Telling A Story with Lisa Hughes

Before WBZ-TV became the PMC's official media partner, news anchor Lisa Hughes was a new rider considering if she would be able to finish her first PMC (broken arm and all). Now in her 10th year, Lisa has raised nearly $100,000 for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and is one of the amazing team at WBZ helping tell the PMC's story. She shares what she and her colleagues look for when deciding on stories to feature, and how each is a touchstone for her, providing inspiration for her training and fundraising.

Transcript

Announcer:   0:00
This is the PMC podcast with Kristin Brandt and Bill Alfano. The Pan-Mass Challenge. Raising money for life saving, cancer research and treatment at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Now here's Kristin Brandt at Bill Alfano.

Kristin Brandt:   0:22
You're listening to

Kristin Brandt:   0:23


Kristin Brandt:   0:23
The PMC Podcast. This is Kristin Brandt, and I am coming to you virtually with my co-host, Bill Alfano. Good morning, Bill.

Bill Alfano:   0:32
Good morning. And it sounds like Daisy is joining us today.

Kristin Brandt:   0:35
Daisy is always in the mix with the,

Kristin Brandt:   0:39
Who is coming to my house?  

Bill Alfano:   0:40
Yeah, I

Bill Alfano:   0:41
could get Bruno. That's my dog. Get Bruno into the mix as well, if you'd like.

Kristin Brandt:   0:45
And it I'm always torn between Oh, good dog. Thank you for telling me and be quiet.  

Bill Alfano:   0:51
Yeah,

Bill Alfano:   0:51
yeah, we face the same issues Over here we same

Bill Alfano:   0:00
issues  

Kristin Brandt:   0:55
Exactly. But it's a beautiful day. The sun is shining, Spring has arrived. So that's all good things. And this week on the podcast we have a very special guest. Want to tell us about her?

Bill Alfano:   1:09
Yeah. I mean, it's Lisa Hughes from WBZ You know, Lisa is one of their main anchors. I believe it's the 5 to 6 in the 11 o'clock news. She's also a 10 year PMC rider, which is exciting. And she's closing in on a pretty milestone year for fundraising as well.

Kristin Brandt:   1:29
That's awesome. Well, let's take a quick break and we will come back with Lisa.

Kristin Brandt:   1:33
We're here with Lisa Hughes, anchor of WBZ TV. Hello, Lisa. So nice to see you.  

Lisa Hughes:   1:39
Good to see you too, Hi Bill.  

Kristin Brandt:   1:42
So I have to I have to say I watch WBZ TV. So little flutter. Get to hang out with you right now. I see you every day.  

Lisa Hughes:   1:51
Thank you very much  

Kristin Brandt:   1:53
So. But for those who may not know you are, maybe you could just tell people little bit about yourself.  

Lisa Hughes:   1:58
Sure. Um, I

Lisa Hughes:   2:00
do the five. The six and the 11 o'clock newscasts on WBZ with my co anchor David. Wade. I moved to Boston

Lisa Hughes:   2:07
20 years ago this month,

Lisa Hughes:   2:10
um, to start working at WBZ from CBS in Washington and I hit the jackpot. I just feel like this is the best market in a country to be doing local news. Um, I love being in Massachusetts. I met my husband here, and we grew our family here, and the PMC is here, and so it has everything I could ever want. And I just feel extraordinarily lucky, particularly right now, um, to be working because, you know, I know so many people are home and to be able to go into work in the station, we're doing social distancing there. We have actually two anchor desks, which are about 20 feet

Lisa Hughes:   2:52
apart. We're doing our social distancing even when we're doing the news. But there is some sense of

Lisa Hughes:   2:58
normalcy that comes with driving into an office. Even though you know a fraction of my colleagues are there. It does feel good to be working and doing something.

Bill Alfano:   3:09
Yeah, I get to drive to my daughter's play room for my office every day.

Lisa Hughes:   3:12
That people, too, if only everyone could see it. It's very happy.  

