Host (00:05)
There's only one question that is scripted for the entire podcast and that's where you're from. Would you like to start, or Megan? you like to start? Yeah. Are you, well, I'm going to ask it anyways, even though I know the answer. Are you from Kelowna?

Eder (00:15)
I could start.

Now I'm from Brazil. I was born in São I was there for four years and then I moved to another city an hour away from it's called Campinas.

Host (00:32)
And how long did you stay there for?

Eder (00:35)
23, 24 Yeah, you know why soon. I'm 45 now. Yeah, 23 years.

Host (00:43)
did you have any jobs growing up? I want to roll off with you. I find it fascinating people's life history of their employment.

Eder (00:45)
Many jobs.

Yeah.

So my dad, 1991, he started his own business, which was a bicycle shop. This is all under one roof, a bicycle shop, a tire shop and scrap metal shop. wow. So when I was 11, he threw me in there and that's, that's when I started working.

Host (01:11)
It's all under one roof. Uh-huh. Was it all together? Was there actually rooms and

Eder (01:16)
There was no there was just one room. Yeah, maybe the size of this living room and everything was just in there. So yeah Yeah, something like this even smaller than this. ⁓ yeah and all the you know the the metals aluminum outside not Inside the building but outside but on that property. It's just like a mess everywhere kind of organized but piles of things everywhere on the property

Host (01:25)
30 by 20 feet.

He

knew where everything was. Wow. And did you work all the way up to 24 there?

Eder (01:49)
I worked with my dad until I was maybe 20, yeah, 20 years old. But at some point I had a second job as well. I worked in an office, worked with two lawyers. We call this in Brazil, office boy, I'll just call it street boy because you're out in the street doing things, collecting papers, going to the banks, paying things, back to the office, get some more go outside and do the same thing again over and over.

Host (02:15)
⁓ you're like a runner almost for

Eder (02:16)
Yeah,

I was 15 back

Host (02:18)
And were you still in school at this time? Yes. it was weekend or after school or how did that?

Eder (02:24)
Now I would work during the day, go to work, done a four or five, and then go straight to school right after. Seven to 11, 30 was school.

Host (02:34)
in the morning. OPM. Wait, school was seven to 11. Is that because of how hot it is? Or is this the cult?

Eder (02:35)
PM.

No.

This culture? You go to school and then you go to work and then go to school. Some people maybe they go to school first. Work later. That wasn't my case. Wow. Yeah, that's pretty common in Brazil.

Host (02:57)
so you're going you're leaving school at 11 and making your way home.

Eder (03:00)
Yeah, you home by...

almost midnight you.

Host (03:04)
But because everybody's doing that, the streets are probably alive. Like there's lots of people out and about with their eyes on. So you feel safe.

Eder (03:09)
Yes. Yeah.

Megan (03:14)
Hahaha

Eder (03:15)
I felt safe in the sense, as you said, there are people coming from school at 11 p.m., 11.30. So you'd see a lot of people with backpacks going home. Yeah, and I'm pretty sure those folks, they went to work earlier school later. So they're all coming from school to home at the same time. So I felt safe in that sense. But it's not very safe. The streets are not very safe where I grew up. Yeah.

Host (03:38)
Yeah.

Would you go straight to bed? When did you study?

Eder (03:44)
Hmm, I wouldn't know maybe during the day on my breaks at work But I wouldn't I wouldn't stay up late I'll just eat something that would be my dinner 11 30 p.m. And then go to bed

Megan (03:46)
No.

Host (03:59)
What a different, totally different...

Megan (04:02)
Yeah,

would it be safe to say that school isn't the priority for kids in Brazil? Yeah, might be different now. But school doesn't seem to be the priority. The priority is supporting your family. It's surviving.

Eder (04:07)
I don't know how things are now.

Host (04:15)
Yeah,

get enough money for food on the table and rent and stuff. Yeah.

Megan (04:20)
So I feel like a lot of Etter's skills are life skills and like figure it out on the go kind of skills that came from the type of upbringing that he had where he was having to do a lot, hold a lot, be a lot of different things. Which is kind of one of his big skills.

Host (04:40)
so you're now So you're you work for your father then you worked for as a lawyer What did you call it office boy office boy? And then where did you go from there?

Eder (04:48)
And

some point my dad had two trucks. was 18, 17, 18. So we started doing deliveries anything of any Transporting people moving to another place. So we come in, pull in with the truck, load the truck with all this stuff, furniture, go to the new house, unload everything.

maybe do the same thing the next So we started doing that, I was 17, 18. the truck, doing that myself until I was 20. When I got really sick, had, what did I have again? Hepatitis. And that was it because I had was from food. that happened every single day.

