Leisa: 00:01

Hey, besties. My name's Leisa.

Tamara: 00:03

And my name's Tamara, and we're BFFs.

Leisa: 00:06

Tamara and I met when we were about 12 years old growing up in good old Fairbanks, Alaska.

Tamara: 00:11

And we've been best friends forever since.

Leisa: 00:13

That's right. And that's why we've decided to have some fun, friendly conversations with the bestest of best friends.

Tamara: 00:18

We'll talk about how we became best friends, our experiences together, and have other best friends on the show to share how they met. Who knows?

Leisa: 00:27

You never know when you'll meet your next BFF.

Tamara: 00:30

Now let's get into it, how I met my BFF.

Leisa: 00:34

Welcome to another episode of how I met my BFF. Hi, Tamara.

Tamara: 00:38

Hey, Lisa. How's it going?

Leisa: 00:40

It's good. I don't know if I told you, but I went to a concert last week. And you're gonna be surprised that these people are still alive. I'm gonna tell you that. So I went to the fair, Orange County fair with Laura and other friends and our husbands, and we saw Casey and the sunshine band and the village people.

Leisa: 01:05

And, yes, there's still a couple of them still performing.

Tamara: 01:08

Wow. That would be amazing.

Leisa: 01:12

It was I was, like, really I was like, how

Eva Vennari: 01:14

many songs of theirs do I actually know? And I know three. Oh.

Leisa: 01:17

And he did a really good job. The guy who was the lead singer, he used the original he was the police officer, you're keeping track of the village people. And he was rocking it, and he sounded amazing and had a bunch of energy. And there were a bunch of guys, you know, flexing their muscles. And, you know, Mark really appreciated that.

Leisa: 01:38

No. I'm just kidding. But it was it was really fun. And Casey and the Sunshine Band, they did a great job too. Fun.

Leisa: 01:46

And it was still still kept kicking it. What can I say?

Tamara: 01:50

Well, I went to two concerts last week. And let's see. I saw Death Cab for Cutie.

Leisa: 01:57

Fun.

Tamara: 01:58

They're always amazing. It was great. And then, I actually went to a country concert.

Leisa: 02:04

What? How did that get through security?

Tamara: 02:08

Parker McCollum and then

Leisa: 02:11

No idea who that

Eva Vennari: 02:12

Anyways, I have to say, I

Tamara: 02:15

just want I have to make a disclaimer to the world. Yeah. It's being recorded, by the way. Country fans, can have fun. Like, I'm not really pleasantly surprised.

Tamara: 02:26

Well, no. Because something's been happening lately in the music world, at least here. Like, lately just going to concerts, you know, the usual groups that I see. I don't know what what genre you'd put me in, but, you know, everyone is so mellow at the concerts. I don't I missed the memo of, like, now you go listen to music, but you don't move, and you just sit there the whole time.

Tamara: 02:51

And it was opposite at the country concert. So I appreciated that.

Leisa: 02:55

Okay. They were up and grooving their making their groove thing.

Tamara: 02:59

Having fun, and I appreciated it because I don't understand how you could go to a concert unless it's, like, you know, a serious, you know, I don't know, orchestra concert or something, but and not dance. Like, how can you not dance for to death cab for cutie to certain songs, and it's just a mystery. So, anyways, I

Leisa: 03:19

You know, Laura went to this light what is it called? Candlelight

Joanna Sanchez: 03:24

Oh, yeah.

Leisa: 03:24

Concerts, and it's she did Fleetwood Macca and the Beatles, and it's the the orchard or the

Joanna Sanchez: 03:30

Yeah. I don't know who

Leisa: 03:31

it is. Anyway but they're not singing, but you can't sing. They say at the thing, no singing because it's, like a

Joanna Sanchez: 03:41

A nice song. Or a viola

Leisa: 03:42

or something. And I'm like, oh my god. It would be horrible at that. I would be kicked out on the first song. Anyways, so we have some great BFF guests today.

Leisa: 03:53

We have Eva and Joanna coming in hot from Beverly Hills.

Eva Vennari: 03:58

Yes. We're here. We're

Joanna Sanchez: 04:00

here. Welcome

Leisa: 04:02

to the show. We're so excited you're here. And Eve and I met I even remember where we met. We met at a, like, a networking luncheon probably ten plus years ago. And then we'll go through long years with not seeing each other or no no connection because we live in different areas.

Leisa: 04:21

And then all of a sudden, like, lightning strikes, and we see each other all the time.