Kristin Brandt:   3:16
That's right. And I will say we could probably do a whole like second show just on your new normal, because I've noticed the split screen. I was like, Oh, they must have them, like totally on the other sides of the  

Lisa Hughes:   3:27
Oh exactly.  

Kristin Brandt:   3:29
So why don't you tell us a little bit about you mentioned the PMC here in Massachusetts? What is your relationship with the PMC?  

Lisa Hughes:   3:37
I probably heard about

Lisa Hughes:   3:38
the PMC within a year or two of moving here. So let's say, 18 years ago and at the time I didn't own a bicycle, but I was taking Pilates from the fabulous PJ O'Claire PMC rider of many years. And she said, You have to do this. This is an experience unlike anything I've had before. Um, and she is a very athletic person and is used to building community with Pilates and all these other different exercises and

Lisa Hughes:   4:07
the way she talked about it. Was extraordinary. And at the time I thought, you know, this could be

Lisa Hughes:   4:13
one of those things that I think about doing many, many times, but never actually do it. And in the back of my mind, I was thought that would be a shame because she wasn't the only one who talked about the PMC in such a glowing way. And I'm gonna say, Nine years ago I was at a Christmas party and someone introduced me to Billy Starr. He said, you know, But this is Billy Starr. He's the he founded the PMC, and I said,

Lisa Hughes:   4:40
You help. I have always wanted to write it in classic Billy fashion, he said. Well, then, why don't you? And as luck would have it, Billy and I became neighbors

Lisa Hughes:   4:52
within a year, and I mean

Lisa Hughes:   4:53
next door neighbors. And we actually owe the

Lisa Hughes:   4:58
finding the discovery of our house in no small part to Billy's wife, Meredith. And so as we were moving in, my husband looked to me and he said, You know, all those times you said you wanted to ride the PMC

Lisa Hughes:   5:08
now you're going to ride for life and I said, You're right, I am. Which means I gotta

Lisa Hughes:   5:14
get a bicycle. So, my first PMC was in 2011. Um, I think about the bike in 2010 after the 2010 ride, and I did not know how to ride. I've been taking spin classes, but, like I didn't know how to clip in and again, Meredith Starr connected me with fabulous Dana-Farber doctor and researcher Jim DiCaprio, who took me to the Mass-Bay Community College parking lot, and taught me how to ride a bike with clips not unlike how you would take your child to

Bill Alfano:   5:45
Driver's Ed.  

Lisa Hughes:   5:46
Here she is learning how to drive, and you know these isn't like the

Lisa Hughes:   5:50
world's truly good people who teach non cyclists how to ride a bike because they really do have to have extraordinary patience were riding up a hill in Dover and I dropped my chain. And we're in a

Lisa Hughes:   6:03
driveway, in fact, that having flashbacks to these experiences, But But I love it. And I knew that I knew that I loved it.

Lisa Hughes:   6:11
And in keeping with the famous PMC tagline commit, you'll figure it out. I had I had registered, so I was in and I was gonna get it.  And from the first year, which was challenging, to say the least, because I broke my arm

Lisa Hughes:   6:27
13 days, 13 days before the ride, I think.  

Kristin Brandt:   6:30
What? No, no.  

Lisa Hughes:   6:33
Yeah. No, no, no. I want to say

Lisa Hughes:   6:35
no. But it is, Yes. I, uh, Yeah, I wiped out on some railroad tracks in really classic rookie fashion. And then proceeded to tell the paramedics that I was fine. I told my husband I was fine. You could take his time coming to get me. Meanwhile, there's an X ray that shows I have a broken arm and I've cut it. Cut my leg and I'm getting stitches and there's

Lisa Hughes:   6:56
a spider in my hospital room anyway. and, um But I was determined to ride because I have raised the money I put in. All this time I had

Lisa Hughes:   7:06
overcome this sense like, this is something I don't know if I could do it. And since I was doing it, I wanted to see it all the way through. I would not recommend this by the way.

Lisa Hughes:   7:14
to anyone,  

Kristin Brandt:   7:15
I think this is This is where we put the disclosure in

Lisa Hughes:   7:19
exactly  

Kristin Brandt:   7:19
do not try this at home professionals only.  