Megan (05:24)
Yeah.

Eder (05:33)
because you don't know when you're going to stop to eat, where you're going to stop to eat. So you could be eating anything every day, bad food. And yeah, I put a stop on that. So now I don't want to do this anymore. So as I was healing at home from the hepatitis, I got a job at Mercedes Benz at the parts department. I was there for three years. Then I didn't work with my dad anymore.

Host (05:52)
Okay, mm-hmm. You've had a lifetime of a life before Kind of kids in our society. Yeah, get not to say get a life But they are not adults and independent at when they come out of high school for the most part and When your your life is just completely contrasting that a

Eder (06:14)
Yeah.

Host (06:14)
Wow.

Yeah, my question was going to be like, when you see our, this culture and the kids and how our culture raises them, how it is right now, what do feel when you look at that and you compare it to your upbringing?

Eder (06:23)
Thanks.

I kind of call that a gray area. Yeah. Yeah, because, you know, it's hard to be a teenager here. Now I know. I've seen, I've lived here for a while. It's that's hard as well. Like being a teenager growing up here, like you have your set of hard things to do. And I guess that's hard. In Brazil is the same thing. It's hard. That's when I was growing up, right? It was very hard, but it was the only thing I knew.

the only thing everybody So it was hard then and it's still hard here. Like you have your things to do every day. If you're teenager going to school, that's all you have to do. But then you come home, you have lots of homework. Me growing up in Brazil, I didn't have much homework.

Host (07:11)
Like academic pressure, right? No, I see. This is just a different type of stress and Difficulties. Yeah. is this a good time? So you're now 23 24 no, in though in our story and I know you're 45 now I Mean in your story you said you're 23 24 But and but earlier did you leave Brazil when you're 24?

Eder (07:18)
Yeah.

little bit more.

Yes.

No, no, I left Brazil when I was 20, almost 25, I started when I started Mercedes Benz when 20 years old. I also started dancing, taking dance classes. So that led me to where we are now. Oh.

Host (07:41)
Okay.

Yeah. Okay. Should we segue into Megan's upbringing? Are you from Kelowna?

Megan (07:57)
I was born in Alberta and we lived there until I was in grade five. I was born in Drayton Valley. No, sorry, I was born in High Level and we lived in Drayton Valley until I was in grade five. But we spent every summer in Penticton where my parents grew up.

Host (08:02)
But part of it.

⁓ Treating back?

⁓ what a great place to have summers.

Megan (08:19)
Yeah. So every summer my mom would like pull us out a week early. We'd get in the van and we'd drive 12 hours to the Okanagan and we'd spend the entire summer in Penticton. So I always feel like I grew up in Penticton because I did every summer. Then we moved there when I was in grade five. Lived there until I graduated high school. I did not work while I was going to school like Ed. was, I was working my own way. I was really focused.

on dance that was like my extracurricular everything and I feel

Host (08:51)
When you're in competitive dance, it's kind of like gymnastics in a sense, that it's hardcore, it's like every day.

Megan (08:58)
Yeah, like it is my second home was the studio like I would come home from school and I would eat dinner at three o'clock So I could go and take class and I would be there until about 7 p.m Come home do my homework and then every day like that. So I would as many dance classes as I could my schedule is very full academically and with all the dance that I was doing so I was training mostly ballet I did lots of

⁓ competitions and exams for ballet up until I was 19.

Host (09:32)
What an exam... I don't know much about the dance world.

Megan (09:35)
Royal

Academy of Dancing is a set curriculum of exercises that you would learn. so I started at grade four, grade four RAD exam. You learn the syllabus. you learn plies, and you do it the exact same way each time. There's arm movements. There's leg movements that are choreographed. So you learn the choreography. You learn the syllabus of.

grade four Royal Academy of Dance. At the end when you've learned everything you go in front of an examiner and super stressful that was like 12. And they they critique you, they judge you, they watch you dance and give you a grade based on your performance in the exam.

Host (10:07)
stressful.

And

if you pass it, you get to go to the next level. Okay. So this is very similar to like Taekwondo, like grading up with your belt. Okay. I see. I realize, I didn't know that actually. Yeah, makes sense. Yeah. Wow. ⁓

Megan (10:25)
Yeah.