Eva Vennari: 04:27

Yes. So

Leisa: 04:29

it's really cool. So I'm excited to meet your best friend and hear about your story. Do you wanna kick us off, Eva, of, like, how you and Joanna met?

Eva Vennari: 04:38

We have a mutual friend. Oh. Yes. Who neither well, do you talk to her still?

Joanna Sanchez: 04:43

I talk to her sometimes. Yeah.

Eva Vennari: 04:45

Okay. Yeah. I don't. But that's okay because the work was done. She was listening to Joanna talk about stuff and then she was listening to me talk about similar stuff.

Eva Vennari: 04:58

And so this friend, she goes, you two should know each other so you could talk about that kind of stuff together because I don't like talking about that kind of stuff.

Leisa: 05:05

Okay. Yeah. But now I want to know what kind of stuff you were talking about.

Tamara: 05:08

Guys.

Leisa: 05:09

Oh, men? Yes. She didn't wanna talk about men. Okay. No.

Leisa: 05:14

Men. Men are great. Yeah. Yeah.

Eva Vennari: 05:18

And spirituality. Yes. Well, yes. Yes. But that wasn't the reason to not talk.

Joanna Sanchez: 05:24

That's right.

Eva Vennari: 05:24

Yes.

Leisa: 05:25

Yes. Okay. So how many years ago was that?

Joanna Sanchez: 05:28

Ten, eleven? Maybe eleven years. Yeah.

Leisa: 05:32

Yeah.

Eva Vennari: 05:32

Yeah. So she invited this mutual friend. She had a fourth of July, like, little celebration in her backyard, and it was very intimate. So my mom had just passed and was the invitation was for my dad and myself. And then Joanna had her dad here in LA with her because they're normally in New York.

Eva Vennari: 05:54

And so she invited all of us to come and meet and have fourth of July together. And that was it. We just we'd hung out and had a great time and and yeah.

Leisa: 06:05

That's all you needed. That's the spark no pun intended, of your relationship.

Eva Vennari: 06:10

Mine is fireworks. Yes.

Leisa: 06:14

Very cool. How about from your perspective, Joanna, how did it go down?

Joanna Sanchez: 06:19

Well, I loved it. You know? I I was so happy to meet somebody that, you know, there were so many similarities, and we could relate on so many levels. And and I think the one that introduced us, she was became a little bit jealous. It was uncomfortable for her.

Joanna Sanchez: 06:35

She did. Yeah. And I understood that. You know?

Eva Vennari: 06:39

We had not tell her what was going on, like, when we were meeting. Yeah. But, yeah, it was weird.

Joanna Sanchez: 06:44

Yeah. It was weird. But it was so fun meeting each other, and then we just took it from there.

Leisa: 06:51

That's so exciting.

Tamara: 06:52

Yeah.

Leisa: 06:52

How did you go from and I don't know how long it took, maybe not that long, but to go from just meeting to that BFF status? Eva, what do you think?

Eva Vennari: 07:04

Well, I'm I'm slow to get to know. Generally speaking, if if you wanna be more than just an acquaintance, it takes a long time for you to earn my trust of why do you belong in my sphere? And so

Leisa: 07:19

I know. For me, it's like at least ten years now I'm waiting. So I'm just kidding. Kidding.

Eva Vennari: 07:26

But I've been told that before. You'd be really slow to get to know. I'm just cautious that way. But I am open to having like lunch or coffee. And I think the first time we actually met out again was for coffee.

Eva Vennari: 07:40

Right?

Joanna Sanchez: 07:40

I think so. Yeah.

Eva Vennari: 07:42

Yeah. Yeah. And so maybe,

Joanna Sanchez: 07:44

I don't know,

Eva Vennari: 07:45

once every week or two, we just kept it going until finally we both realized we're we see each other a lot. Yeah. It might have been,

Joanna Sanchez: 07:57

I don't know,

Tamara: 07:58

six months to a year.

Eva Vennari: 07:59

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Because we both are very very busy people running, you know, entrepreneur y. Yeah.

Leisa: 08:08

It's it takes a lot more effort than when you're going to school with someone and seeing them every day or working in the same office and seeing each other every day to develop a friendship when you're both busy and established with your life. It does take that extra time and energy and effort even if it's something you wanna do. It takes dedication.

Joanna Sanchez: 08:30

It does, and then it becomes a need. It's like, I need to see her.

Tamara: 08:34

Yeah. Savannah, I was gonna ask what what is it about Eva that you love about her and appreciate?