Lisa Hughes:   7:23
Exactly. Do not do as I

Lisa Hughes:   7:25
do. I called Jim DiCaprio the day I was getting the stitches out. So that was the Friday before the ride. I was riding the two day from Wellesley, and I said to him, I

Lisa Hughes:   7:34
think I know what you're gonna

Lisa Hughes:   7:35
say, But just please tell me if you're me and you could get the doctor to make you a removable cast, Would you do this for one day? Would you just ride to Bourne and maybe you call it good and I'm expecting him to say, you know, absolutely. That's what dedicated people do

Lisa Hughes:   7:51
they instead he says, Absolutely not. You have your whole life to ride this. You don't want your first experience to be all banged up with a cast on your arm? Well, I had

Lisa Hughes:   8:03
already decided that was gonna ride. So

Lisa Hughes:   8:05
I rode to Bourne. I never got out of my small in my small ring . I went the whole way in My small ring, Um, the nice people at Belmont Wheel works rearranged my brakes so that if I needed to, I could break in the very front or the side. But I could really

Lisa Hughes:   8:22
only break on one side because I couldn't move my left hand at all

Kristin Brandt:   8:24
Where was your arm broken? I wish people could see me cringing. And I'm like, I like folding in on myself.  

Lisa Hughes:   8:33
I think if you're gonna break your arm, this is pretty good place, actually. So if you have your left arm out and you grabbed where you would put your watch, right, you put your finger around your arm right on the outside part of that bone right there. I have a little metal plate there now. So yeah, right there and in any way. So I rode to Bourne, and I had to call it good, but that was my first

Lisa Hughes:   8:57
PMC. And and from then on I was hooked

Bill Alfano:   9:00
10 years 10 years right Lisa? 

Lisa Hughes:   9:01
this is my 10th year.  

Kristin Brandt:   9:05
Can I just say that that is the most badass of booboos I've ever heard of? Because that's what we call those around us around here when I fall, which I do a lot of those air badass booboos. And you got a good one. That was  

Lisa Hughes:   9:19
It Didn't feel great at the time.  

Kristin Brandt:   9:22
No, really bad choices all around.  

Lisa Hughes:   9:26
I know, I know from the accident and yeah, yeah, it was It was rough. It was rough, but it felt like such a feeling

Lisa Hughes:   9:34
of accomplishment to do it. And I and I had the bug, you know, I was in that I felt that full sense of community and just the everything about it. Despite that setback, it was so wonderful that that I knew I knew I was in.

Bill Alfano:   9:49
Plus, he's what a story.

Lisa Hughes:   9:51
Yeah, Yes, yes, I and you know thank God for Susan Greene Helman, Another

Lisa Hughes:   9:57
multi year rider who also happens to be a nurse. She agreed to ride with me the whole

Lisa Hughes:   10:02
way. Were these thing We were the last two people to pull out of the Babson parking lot and she and I and she didn't even really know me. So She was stuck with me for many, many

Lisa Hughes:   10:14
hours. And to this day, I am. I am in her debt.

Kristin Brandt:   10:18
OK, but now it's 10 years later.  

Lisa Hughes:   10:21
Yes,  

Kristin Brandt:   10:21
10th, you're hitting, I hear you're about to go over how much raised for Dana-Farber?  

Lisa Hughes:   10:28
Oh, my gosh, that's a great question. 

Bill Alfano:   10:29
100,000 Lisa 100,000. You're like you're like, $1500. At this point. I think shy of it you're definitely gonna cross over 100 grand. 10 years, $100,000. That's pretty amazing.

Lisa Hughes:   10:43
Oh, well, you know, there are a lot of heavy

Lisa Hughes:   10:47
hitters and who are so inspirational in their fundraising that I feel like I've drawn a lot of energy from them and the other day, and this was the sweetest thing that I have to share it. There is a woman who had received her check from the government, and she tweeted me and said, You know, I don't have a lot, but I want to give to your ride and this is a woman who every single year gives what she can, and it is so touching. To me, it's as if. It was a, you know, $1000 check, because I know that it's it's part of her program every year you know, something that she thinks about, even at a time when she has a lot of other things to think about.