So you learn step by step. Yeah, it's quite intense. Yeah. So

I did that pretty seriously up until I was 19. when I was 19, I went to Banff. They have a summer school program. So I went to Banff and that was kind of like my taste of what it might be like if I was to make it into like a ballet company because we were there. And from the moment that you wake up until you go to bed,

All you're doing is dancing. rehearsing. How are you? Yeah, a little mangled. Do they ever have? I mean, you work up so much like calluses. No dancers feet look cute. No. So like I've been working hard as a dancer. So my feet were already quite conditioned. But then, you're pushing a little bit more. And so I was dancing like eight hours a day.

Host (11:00)
Featuring them. ⁓

Have time to heal.

Eder (11:12)
they don't have the most beautiful feet.

Megan (11:26)
kind of thing and learning. We had a like end of the program show. So you were learning choreography. You were doing conditioning classes. You were taking classes with lots of different teachers and observing the professionals do their training. And I realized then even though I really loved it and I was quite good, I was never going to be good enough to be like the prima ballerina, like the star of the show. I might have been in the back. I might have like sneaked through.

And so really decided then that what I really loved about dance was the performance. I loved to be on stage. I loved putting on a costume and becoming a different character, the makeup, the performance on the stage. And so girl who I danced with in the studio, was a year older than me and who I really looked up to, she had gone and done a cruise ship. And I well, that looks amazing. She gets to travel.

perform and make money and be on the beach. I was like, I want to do that. So that's what I did. I went to a couple of auditions got the job and off I went.

Host (12:35)
life like on the cruise ship as a work because you're now an employee then of the cruise ship. you're not in like a nice cabin.

Megan (12:41)
No,

you're not. You're in bunk beds. Yeah, bunk beds in no windows. So very dark, low in the ship. And yeah, we would rehearse and learn. There would be maybe five shows to learn. So we would go through a rehearsal period where you learn all the different parts in the shows, and they would cast you in different roles in the shows. They'd fit you into costumes. You'd put it on the stage with the lights and the moving pieces.

Once the shows were installed onto the stage, you were kind of free. Like in the daytime, you were at port and you could go and explore on the island.

Host (13:20)
How many shows a night were you doing?

Megan (13:22)
We would do two shows a night. So the same show twice. the dinner.

Host (13:28)
the early dinner and the late dinner.

Megan (13:29)
Yeah

and there would be like four or five different shows so the cruise people would come and watch the different shows throughout the week and then the guests would leave and we would do it all again.

Host (13:40)
Are

you in your early 20s at this point?

Megan (13:43)
My first contract I did when I was 19.

Host (13:45)
19?

Yeah. That, oh my goodness, that's so fun. Yeah. What a great time in life to do. Okay, so I'm assuming that you're cruising, going to port, you're living in Brazil. Is this maybe how you two met?

Megan (13:51)
It was amazing.

So I did my first couple contracts on a different company and then I took a year break. So I was in Vancouver, you know, living with some girlfriends, auditioning, trying to figure out what to do next.

Host (14:13)
wait, you said you were a dancer though. You got into dance. ⁓ okay.

Eder (14:15)
Yeah ⁓

Megan (14:18)
grow

up dancing. no, this is weird thing. This is the weird thing about Ed is that he didn't grow up dancing. He just like I did this full time from like being a kid. Yes, like I'm trained. I'm a trained dancer.

Host (14:28)
It is in green.

Muscle in your body is meant for dancing. He didn't

Megan (14:35)
start

dancing until he was 20. 20. So how did you get into that? Let's tell us.

Host (14:43)
it did you get into ballet?

Eder (14:45)
It was,

I don't know, was an accident, I don't know. My cousin, she grew up.

Megan (14:50)
I

became a professional.

Eder (14:53)
I

went to do a favor to my cousin, for my cousin. And she grew up, she was four or five, that's when she started taking ballet classes. She was very young. And yeah, 20 years old, at the end of the year, every year they do this.

Megan (15:11)
Show? a year-end show.

Eder (15:12)
Yeah, that. And they needed boys to lead the girls onto the stage. And she came up and asked me, hey, do you want to make some money just by doing this, like holding my hand on the stage and take me doing a couple loops? said, yeah, that sounds fantastic. Sounds easy. That's better than driving a truck and picking up things. Yeah. Yeah. Herding your back. I was like, sure, I'll do that. So I went to do that.

Host (15:30)
Loading

Eder (15:37)
We rehearsed a couple of weeks and we came into this studio. It was a big studio, of people everywhere. They're dancing, they're singing, they're doing like crazy stuff. that moment I realized I wanted to dedicate more time in doing that. Plus the money. Easy money just by walking on the stage. ⁓ That's when my dancing career started.

