson  13:15

9921 31 game, all of it, all of that. Yeah, that was a lot of fun. But you’re not from Dundalk. I’m not from Dundalk. So I grew up on Rose bank Avenue in govins until fourth grade, and then we moved out to Phoenix, Maryland, so I went to the original sparks elementary that burned down long time ago. And you weren’t

Nestor Aparicio  13:33

quite in the Hereford zone, right? We are in the Hereford zone, yeah. So you got two extra hours of school always,

Cindy Atkinson  13:38

well, only when it snowed. But

Nestor Aparicio  13:41

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my whole life is from Dundalk. I can’t say it was part of my shtick in the 90s, when people would call, I had a guy named Bob from here for call. Hey, it’s Bob from here. From like, the kids get off two hours today. I was like a punch line for everybody, but I don’t know many people that grew up in a Hereford zone. It’s that, you know, I know adults that live there now, and I make fun of them and their pampered children to get their two hours off. But there was something about the Hereford zone that, literally, I knew about the Hereford zone when I was in kindergarten because I would see in Gilligan’s Island Baltimore County. My Baltimore County Schools are two hours late here for here for zone. So you were here for some kids

Cindy Atkinson  14:19

Hereford zone. So I was, I’m gonna reveal my age here. So I was 83 my sister was 84 My brother was 96 I’m 85 and my son was 2015 same age, pretty. So, yeah, you were

Nestor Aparicio  14:31

too old for me to date. Then, yeah, exactly. Girls class, 83 who seniors. But you know, when I

Cindy Atkinson  14:35

was at Hereford, when I when I left sparks elementary school. Went to Hereford. It was seventh through 12th grade. It was here for junior, senior high school. That middle school didn’t exist until my brother class. So it was very rural. Then

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Nestor Aparicio  14:49

one of my first gigs, when I worked at the News America, the day I met Mike press,

Cindy Atkinson  14:53

news American,

Nestor Aparicio  14:54

there you go. That’s how long ago was. We’re showing our age. So news American and. Ended in May of 86 so it was before that. All right, so it’s 85 I was at the news American, and I got an assignment to cover a track meet. It was like the regional track meet, and it was at Hereford. And I thought I had done something. I got in my car in 1985 and I went up there looking for the snow. I thought it was on a mountain somewhere. Instead, I’m just out on a field in the middle of fall scene. Mike Preston, but you know, I thought I’d been somewhere when

Cindy Atkinson  15:25

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that’s a cross country tournament, yeah, yeah. Cuz that was big

Nestor Aparicio  15:29

there. Okay, we were just at the same time.

Cindy Atkinson  15:31

I ran cross country so, and they always had the state tournament at here for because they had the hardest

Nestor Aparicio  15:35

course of the count. That’s what. They had hills. He had space. They had parking. Yeah, right, everything. Lots of field parking out there. See, people know I’m not making it up, right? That’s 40 years ago, and I remember like it was yesterday.

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Cindy Atkinson  15:47

That’s right, that’s right, but that whole idea of being like so that’s where I grew up. And then I went to Goucher. So I lived there, but I went, I went there locally, so stay school. Then was girls school. My grandmother went to the original one downtown. My sister went to hood. That was a girl’s school friend. Yes, so, but I think that’s, you know, my watch, my as my parents were always volunteering, always giving. So I’ve always been volunteered. I’ve always been on boards. My whole life. It’s just been part of who we are as a family.

Nestor Aparicio  16:20

I’ve never sat on a board in my life, and I’m not going to. I get invited. I’m like I just asked. You know Ed Hale, who’s running for governor. You may want to vote for him. At some point, I may wind up having him on the show. Besides, come on, he gave and I’ll tell him this when he sits here. He gave me. He gave me a lot of great advice. Some of it I took. Some of it I didn’t the advice that Ed gave me. This is not an endorsement for him to run for governor, but any advice he ever gave me that I didn’t take. I regret it. So I hear his voice in my ear testing and at one point when I moved into into my harbor court, 2003 he said, the one thing he told me is, you never want partners in your business. So I took and I didn’t listen to him, and the I did listen him on this one, he said, You never, ever want to sit on the board of your condo association. That’s what he said. So I thought like that would be like, part of like, if I didn’t want to sit on that board, I got invited to sit on the Ed block board at one point, a couple things, and I went to a meeting or two, and I’m like, nah, this is not, it’s not where I’m best suited, right? I’m best suited to have the board chairperson sit with you on my show and do this. Yeah, this is how I can best help Hartman or help the what’s the house called? Give me the name of the house again, concept, concept house people or help starboard or help, Inc, in numbers. This is my shtick. Yeah, it’s your gift. What’s good about sitting on a board? What do you like?