Sponsor:   11:28
The PMC Podcast is supported by Sundin Sports Marketing. Putting Your Ideas into Action at Sundin sports dot com

Bill Alfano:   11:42
Lisa, you brought up. You know the stories you tell in your on rides. That's and that's what we're gonna talk about a little bit today. Um, Lisa Hughes, the professional Lisa used the anchor at WBZ. You guys are such an incredible partner of the PMC. One of the things we get to do is round up PMC stories, which there's never a shortage of. They come through our why I program. They come through different employees. They just walked into our office some days, and our job is to work with our PR group and go through those stories and then send them over to you and your team So you guys can kind of look through and see what stories you're gonna focus on this year. What should be part of opening ceremonies. How do we tell the PMC story and help this fundraising, um, effort every year So can you tell us a little bit about but maybe that process it And what? What goes into BZ Taking these stories and really shining such a great light on what the PMC community does?

Lisa Hughes:   12:41
Absolutely. Um, and with pleasure. So I will say that being involved with the PMC has just been such a huge boost for our staff. As you can imagine. You know, many of the stories that we're telling day to day in a newscast are not uplifting, um, and to be involved with PMC, which is all about helping to find cures for cancer and, you know, boosting research. It gives us a real sense of purpose. And the amount of money that the PMC raises every year is so significant that we all know that we're moving the needle. so How do we decide what stories are going to be told on BZ? We try to strike a balance in all the different ways, so we try to make sure that we're covering people of a variety of age groups, different cancers and different cancer experiences people who are new to the ride and then people who are veterans of the ride and telling a story. Last year, the year before about Team Lick, a team lick rider who had ridden for 10 years and was

Lisa Hughes:   13:40
like, I think I can

Lisa Hughes:   13:41
be done now and then discovered on that ride that it that he had been riding it like a race and when he rode it like a ride as opposed to a race, how different the experience was and to me when I heard him talking about it, that was the that was the hook for me because you could apply that almost anything in your life, right? We blaze through certain things because we know how they're gonna go. And the minute you look up or look out or look around, you realize there's a different experience to be had with a different mindset, and now he's in it for more than 20 years and his daughters involved and you know,

Lisa Hughes:   14:18
so we try to find stories

Lisa Hughes:   14:20
that offer our viewers some variety. Um, if you can imagine, as a visual medium in TV what we do have a lot of our pictures of people on bicycles.

Lisa Hughes:   14:30
You know that's a given. I mean, I know everybody, rides the PMC is like yeah of course, but you know, think about that. We also

Lisa Hughes:   14:36
wanna have some visual variety to. And so you know, whether it's someone whose day job is something totally different and then rides the PMC as a release or a tribute to someone who's fighting cancer. We try to work those stories in as well. And you know, the PMC is such a significant part of the Jimmy Funds annual fundraising. It's

Lisa Hughes:   15:01
really important for

Lisa Hughes:   15:02
us to also tell the stories of Children who are battling cancer. You

Lisa Hughes:   15:07
know, that's in all of these

Lisa Hughes:   15:08
stories when you can make the connection between the fundraising dollars and the research that produced, if not a cure, a therapy or treatment that made it possible for this person to either hold a sign that says I'm alive because of you or to get on a bicycle, then then you've got you know, that is really like That's the ultimate story of triumph, and that's what we're looking for. And we know that beyond the 6800 riders that there are thousands of donors and

Lisa Hughes:   15:40
these donors want to know. What are you doing with this money like out? Because I give to you every year and get your letter of year. Now show me how

Lisa Hughes:   15:49
this is paying off, and it's really gratifying to be able to tell those stories. And the weekend itself has become such a great story for our viewers, I think, because

Lisa Hughes:   16:04
you, if you're not on the route, you can't

Lisa Hughes:   16:07
possibly know what's happening. But if we can bring you sort of a taste of of Lakeville and, um, you know, Bourne and Provincetown and the ride along the way,