Host (15:57)
Wow.

Continue so tell me more Join join your two stories here. So you started and then yeah the next day

Eder (16:01)
The next day.

So I was working at Mercedes-Benz and also from there I would walk to the studio, another studio, to take classes. at some point I got fired from Mercedes-Benz for some reason. didn't even ask when they fired me. And then I dedicated more time dancing, taking classes, taking auditions.

And at some in 2004, some people from Malaysia came to Sao Paulo they run a cruise ship there. It's called Star Cruise. went to this audition and I got through with four other Brazilians. That's when my cruise ship life started by doing, taking the audition. ⁓ wow. Yeah.

Megan (16:50)
all.

Host (16:51)
So what was, do remember the first cruise you went on?

Eder (16:55)
Yeah, so we got a one-year contract in Hong Kong, myself and four other Brazilians. And the group was very small, it was only eight dancers. So five Brazilians and three ladies from Russia. And we all met in Malaysia at the hotel that we spent two weeks rehearsing. So we all flew in from Brazil.

Brazilians. We met with the Russians in Malaysia for two weeks. That was my first time ever abroad.

with zero English, like I knew no English. Traveling to Malaysia, yeah. It was a survival.

Host (17:31)
Wow.

Or

this was before Google Translate on our phones and all that.

Megan (17:39)
before.

Eder (17:40)
Before phones, I remember my first cell phone was back in 2003 or 2004. It was the Nokia that you open up like this and you know, yeah, text on the numbers, find the words on the numbers. Yeah. Oh, way before, way before.

Host (17:53)
333

Holy

smoke. That is, man, that's so exciting. So you're going to, did you get the same lifestyle? Like you got to cruise around and then go to the ports and stuff?

Eder (18:05)
Our IT network was different. It was only one night I think the most common is like a week ⁓ long cruise in Hong Kong because you cannot gamble on land. So the cruise ships have to go internationally.

Host (18:22)
The

international waters. Yes. Can gamble. ⁓ I.

Eder (18:25)
So

there are maybe five to seven casinos on board that's all people do. They come on just to gamble for one night and then yeah we leave the port at four or five pm go to the national water they gamble next day seven am we're docked back in Hong Kong on the island.

Megan (18:44)
Wow. So a year of that. ⁓

Eder (18:47)
So when you

Host (18:47)
And did you work pretty much like every day? Every day. Every day for a whole day. my goodness.

Eder (18:51)
We didn't have a single day off.

No. Because we had to perform every single night. It was It was a cruise day, right? A day cruise, so we had to perform every single night. The same shows.

Megan (19:01)
New people come on every day. ⁓

Host (19:03)
Yeah.

I would imagine that would get a bit exhausting, meeting new people and smiling and putting on the show by the end of the year.

Eder (19:11)
Yeah, well the interaction we had with the guests there was different from the States. they, I don't know, there was no hanging out with the guests. One, because we didn't speak English, they didn't speak English, most of them, the guests. why are we gonna talk? And there were lots of limitations on the cruise ship where places we could stay and go.

Host (19:27)
Yeah.

Eder (19:34)
Yeah, compared to the United States, you're free. You could go anywhere you wanted. Yeah.

Host (19:40)
and so

after the year of doing that contract, what was your next contract?

Eder (19:47)
Then I had a Brazilian friend, he had already done I was doing, Paulo, and he got a with Carnival in the States. And through a friend, he messaged me and said, hey, do you plan on staying there or do you wanna do something else, come to the States? They're hiring, if you wanna send me your material, I can then forward that to the boss here.

That's what I did. I put together my material, my... What's it called?

Megan (20:13)
Like showreel, like a video of you dancing.

Eder (20:17)
And then I sent it to him, he forwarded it to her, the boss, and that's how I got to work for Carnival. Through this friend.

Host (20:23)
Yeah. And then is that how you two met?

Eder (20:26)
Yeah, so I

did one year, one contract on Carnival. I'm always seeing... I'm always... I see the years that... I have to say the years too, it was back in

Host (20:36)
I

like it when you give it helps me for some reason I really like timelines of people's lives so I like to know the years and how old you are it all kind of brings everything together but plus you can relate to somebody's age like they were This old when they did that and then you reflect on your life. And who you were as a person and how much You thought you knew but didn't know what that is, you know, whatever. So yeah, don't don't hesitate in saying that

I got Todd coffee tongue from your coffee.