Cindy Atkinson  18:00

Well, I mean, I guess the whole idea of giving back the boards that I’m involved in, I’m on the Boy Scout board. I work with some association ones that I’m involved with, Uli and crew. Uli, their events, absolutely, absolutely, you

Nestor Aparicio  18:16

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should still get Michelle Breslin Walsh invites me to this helps save my wife’s life. Important.

Cindy Atkinson  18:21

I think it’s important to to give back. I think that, you know, everybody has something that they can give, whether it’s their time, whether it’s their money, whether it’s their participation, and I think it’s important that we find time for that. And

Nestor Aparicio  18:38

well, your gift is your network. I mean, you have a lot of people.

Cindy Atkinson  18:41

I have a huge network, and I tap into, you know, my network. And again, that’s kind of what led me to take the position at Hartman, because Dave and Marie, without question, are huge servant leaders. They they always have been. They give back a lot. And so I’ve been at Hartman now 10 years. The company has been in business for 20 years, and Dave had a vision 20 years ago that companies would need it counsel, so to speak, like they do with outside legal and outside accounting. And today’s the day where you can’t just have an IT guy anymore. It just doesn’t cut it. There’s too much complexity around technology. It goes across every single asset or area of a business.

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Nestor Aparicio  19:25

Well, Amazon found that out when it got shut

Cindy Atkinson  19:27

down last night again, everybody was screaming, right? So you need somebody that has not just the technology know how, but the business acumen. So you need somebody that can sit with senior leadership at an organization and and say, where, you know, let’s take a look at where your business is today. Where does it want to be in three years? And what does that look like from a technology perspective? So you can keep that in mind when you are putting together your budgets and timelines and looking at, you know, taking on a new system, or looking at, you know, moving to the cloud. And, of course, today, you know, everybody’s looking. At AI. AI is the big buzzword, and how do you use it, and what’s it going to do for your company? So we do a lot of talking to business leaders about, you know how to get started, like looking at your business process and your operations. What’s the best place to get

Nestor Aparicio  20:16

I’m at it right now. By Christmas, I’m going to be different, right? Exactly I gave myself the summer, and I didn’t get as automated as I wanted to get, but I know I can. It’s very I know it’s there. It’s got it. I got to tap into

Cindy Atkinson  20:28

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it. It changes every single day. And as a matter of fact, we were very fortunate to get Anne balduzzi on at Hartman. She’s former president of Ted co she’s been doing AI for, you know, 20 plus years, and she’s been, you know, speaking out at organizations, at conferences and things, talking to people about how it changes. Literally every day. The presentation she gave last year are completely different this year because, you know, and it’s not got

Nestor Aparicio  20:55

to get in. Gotta get it. Got it. You gotta, you gotta learn the it’s kind of like people our age, and I was talking to Dr Sunil Dasgupta, who was my guest for my politics before. And I said, this reminds me of like when my kids sent me a text in 2004 and had that little envelope on my on my flip phone, right? And I’m like, I’m never good. What’s that little envelope? I’m not going to text with you, man, right? You know? And then a year later, I’m like, You’re a genius, right? Only way they can well, and that would be the case for Twitter, for the Internet, for social media, for all of these buzzwords to say, what is it? How can I leverage it? It’s bad. It’s everything that’s new is labeled as bad in the beginning, until

Cindy Atkinson  21:39

you figure out how to use it. Yeah, and it’s intimidating for a lot of people, but you know what I what I say to a lot of leaders is your employees already using it. They’re using it every day, like on their phones, on their tablets. So you’ve got to quickly, as a business leader, figure out what your policies are going to be around. Ai, you know? Because this is the same with cyber insurance. What came out, you know? What, seven, eight years ago, and all of a sudden, everybody had to get cyber insurance just to protect themselves. Ai, insurance is right behind that, you know. So at some point you’re going to have to, you know, have some kind of policies within your organization so that your proprietary company information doesn’t get out there. Because once the toothpaste is out of the tube, you can’t put it back, right? Well,