Lisa Hughes:   16:19
you get a sense that this

Sponsor:   16:21
is this is a movement. This is, a community on wheels that the donors are certainly a part of to and the volunteers. And so it's

Lisa Hughes:   16:30
at the end of that

Lisa Hughes:   16:31
weekend. There's just this feeling of real, joy and camaraderie and community, and it's sort of the best in upbeat storytelling. But there is a really serious mission behind it, and we're all committed to it. And so it feels really good to be able to tell that whole

Lisa Hughes:   16:49
story  

Kristin Brandt:   16:49
and my observation just of that weekend. If you guys are there I mean, you're you and David are are there in the morning, then you're on the bike than there are people all over the place. Like I'm still astounded how good you look at the end of day one where I'm like dripping, and you're, like, back on camera.  

Lisa Hughes:   17:06
Bill knows I try to avoid the camera. Not because I'm, like, you know, that they were also I mean, I think this is the other thing is that it's a great equalizer, right? Everybody

Lisa Hughes:   17:17
is in bike clothes and helmets and you know, nobody is is going to do a runway walk.

Lisa Hughes:   17:22
I I feel like once I get into that zone, I'm more than happy to interview people as Bill knows. but but I really like to be in

Lisa Hughes:   17:33
that space in Bourne and let my colleagues who were there yeah, have that experience, you know, do the interviewing. And last year I did right by the living proof photo that I know Carie Capossela talked about in her podcast. I did an interview there with our crew. At

Lisa Hughes:   17:46
that point, I gotta be honest. I'm like, No, I'm not really sure how good I look at this point, but it's not about me. Really, It's about this event and need. Being here is the most important thing and being able to

Lisa Hughes:   17:57
talk about how important it is and how wonderful it is to me. That's like the best

Lisa Hughes:   18:01
part.  

Kristin Brandt:   18:02
Sorry, there is a celebrity. There is like we know there are celebrities riding right, but you don't see them. Everyone's just in it. Everyone just riding and even in that day came up on you, right? Like I was riding right here and I was like oh hi, that's Lisa Hughes. Yeah, but it's it doesn't you don't get that feel. It feels like we're all in it together.  

Lisa Hughes:   18:22
Exactly. Exactly. Were like all team PMC.  

Kristin Brandt:   18:26
Yeah,

Bill Alfano:   18:26
and it's throughout the whole organization Kristin. You don't get to see it as much as I do, but we are welcomed with open arms with for ideas for anything to help promote the mission. Um, you know, it's Lisa, it's It's pretty much every on air personality either. Does the event covers the event volunteers to cover the event and then the production team. The creative team like it's It's incredible. The resources that Mark Lund is the GM. That resources that he just hands us to from the station. It really is. You know, I've been in marketing a long time at work in media, long time, and I've never really seen anything like it. So we're very appreciative of BZ as a hole in incredibly appreciative of Lisa because I think we get Lisa in trouble all the time. She just doesn't tell us. As I mentioned, you know, Billy will just call Lisa and say, Hey, here's a great story. Could you put it on the news tonight? 

Lisa Hughes:   19:20
I love that. That's so we obviously can't do everything, but I love getting

Lisa Hughes:   19:23
those ideas from people in, You know when when you, everybody in his or her day hear stories. So

Lisa Hughes:   19:28
if there's something that, like grabs you, I

Lisa Hughes:   19:31
want people to call me.

Bill Alfano:   19:32
That's good we're adding Lisa's cell phone to the show notes. So feel free to call her whenever you

Bill Alfano:   19:37
like.  

Lisa Hughes:   19:38
You mentioned Mark Lund and our general manager,

Lisa Hughes:   19:41
president, general manager. His. So he's a huge supporter, his son Connor, in Colorado has become such a fan of the PMC, having now ridden in a couple of years like he's in to, he trains in Colorado flies out here, does the ride. And last year, at the end of day two in in Provincetown, I'm looking across the tent in a

Lisa Hughes:   20:01
daze, and I realize I'm looking right at him. You know, we have this great moment where I got

Lisa Hughes:   20:05
to talk to his friends about the ride and, you know, I mean, I think he I think he'll be a lifer too. 