Eder (21:08)
Why did you put in it? It's just coffee.

was 2006, I did one year, one year, no it was maybe, yeah close to one year for Carnival and I had a break, went to Brazil I was a second contract. That's when we met. ⁓ Going back to the second contract.

Host (21:28)
So were you performing in the same, like were you on the same ship or were you actually performing the same dances?

Megan (21:36)
So they, when they're for a new contract for a ship, say they needed for this contract he was talking about, they needed 11 girls, five boys and two singers. So they look at everybody's auditions or their show reels and then they put together this cast of people. So I was one of the 11 girls and he was one of the five boys that was contracted onto that ship for

eight months or whatever it was. we all meet in, where were we? Miami? We all went to Miami and stayed in these like condos for a couple of weeks while we were learning the shows in a studio setting. And that's where we, that's where we met, but not where we got

So I had had a year break where I was living in Vancouver and I kind of said, I'm gonna try one more audition and if I don't get it, I'm gonna go to school or do something else. So was kind of at the point where I was like, I'm either gonna keep going or I'm not. And so I went to my carnival audition and I got it and six weeks later I was on a cruise ship. And so I was quite shy and a little bit quiet at the time because I was feeling like,

a little bit intimidated and lots of dancers, bigger than the cast that I was in before. so I was just kind of had my head down. was learning the shows. I was trying to get it all in. And I was not quite sure if Etter, like I was unsure of how much English he knew. didn't really have very many conversations in the beginning. I thought he was like a little bit strange. He used pajama pants to come to rehearsals and

He would be standing on the gut, Greg, big hairy Greg. He'd be standing on Greg's shoulders in the corner while we were rehearsing. We were practicing.

Eder (23:23)
Okay, we're doing lift. We're

obsessed ⁓ with circuit soleil, like, you know, do lifts and stuff. Yeah. So we, that's what we're doing. Handstands, headstands, hand to hand, those things.

Host (23:37)
Kiwi,

but what's wrong with wearing pajamas? Is that not well, I was kind of like in the dance community. You know that.

Megan (23:42)
was kind of like, I he had like checkered pajama bottoms. you know, dance pants, like stretchy. Not like leggings, not like tight, but just like like track pants. Oh, yeah. So he would come in his pajamas and I was like, I think he just like rolled out of bed and just came to her. So I was like, was unsure about his.

Host (23:48)
boys were in Canada.

Like, like, like,

okay.

Megan (24:08)
personal hygiene and cleanliness, ⁓ which couldn't be further from the truth actually, because they paired us together. They don't often pair us together because I'm actually taller than Etter. And we would wear heels. So I would be much taller than him when we were on stage. So they paired us together one time for this little piece in the show. And I was like, ⁓ he actually smells really good, surprisingly.

That was kind of our first like, OK, maybe he doesn't sleep in those pants. then we finished rehearsals. We learn all the shows and then we go onto the cruise ship and we get fitted for our costumes. Now we're adding the moving elements of how the stage moves and transforms with the different shows, the lighting cues, the they had pyrotechnics. So we were learning.

Eder (24:36)
Maybe he had a shower this morning.

Megan (25:00)
costume changes, how It's a lot. Yeah, it's a lot. So we were putting the choreography into motion on the stage with full sound, full lights, pyro, moving lifts and stuff. So were still in rehearsals for a good couple of weeks we got onto the

Host (25:15)
that was another year, was it another year contract that one?

Megan (25:19)
That

one was a long contract. think we...

Eder (25:22)
It was because we came back, we were signed.

Megan (25:25)
No, I think that one was having a dry dock or something. So they wanted us there for, I think it was an 11-month contract. Yeah. And we each had a little break. That's when we went to Orlando.

Eder (25:33)
What?

Host (25:38)
So at the end of this contract were you to an item at this point here? Yeah

Megan (25:43)
the first like few weeks of the contract once we've gotten into the shows and it's it's pretty cute it's a little bit embarrassing but

So, Etter would call me sometimes from the crew bar where beer was one dollar. He would call me from the crew bar. Sign you up. And I was like you, was in bed early. I was still learning shows. So I got my pajamas on, drinking my tea at 830. He's calling me from the crew bar. I'm like, hello? He's like, ⁓ yeah. sorry. Sorry. Nothing. Sorry. Hangs up the phone. I'm like, OK. ⁓

Host (26:16)
That

was him? Oh yeah.

Eder (26:22)
I I didn't have anything scripted to tell you. I want to call and say hey. Hey. Bye.