Joanna Sanchez: 08:42

Well, that's so sweet. I I just adore her, and and I think we can talk about anything. You know? She laughs at all my jokes. She thinks I'm the funniest thing that I've ever walked.

Joanna Sanchez: 08:55

And I see. And I just you know, it it I think we're each other's biggest fans. Yeah. And and we have a lot of respect for what we each do. You know?

Joanna Sanchez: 09:07

I'll tell you a quick funny story. I'm I'm, like, super affectionate. Like, I'll pounce her and hug her and not stop, and I'll be like, I love you. And so on the phone, because I'm in New York a lot, I'll say, I love you, and nothing. Crickets.

Joanna Sanchez: 09:22

So I'll go I go like this. I go, I'll hold. And I'll end up holding forever.

Eva Vennari: 09:32

Now it's just something funny that we do. It's a it's a little play act that we will play out. Yeah.

Leisa: 09:40

Love it.

Joanna Sanchez: 09:41

But that that's one of the differences. But I think the thing that really is important in in a friendship is how much respect we have for each other and how much we build each other up and how we are each other's cheerleaders, you know. And that's so important. I always feel like she's on my side and in my back pocket.

Eva Vennari: 10:00

Oh, yeah. Yeah. If if something goes down for her and she doesn't see that she should be mad about it, I'm mad about it for Yes. I'm like, no. No.

Eva Vennari: 10:07

No. That shouldn't happen.

Joanna Sanchez: 10:09

Yeah. And then what she'll do, because she's absolutely brilliant, I got her a cup saying Google because she's better than Google. I don't need Google. My best friend knows everything. Yeah.

Leisa: 10:19

Oh, that's good.

Joanna Sanchez: 10:20

No. But it's true. And I call her up, and I'll say, I'm really mad at this person. She goes, no. It's not that person.

Joanna Sanchez: 10:27

It's this person. And I'm like, oh my god. You're right. It's misdirected. You know?

Joanna Sanchez: 10:33

And it will so much insight and you know? And we do that for each other.

Leisa: 10:39

It's hard to see ourselves sometimes, so it's nice to have a safe person who can reflect back and challenge in a way that isn't offensive. You know? It's like Right. You get me.

Joanna Sanchez: 10:53

And I believe we get what we we we learn what we want from our don't wants, and we've each had friendships that haven't been like this. Yeah. You know, where there's jealousy. There's just all this stuff we don't wanna talk about.

Tamara: 11:06

Beautiful.

Leisa: 11:09

What about you you, Eva? What do you love about Joanna?

Eva Vennari: 11:13

Well, first of all, we're both Libras. Yes. Oh, nice. So anybody who's a Libra knows it's, you know, Libra love. And that, for me, is there's a consistency to the showing up.

Eva Vennari: 11:26

Right? It's like if I if I need something, the first person I call is, am I thinking about this right? Is there something going on in this situation that I'm just not witnessing? Or I need a cheerleader, as she's mentioned, we're we're, like, we'll build each other up. She's the first person I wanna call.

Joanna Sanchez: 11:43

Ditto.

Leisa: 11:45

Love that.

Eva Vennari: 11:46

That took too long.

Joanna Sanchez: 11:47

Oh, sorry. Was hold.

Leisa: 11:50

He was on hold.

Eva Vennari: 11:55

Yeah. We always make each other laugh. Like, there'll be a very serious thing, and then one of us will find something funny in it, and and then it's over. Then we're just giggling the rest of the time. Yeah.

Eva Vennari: 12:04

It's done.

Joanna Sanchez: 12:05

Yeah. Just laughing and going.

Leisa: 12:07

And then how do you I know both of you have your own businesses. Like, how does that come in, or does that come in to your friendship at all?

Eva Vennari: 12:17

Oh, we haven't found a way to bring our businesses together yet. They they they're they're still, like, awkward children.

Leisa: 12:24

Well, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're in business together, but just like you well, Eva, tell us what you do. Like, what is it what's your business? And then, Joanna, you tell us what you're

Eva Vennari: 12:33

I I get to heal leaders who are looking to change the world. And so it's all about the the physical and the metaphysical and bringing those two together for their vision and purpose.

Joanna Sanchez: 12:44

And I'm an actress and producer. And right now, I have a lot of different projects that I'm working on to heal the world too and inspire.

Tamara: 12:54

Oh, wow.

Joanna Sanchez: 12:55

Yeah. To

Leisa: 12:57

Different things, different ways of getting to the same place.

Joanna Sanchez: 13:01

Yeah. Yeah.