Nestor Aparicio  22:22

you start talking to AI, and AI takes on its own agency, right? Literally, it does. It does. Well, I mean, it’s kind of like, I guess, in a general sense, my wife and I have conversations about life, our marriage, kids, the cat food, where we’re going, and then within five minutes, I’m getting served whatever we talked about, whatever we talked about. Like, literally, if my wife and I have a disagreement in front of our phone, I will have a moderator on my thing. Like, thinking we had a disagreement about whether we were gonna have cabbage or green peppers, you’re absolutely right. And then the recipes will show up just because I said it out loud. That’s really scary, isn’t it? I’m trying to mess with the algorithm here a little bit city. Atkinson is here. She’s been my friend for 33 years. Alan working on three decades with Alan. Luke’s coming over. We all were up till three o’clock in the morning watching baseball last night. So it’s a little crazy. I want to get full, a full count that’s here to what we’re doing. Starboard society is a 5013, nonprofit organization. They’re right in Cockeysville. They’re doing an event next week. It’s Friday the seventh. It’s at the concept house at 600 D seminary. Give everybody the lowdown, so I can get you out of here and tell me what kind of curated bites, craft drinks I’m in. Community connection is all the things I want to do. Oh

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Cindy Atkinson  23:39

yeah. So we’ve got a great a list of great sponsors you could go on to you can look up Inc and numbers who are hosting it for us. Hi Stacy, Hi Lisa. Lists all of our sponsors. We’ve got lots of local food establishments that are contributing. We’re going to have wine, beer, specialty cocktails. It’s gonna be a great time. Get to see a beautiful house and have a lot of fun.

Nestor Aparicio  24:05

And you’re gonna you’re raising money. Tell me about when people need this help, how you find them, how you identify them. This fellow in White Marsh who lost his wife and her job and their salary and their three children living in a car, these are the kinds of things you’re trying to like, help with. I’m assuming you’re going to raise 1000s, if not 10s of 1000s, of dollars next week. What then happens to help people?

Cindy Atkinson  24:29

So 85 to 90% of the money that we raise goes directly to our clients, because we don’t have any overhead, we don’t have a physical office, we don’t have any staff

Nestor Aparicio  24:38

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shade taking no money for this, you get free coffee too.

Cindy Atkinson  24:41

And so people find us by word of mouth. We have partnered with a couple different nonprofits and agencies that know who we are. There are management companies around town that are aware of starboard and sometimes, if they’re you know, residents can’t afford their rent or. Struggling

Nestor Aparicio  25:00

because of a boat or because of the barn Dewey Beach, or both. Has

Cindy Atkinson  25:04

nothing to do with the barn Dewey Beach, okay, but it does have to do with Jesus casting the net off the right side of the boat, which is the starboard side. There you go. All right. Jesus said to teach the people to catch their fish. That is the starboard side. So help them. So help them. Help the people. All right. That’s what we do. So there is a biblical reference to this. There is, there is all right,

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Nestor Aparicio  25:24

well, and, and after this event, how can people out? Is there another you said you’re doing another one, right? We’ll have

Cindy Atkinson  25:30

another event in June. You can get on our we were on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and follow us. Donate to us. You know, we’ll get in touch with people towards the end of the year, and we would love to have everybody come out and see this beautiful house, have some great food, drinks and support a great cause.

Nestor Aparicio  25:48

And she’s with Hartman associates. I know Dave and Marie as well. Hi, guys, accelerate partners of mine and people I’ve known Dave from the east side of Baltimore for least 25 years, going back in fact, Dave all talking about cyber security. I think I may owe him an AI date sometime soon. What do you

Cindy Atkinson  26:03

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think? I think that’s a great idea. And we also could probably get Anne boudu see to come talk to you as well.