Megan (26:28)
So there's a few of those run-ins where he was like he needed he wanted to say something but he was all sorry I want to say something and then just couldn't quite get the nurse

Eder (26:37)
when you

just planted this seed. That's what I was doing. It was, it wasn't very good.

Host (26:40)
Was your English getting a little...

Megan (26:43)
He was fluent in English, but he did carry- very bad accent. He carried a pocket-sized dictionary everywhere he went.

Eder (26:47)
⁓ yeah.

Host (26:51)
can't imagine winning.

Megan (26:55)
And every day he'd be looking at me. Okay got it Yeah, so one day he Came and I was in a friend's cabin knocked on the door Megan. I need to talk to you Okay Come to my cabin

Eder (27:09)
So her friend already knew that I was into her.

Host (27:13)
Mmm.

Eder (27:13)
So she knew what was happening then. Gotcha.

Megan (27:16)
come to my cabin. And so we go and sit on this top bunk with his roommate, his roommate, big Harry Greg. He was not there, roommates with big Harry Greg. And so we sit on his top bunk and he starts to say, I've been noticing you since rehearsals and I think you're really sweet. I think you're really nice. And I was like, ⁓ I think you're nice too. he's wait, I'm not finished yet. ⁓

Eder (27:44)
No, you don't know. ⁓

Megan (27:45)
⁓

He had, I didn't know this at the time, I found this out much later, that he had typed out on his laptop everything he wanted to say to me because he was nervous and English was a little bit, you know, so he put it behind me on the little desk so he could see his computer just past where I was sitting. And so he's reading his cliff notes of like what he wants to say.

Host (28:10)
Man, he's got bad eye contact.

Megan (28:16)
It was very strange. ⁓

Eder (28:20)
That's

why I position you that way.

Host (28:22)
⁓ you

sit here. That's a great story. my god.

Megan (28:24)
Yeah.

So he starts reading his things and also don't know this at the time but the screen, the battery dies. ⁓ no! So he's now lost his Cliff Notes and he starts to just make stuff up.

Host (28:35)
I to hanging.

Eder (28:41)
Talk like the bull. What do we say now? What do we say?

Megan (28:43)
This

is what he said. He said, in Canada...

He goes, in Canada, if you steal a car, would you go to jail? And I was like, what? Where is this going? Like, where is this going? He's either stolen something, he's been to jail. Like, I'm just reeling now. Like, where is this going? And I was like, yeah, you would go to jail. And he goes, what if you steal a kiss?

And I was like, my god, I was laughing so I'm like big teeth like exposed and he goes to kiss me in our teeth together like the worst first kiss ever. ⁓

Host (29:29)
like

Eder (29:36)
I'm crying.

Host (29:37)
It's

memorable.

Megan (29:38)
The

kiss was much better, but the first one was not good. And so at that point I was kind of like, this man is really different than anyone who I would have seen myself with. But I was like, wow, that really took some courage to like sit me down on his top bunk and steal a kiss. I was like, I'm going to give him a chance.

Eder (29:42)
That's why we should write a book about it.

Megan (30:06)
And from there, he just never ceased to surprise me with all sorts of ways of being wonderful. That same week, we could buy tours from the office on the cruise ship. And he said, would you like to go ziplining in Belize with me? And I was like, sure, that sounds fun. He's like, here's your ticket.

Eder (30:13)
Being weird.

I had

already planned it.

Megan (30:34)
He had

already planned everything so I was like, okay. I know. No, he was very thoughtful. He was very open with how he felt and I thought that that was a very new way to be. I'd never, yeah, never dated anybody foreign before so I thought, okay.

Eder (30:37)
Who'd say no to Zip lining for free.

Host (30:53)
That's so cool. What a story. What a story. how did, so when your carnival time's coming to an end, was there a worry that you're not gonna get your next job together?

Megan (31:05)
So you could kind of request the same ships and sort of tack yourselves together to be like, we would like to go to this contract if there's not a spot for a boy on this, if they've already cast all the boys, then they would just move us to our second choice. So we kind of.

Eder (31:23)
They're very

Host (31:23)
Do you

kind of work up seniority in cruise ship life?

Megan (31:27)
They kind of cast you based on how talented you are, how tall you are, your look, your style. So there's different shows that have different styles. There was like a show that had B-boys and hip hop. And so if you couldn't do that type of dance, they wouldn't cast you for that show. So they kind of look at you. And yeah, the more contracts you do, the more

Host (31:47)
That would make sense.