Bill Alfano:   20:10
yeah, David's been involved. You've had Rachel on Breana involved Winner Cycle like yourself. I mean, we don't even talked about the fact that you participate in the Winter Cycle as well. So you guys, you guys are everywhere. So bringing it back to you that what you do, these stories I know how much emotion goes into many of these stories. Obviously. Do you take them with you through training and through ride weekend? And what are they? What are they for? You? The person who had to actually put together the story

Lisa Hughes:   20:36
They're My Touchstone

Lisa Hughes:   20:37
to the event throughout the year, Um, and the PMC is great about putting on events to reconnect us to the mission. I feel like these people I have the privilege of talking to do that as well. I do think of them. You know, I think you know I don't want it to sound like a cliche. But you know, when you're in a particularly tough spot and whether it's in your training or in any part of your life, and you think about what these people have have been through, the patients you've talked to who are in remission or who have recovered. But talking about the experience that they had, it really encourages you to dig deeper. It encourages you to dig deeper in your fundraising, encourages you to dig deeper physically,

Lisa Hughes:   21:16
and and I really do

Lisa Hughes:   21:17
look at it as a privilege. You know, for people to talk about themselves and their their battle with cancer is very personal. It's a part of who they are, and so for them to open up and to tell me about that and to be willing to go on television to talk about it, um is that Brave and So to honor that courage. I do keep them with me. And the most gratifying thing is when I see them on PMC weekend, or that Friday night as we're getting ready to do the show in Sturbridge. It's I am so happy in that moment, you know, interviewed a father, daughter, Chris and Leah, a few years ago. Leah lost her mom to cancer, sadly, last year and I saw her dad and they both look great and they were fired up for the ride, and it just gave me.

Lisa Hughes:   21:58
It was just It was such a

Lisa Hughes:   21:59
lift right before the show. So yes, very long answer to a very short question that people, their stories are with me, and I'm really grateful to them for sharing

Bill Alfano:   22:11
any other any memorable stores. I'm sure there's a time that you just you just go to in your head.

Lisa Hughes:   22:17
Um, you know, it's actually So I ride with my training, rides I ride with three or four living proof riders. And when I get the least bit, uh, pouty or down on myself, particularly cycling, I think about them and I think about, um, you know their battles with cancer and I knock it off. I think being surrounded by people who have recovered from cancer who are in remission or who are living through it, you're constantly reminded that we are stronger than we realize and we all have those moments of self doubt. But if you look around, there are so many inspirations around us that you can't wallow in that place too long.

Lisa Hughes:   23:06
You know, the one thing I would say we talk a

Lisa Hughes:   23:09
lot about the two day ride and 192 miles or 163 miles. But

Lisa Hughes:   23:15
what I love about the PMC and what I would say to

Lisa Hughes:   23:18
anyone who wants to dip his or her toe in the water but isn't a hardcore cyclist is there really is a place for everybody in this event. We've all unfortunately been touched by cancer in some way, and you want to feel that you could do something because it's such a tremendously helpless feeling when someone you love is diagnosed. Um, and this event really does move the needle. I Mean raising $63 million is enormous. And to know that every penny of every donation is going to this cause is terrific. But I would say you know, to anyone who wants to get involved with one day rides, you know, the rides that are a short as 25 miles are just a wonderful way to get involved and to feel it and to see, you know, how does this feel? Do I want to do 50 next year? Right? You

Lisa Hughes:   24:08
know, it's it's and I think that's what

Lisa Hughes:   24:09
I love. There's obviously a limited number of people who can be on the route, Sure, but there are enough opportunities that anyone who wants to be a part of this community and do something to fight cancer can do it  

Bill Alfano:   24:27
or

Bill Alfano:   24:27
just break your arm and do the whole, you know, the whole 100 century ride. 