Nestor Aparicio  26:08

I feel like the great kazoo in in the Flintstones, like I just want to listen in and learn. I just want to be like the guy that takes it in so I can be a little smarter about AI. So I’ll get Dave on. How about Yeah, I think that’s a great idea. This is my time to get in and swim as a 57 year old with this artificial intelligence. You know, we were just about the same age. Well, I’ve been using AI for good things lately. And AI

Cindy Atkinson  26:32

is awesome. I mean, there’s so many great things you can do with it.

Nestor Aparicio  26:35

I remember being Colgate elementary as a kid right, right near Casey forms, and I would have the card catalog and the Dewey Decimal System. This is, like, this is the card catalog for life. It is what it is. It is for me. It is absolutely I’m glad I’ve lived long enough that I can put in who am I? Like, it’s like a who song, who are you? And like, AI loves me. Ai loves me, loves my company thinks Baltimore positive is awesome. So me and AI, we’re better than like me and the Ravens

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Cindy Atkinson  27:02

or the orals. Let me leave you with one last thing. So one of my an author that I really like, Tony Spaulding, he talks about how we influence people, and one of the things that he said that really stuck with me is that in our lifetime, each of us will influence 80,000 people. That’s the size of a stadium, roughly 2.8 people a day. So keeping that in mind is how I like to think all day, every day, about every little interaction, being in the moment, being positive with everybody I encounter. Because you just don’t know how you influence them that day. But when you think about over a lifetime, how many people you can influence, it’s pretty impressive.

Nestor Aparicio  27:46

Well, you made me a couple 3000 cards back in the 90s, and I and look at that, I had 1.6 million people my Facebook the last 28 days. So I’m influencing people. I’m happy for you. Well, I hope we can influence some people to come on out next week. The event is Friday, the seventh. It is in my neighborhood, right up by the radio station. It’s at the concept house at 600 e seminary Avenue. I’ve never really been there Inc, in numbers, my friend Stacey and I met Lisa at a recent LinkedIn event.

Cindy Atkinson  28:13

Always in Vegas. Yeah, yeah.

Nestor Aparicio  28:17

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We’re halfway there, right? May not yet. Not yet. We get together at our Maryland party. My thanks to Cindy Atkinson for coming out as well as Karen for setting everything up, and our friends at inking numbers as well. I’m here at State Fair. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. You get a ticket. I feel like, I feel like Oprah giving these things out. Alan McCallum was up till 3:21am I think Luke probably fell asleep in the 11th and woke back up into 14, but we’re here. We’re gonna do the Orioles have a new manager. It’s like orange plumes of smoke, right? Craig Albert, as you have to learn how to say that. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I ever even scratch offs to give away? We’re gonna be at Cocos next Wednesday. She would have come to Cocos. Great crab. Don’t sleep on a coconut shrimp. Don’t sleep on a cream and crab soup. I had some last night in my house. Also, next Friday pizza John’s in Essex. We’re gonna be down in Essex. Have a big old cheesesteak, double provolone. Gonna do some double fried onions on that. I’m gonna get some french fries, crinkle cut with some gravy. I had the seafood omelet here today at State Fair. Oh yeah, delicious. Stay fair. Chicken and Waffles. Get those for you. Leave shrimp and grits here. Fantastic. They do this salmon Parmesan, salmon spinach rice, thing that I love for dinner. That a hell of a club sandwich here too. Yeah, stay fair. We’re Catonsville. The 21228, I’m looking at, let’s see. I’m looking at Dave Grohl, looking at Kurt Cobain. I see the chick from no doubt over there. Biggie is looking at me. I got David Bowie, Eddie Vedder and the great Joan

Cindy Atkinson  29:48

Jett. It’s like being in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  29:51

it’s Freddie Mercury staring at me over here. State Fair is great right across the bill’s music, by the way, this is the music capital of Maryland. Did you know that i.

Cindy Atkinson  30:00

Kind of figured that there’s gonna be six doors along here. Music, cat, I love bluegrass, and they got the great place right down the street. Well,

Nestor Aparicio  30:06

I want my foreigner belt buckle because Katie Griggs and Sasha brown are gonna have to look at me today and they treat me like a foreigner. So I got feels like the first time. Babe, cold as ice. I am Nestor. Back for more work. Stay fair. My thanks. Cindy and our friends, get on out and support them. They’re doing good stuff at starboard.