Tamara: 13:02

That's that you both are very busy. So, Eva, how do you guys make time for one another?

Eva Vennari: 13:11

Well, I know my boss really well. Yeah. And and she's cool about having a very flexible schedule. So whenever Joanna's in town, I just kind of block out time, and then I move work time to another another more or less convenient time, more convenient. Whatever.

Eva Vennari: 13:31

However that works out. Yeah. It's flexible, basically. Flexible. That's that's the way to put it.

Eva Vennari: 13:35

Yes.

Joanna Sanchez: 13:36

And I and we joke because when I give her the date that I'm coming, she's she's ready to book an airline trip out of here. You know? And so now I don't give her too much morning, so she can't do that.

Leisa: 13:48

But the wait, Joanna, do you live in LA and New York? Or do you yeah. You have two okay. Two homes. Yeah.

Joanna Sanchez: 13:54

So and Eva came to visit me in New York, and we had so much fun. Oh, yeah. We did. It was really fun.

Leisa: 13:59

Yeah. What were the highlights of your New York?

Eva Vennari: 14:02

Oh, we finally solved your sleeping trouble. Yes. I walked into the room. So the the room where where her room has two two twin beds in it. And first thing I did, walked in like, oh, no.

Eva Vennari: 14:12

This is bad feng shui. And so I've I've fixed things and we cleaned out the space. She's like, what have you done to my room?

Joanna Sanchez: 14:20

No. Yeah. And I sleep better. Yeah.

Leisa: 14:23

Wow.

Eva Vennari: 14:23

She through she slept through the night. She's like, I never sleep through the night.

Joanna Sanchez: 14:27

No. It was great. Yeah. But we saw a Broadway show. We went to some really good restaurants.

Eva Vennari: 14:32

I got to know the 15 really well.

Joanna Sanchez: 14:34

The 15 bus. Bus. We kept going on

Eva Vennari: 14:36

the same bus. I I love history. And so I wanted to go to Fauci's Cavern. Cap Bronshee. Bronshee's Cavern.

Eva Vennari: 14:44

And it's all the way down on the other side. She lives in Upper West Side. And so this is all the way down in Manhattan, down all the way down. Downtown. And and so you take the 15, it goes all the way down.

Leisa: 14:55

I like that about New York. Everything makes sense. It's like one, two, three, four, a, b, c, d, e. Yeah. It's a grid.

Leisa: 15:01

Everything's like a block. It's the same. It makes it easier to navigate, I think, where you're where you wanna go. It's a little more confusing in California.

Joanna Sanchez: 15:12

It is. It is.

Tamara: 15:17

Do you guys have any trips coming up together planned?

Joanna Sanchez: 15:21

We'll have to plan that.

Eva Vennari: 15:22

Yeah. Yeah.

Tamara: 15:23

We have to plan that.

Leisa: 15:24

So what do you like to do when you're together?

Eva Vennari: 15:28

And I can't Yes. I was gonna say, let's say it together on feed. Eat. Yeah. Eat.

Eva Vennari: 15:34

We're food motivated, both of us. We are foodies. We love to eat.

Joanna Sanchez: 15:37

We love to eat and shop. We like to shop.

Eva Vennari: 15:39

Shop. Sure.

Joanna Sanchez: 15:39

Yeah. Yes. We've got the screenings together, different events.

Tamara: 15:45

Yep.

Eva Vennari: 15:46

Yeah. Yeah. So movies, shopping, you

Joanna Sanchez: 15:48

know, throw stuff. Girl stuff.

Leisa: 15:50

Love it.

Joanna Sanchez: 15:51

A lot of looking around.

Leisa: 15:54

Yeah. That I so I have a friend who's in SAG, and she invited me to one of the not a it wasn't a screening, but, like, for the SAG Awards screening, and it was so so cool. It was for Barbie, and so then we got to see all the cast there and do the q and a after. Oh my gosh. That was really cool.

Leisa: 16:12

It's it's fun to have a friend who's in SAG.

Joanna Sanchez: 16:15

Yeah. We went to one where there was dinner, like, what remember that one? It was we we planned to go to dinner after, and this was like filet mignon. I mean, we I couldn't believe it. Remember?

Eva Vennari: 16:27

Yeah. We just hung out at the tables. Yeah.

Leisa: 16:30

Yeah. One thing I learned, I guess they do everyone does their thing different. So sometimes they'll have like a party or swag bags or, yeah, food, and then sometimes Noah's just a moo and I'm like, oh, wow. I didn't know all these people did things differently. It's really cool.