Kristin Brandt:   24:32
I can't even with that  

Lisa Hughes:   24:35
even now, I gotta tell you, like when I bring my

Lisa Hughes:   24:37
bike to a bike store for a tune up there like what is going on? Your

Lisa Hughes:   24:41
breaks or backwards? And then what are these dangly things in the front? I'm like, Well, when I broke my arm 10 years ago, they moved them around, and I got so used to them that I just left him there  

Kristin Brandt:   24:51
and still that way.  

Lisa Hughes:   24:54
I have, like, a friend in, but I have the ugliest looking contraction up the front. But now I'm used to it. So, like, don't don't it might wreck my mojo if you change it. So it's just like that.  

Kristin Brandt:   25:06
And I have to say the stuff that you guys were doing biking to share. First of all, our team was featured last year. Your team was amazing, like just working with them. Watching them as they could have dealt with our crew are motley crew of riders. And, you know, we're trying to get Gimbels and whatever and, you know, nobody killed themself and they were so patient, and the story was spectacular. And you provide such assets for us like things that I can share because to your point right, like, you want to see what the the money is doing? But we're not. All writers were not all able to really verbalize or even explains so to be able to say heres a video. It's A great thing, Did you see this interview like you're really providing such tools to help us in our fundraising. Oh, and I think that's oh, yeah, no, I think that's such an important piece of all of this is like, you know, how can we help push out those messages? But you're queuing

Kristin Brandt:   26:06
them up  

Lisa Hughes:   26:07
Great. I'm glad then that's like sort of the full circle, you

Lisa Hughes:   26:11
know, ability to service if that makes me really happy. That's great.  

Kristin Brandt:   26:15
Well, thank you so much, Lisa, for joining us today. I can't wait to see you on the next ride. Hopefully are definitely to watch you on TV tonight. Awesome. Kristin, thank you so much. This was so much fun. Thank you, Bill.

Bill Alfano:   26:26
Thank you, Lisa.

Kristin Brandt:   26:27
All right, we're back now. I mean, I think Lisa Hughes is amazing. My husband and I were talking after after we interviewed her, and I was like, She's so nice. She's so down to earth. She's such a great advocate for Boston. She is such a great advocate for the PMC, and I will say as someone who watches her on the news. As I mentioned that night, I was like, That's

Kristin Brandt:   26:47
what she was wearing during the interview.

Bill Alfano:   26:50
And, you know, here's how humble Lisa is. Kristin. The day we did the Zoom interview, with her for the for the podcast, she was also announced as part of Boston Magazine's Boston 100 Most Influential People. And she

Bill Alfano:   27:07
didn't even she didn't even mention it, like didn't even pop up

Bill Alfano:   27:12
by the way, like, you know, and I think that just is Lisa in so many ways. So congratulations to her for that as well. And, um, Man, as the marketing guy for the PMC, she makes my life so easy.

Kristin Brandt:   27:25
right said she really does certainly easier than I do. She was She was your right, cause we're like,

Kristin Brandt:   27:33
How are you? Oh, I'm fine,

Bill Alfano:   27:34
right, right. Like I'll jump on now I'll do whatever story you want we Love the PMC I'm like, Lisa, please. I don't know if I want to put any of this in here cause I tell people how hard it is to get stories done

Kristin Brandt:   27:46
yeah, not with Lisa, anyway. So, no, that was great toe. Have her on. Great to hear about her, you know, experience with the PMC and how she's become involved. And I have to say, I loved that she didn't realize that she was approaching such a big milestone, which I think just shows how busy she is and how you know she's into the big picture of this. But maybe not. Not obsessing. Right. Just getting it done.

Bill Alfano:   28:12
Yeah. No, she's the best. Um, and so Thank you, Lisa.

Kristin Brandt:   28:16
Yes. All right. Well, we should wrap this up for this week for show notes, links, or to read more about Lisa. You can visit the PMC podcast page at PMC dot org slash podcast. You can connect with the PMC on any of your favorite social networks. Facebook, instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter all of the above. If you like our show, please help spread the word. Tell three friends. Leave a review for us And I guess that's it for this week.

Bill Alfano:   28:45
Yeah, thanks for helping us get closer by the mile.

Kristin Brandt:   28:47
Yes, and remember, there's a lot riding on us.