Megan (31:53)
supervisors that you work with, the more well-known you become and the easier it is to book you.

Host (31:57)
makes sense.

get a reputation too of like, these people are dependable, reliable. Totally. Know their spots or whatnot. That was like dance language there, wasn't that? You did it.

Megan (32:07)
You're right in there. Okay, let's bring

Host (32:11)
this

tie this to how did you end up back in Canada? Or is there more to your cruise story before we-

Megan (32:19)
So we did cruises together for the next like six years. So we were on carnival for the next six years. I got a job in Paris. I danced at the Moulin Rouge. was like the Olympics of my career. So I moved to Paris for a year and danced at the Moulin Rouge and Ed, he was able to come and stay with me for a couple months at a time.

Host (32:23)
Okay.

Megan (32:44)
By that point we were already engaged and when I left Paris, I moved to Brazil. So I went from one foreign country to another. We got married in Brazil and we thought we were retired as dancers. And we're going to live in Brazil and start this new life. was 2015. So I was like 29. So we moved to Brazil and it is not what I thought it was going to be.

Host (33:01)
2015, okay.

Was this your first time?

Megan (33:11)
was

my second time. So I traveled to Brazil when I was like 21 on the vacation of our first contract after we had ⁓ finished our 11 month contract, went to Brazil. So this was the first time living in Brazil. And I feel like I was very naive to what it was truly like to live there day in day out. And also not being a dancer all of a sudden after all these years of being a dancer was like huge.

⁓ Total identity crisis and he was working super hard he was studying and I was just kind of chilling at his parents house going like what are we doing? So we started the process to get his permanent residency to come to Canada because I was like we can never get ahead here with how hard you have to work and we'll just never get ahead so we started that process and I said well we could still be dancing

Like, why aren't we doing that still? So we made some reels of our previous work and we sent it to a different company and we got a job on Royal Caribbean. So we went and spent another six, eight months being dancers on Royal Caribbean. And by that point he had been approved for his Canadian residency. So we moved to Canada.

And he actually had, we paused for another year, year and a half, cause Ed had a shoulder injury that was pretty significant that needed a surgery and time to heal. So we were chilling at my parents' house. In Penticton. Yeah. after he healed from his surgery, we were able to go back to one more contract.

Host (34:43)
In pentictons?

Was this your first time in the Okanagan

Megan (34:54)
Yeah, that's

Eder (34:55)
I came here in 2009 after we started dating. She came to Brazil, spent some time there. And then I came to Canada, my first time here.

Host (35:04)
What was your, do you remember your first thoughts of the country and stuff?

Eder (35:07)
Yes.

Yes, I did. It felt like a movie everything, everything was so perfect. Everything's so perfect. The streets, there's space in the streets for two, four cars. Everything's clean. Everything's well looked after. So I felt like, I just felt like this place is perfect. What's imperfect here? I couldn't find anything.

Yeah, that was my first... the first noticeable thing for me. Yeah, how perfect it is. How safe, how clean. Right? I always talk about it.

Host (35:37)
It's cool. It you stop and reflect. ⁓

Megan (35:41)
pretty

lucky. And until you've left and seen parts of the world that live differently or their cultures are different or their systems are set up differently, like growing up in Penticton, I had no idea how lucky until you have a bit of a shift in perspective about how the rest of the world lives in different parts of the world. So yeah, we were in Canada for about a year and a half. We resumed. This was our final contract at Sea.

Host (36:09)
feel like

we've heard that before. ⁓

Megan (36:11)
Yeah, this is the is the joke about cruise ship living is that everybody says this is my last contract no, this is my

Eder (36:18)
They didn't know how to do it. What else to do in life?

Megan (36:21)
No, and then they try and land for a while and they're like, this is really hard. Let me just go back to ships for one more contract.

Host (36:26)
can see that. Yeah, very

good, like a nice community too.

Megan (36:30)
Yeah,

and it's a really easy lifestyle. Like we would work 20 hours a week doing what we loved and hanging out at the beach and yeah.

Host (36:39)
Is your food and rent paid for? Is that part of the contract?

Megan (36:45)
Yes, you don't pay for rent or food. Zero expenses. So what we would spend our money on in the ports was like transportation and meals out because the food was mmm iffy on board for the crew.

Eder (36:47)
zero expense.

Host (37:00)
Yeah, you're not getting those five star deluxe.