Eva Vennari: 16:44

Yeah. Could be a step and repeat or a red carpet or Right. And she's like, here. Hold my bag.

Leisa: 16:52

That's so fun. How is

Eva Vennari: 16:54

on the whole breakfast.

Tamara: 16:56

Well, even though we heard a little bit of what you guys do for fun for today, what is your plan after we get off this podcast?

Eva Vennari: 17:03

Oh, yeah. Shopping food.

Joanna Sanchez: 17:05

Shopping food. Yeah.

Leisa: 17:07

We were in LA. So for our besties listening, like, if they were gonna go to LA, where would they start to go shopping? Like, what's a good tip?

Eva Vennari: 17:16

We like the Beverly Center and then across the street Beverly Center used to be, like $30 for parking, and they changed it. It's only a dollar an hour now. So I know. So then just recently, didn't we find the the the ticket? Free parking.

Eva Vennari: 17:31

We found out how to do it.

Joanna Sanchez: 17:34

Place was

Leisa: 17:34

free. That's really big in LA. Yes.

Joanna Sanchez: 17:37

And we found a buffet. My favorite word, buffet. Yes.

Eva Vennari: 17:40

So we're we're always looking for a new we found one restaurant not too long ago, and then right after we were done going, this is our favorite place, they're closed. So we're always looking for a new new place. But do we have a favorite? I mean, we go to Marmalead a lot Marmalead. For breakfast.

Eva Vennari: 17:58

Yeah. Yeah. She gets coupons, and she's like, let's go to Marmalead for breakfast. Yeah.

Joanna Sanchez: 18:01

It's fun. It's it's great for at The Grove. We like The Grove too.

Eva Vennari: 18:05

Yeah. If you go there early, parking is easy. Yeah.

Leisa: 18:09

They have I haven't been up to LA for a lot lately because my mom used to live near where Eva lives, but she moved, what, fifth not fifteen years ago, but a little over ten years ago and to Orange County, so I don't go to LA very often anymore. But it's beautiful. So many places to eat, so many places to shop. I mean, it's a really wildly different there's all different kinds of things you do. So how fun.

Leisa: 18:36

What a great day you have together. Yeah. Is there any last words that you wanna leave with each other?

Eva Vennari: 18:44

Last words? Maybe

Joanna Sanchez: 18:48

to offer hope that people can find this, you know, when you don't settle. You know? Love that. Yeah.

Leisa: 18:57

Yeah. Friends are optional. Right? You don't need to be friends with somebody who doesn't float your boat.

Eva Vennari: 19:02

We've never had a fight. No.

Joanna Sanchez: 19:04

No. Yeah.

Eva Vennari: 19:06

We haven't And it's not because we don't speak up. We do. We we tell each other, you know, it's it's tact. It's the honesty. It's the willingness to be open and knowing that we're not looking to Be right.

Eva Vennari: 19:17

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Joanna Sanchez: 19:19

They say argue for the for the relationship not to be right.

Eva Vennari: 19:22

Yeah. You know? So we exemplify that. Yeah. Yeah.

Leisa: 19:26

Wow. That's a really good way of saying it. Argue for the relationship not to be right.

Joanna Sanchez: 19:31

Yeah. Fight for the relationship not fight to be right. Yeah.

Leisa: 19:35

Oh, wow. Oh, I love that. That's a great saying. Okay. I'm gonna use that one.

Joanna Sanchez: 19:40

Good.

Leisa: 19:41

Well, thanks for sharing your BFF story. And you never know, honestly, where you're gonna meet your next BFF could be at fourth of July party. We weren't even expecting it. What a beautiful surprise. Thank you.

Leisa: 19:53

Bye, everyone.

Joanna Sanchez: 19:54

Nice to meet you.

Eva Vennari: 19:55

Bye. You too.

Leisa: 19:58

Hey, bestie. Thanks for listening. If you like this episode, be sure to hit that subscribe button to get notified of new episodes and check out cool bestie gift ideas at howimetmybff.com.

Tamara: 20:10

That's right. And also leave us a review. Those reviews help us out a lot and are one of the best ways to support us.

Leisa: 20:17

Yes. And if you have a fun story about how you met your b f f, send us an email at info@howImetmyBFF.com. We would love to hear about it.

Tamara: 20:25

Definitely. And, hey, maybe we'll have you on our next episode.

Leisa: 20:30

That would be awesome. Until next time.

Tamara: 20:32

Love you, BFFs.