Megan (37:02)
We were

having smelts and white rice. Basically looks like a minnow. A minnow, like a little tiny fish. ⁓ guts and all. would just deep fry them. Yeah. ⁓ that's disappointing. We weren't very nourished.

Host (37:07)
What's a smelt?

What's a minimum?

Really?

Eder (37:20)
Thanks.

But the gas, it was great.

Host (37:26)
You said

minnow, I was thinking sandwiches. And I was like, what type of sandwiches are-

Megan (37:30)
No

fried minnows. Yeah. So no expenses on board. It was very easy living. So we did, we went back for one more contract. We were lucky enough to do a 60 day cruise all the way around South America was our actual final cruise that we did on the first day of the 60 day cruise. We found out that we were pregnant with our daughter. so we did.

I performed in the shows pregnant for 15 weeks. We had scans and tests and all sorts of different a different country each time.

Host (38:06)
Did your employee, no, employer help like set up the hospital visits or were you kind of left to your own?

Megan (38:10)
We

have like an infirmary on board and there is like a doctor on board that can basically keep you alive. Like the medical care is just.

Host (38:21)
Biodimension is thin. basic.

Megan (38:24)
So we sort of ⁓ set up our own appointments, because if we were to do it through the ship, it would have been very expensive. But we have Eder, who's very crafty at getting around things. And we had a friend who spoke Spanish. So we were making phone calls and emails to set up appointments prior to when we would get to the port. So we spent our South American cruise figuring out.

Eder (38:49)
appointments yeah he wasn't yeah it wasn't every single time

Host (38:53)
So

this is so cool. All right, so then your South American and final cruise ends. come back to... where did you come? Penticton?

Megan (39:05)
Yeah, so we landed in Penticton with no furniture, no jobs. We both had like two suitcases of belongings. That's what you had when you went onto a cruise ship. You can't bring more than that. No space. we land in Penticton.

Host (39:25)
Sorry to interject, how old are you at this point?

Megan (39:28)
At this point I am 31.

Host (39:33)
So you've

kind of lived 10-ish years.

Megan (39:36)
Like dog years. of just... Yeah. Yeah. had no... So we got like everything kind of secondhand pieced together. We decided to move to Kelowna because we wanted to be close to my parents, but not in Penticton. then we sort of both figured out like, what do we do in the meantime before this baby comes?

Host (39:38)
the suitcase.

Eder (39:41)
That's all you needed. That's all you needed back then.

Host (39:44)
That's really cool.

Megan (40:01)
So I worked at a winery of all places to work when you're pregnant. Which one? Summer Hill. Okay. So I worked there all the way through my pregnancy because I needed to work. I forget how many hours, 600 hours in order to get a maternity leave. Right. So I was busting it to be able to have some money. And then Ed was again, just trying to, he was trying a bunch of different jobs because we were now like, what do we do?

Host (40:04)
Did you bring it?

get your EI.

Megan (40:28)
What are we going to do for work now? So what types of jobs for you?

Eder (40:32)
I went straight to...

Host (40:35)
⁓ sweet. That's a fun.

Megan (40:36)
Back to the bike routes.

Eder (40:38)
Yeah,

so Gary hired me. Great guy, great team there. was there in the back just building bikes while she was working at growing the baby and ⁓ working at the winery.

Megan (40:50)
Two jobs. That's two jobs growing a baby and we're.

Eder (40:51)
two jobs.

So that was my first job as psychopath.

Megan (40:56)
But he tried

a bunch of different things. did like the bike shop. was Andre's electronics. Electronic.

Eder (41:00)
Then I went to Andre.

Host (41:03)
I still hear his commercial. Andre.

Eder (41:05)
Andre the voice

Host (41:09)
It's been the same guy since I grew up here. Since I was a little kid. I'm like, every time I hear Andre, just like that, worked. It stuck in my head. Yeah. Okay. So yeah, psychopath, Andre's.

Megan (41:20)
Yeah, good marketing.

Eder (41:21)
change.

Andres and then we had a baby.

Megan (41:27)
No,

you tried way more things than that. You were like... Cleaning out pools... Painting...

Eder (41:29)
Penticton if you go back

yes I did for

painting.

Host (41:36)
Like

you're a hustler. You're probably doing it

Megan (41:39)
He was just like trying all these different careers going like I gonna like what I want to invest my time in. went one day he did one day of framing like house framing. and he came home late on the floor and said I'm dead. cannot move a body because of course he was the rookie on the job they gave him all the heavy work to do and he's like I will not be going

Eder (41:46)
painting where the

And

if you look at my frame, there's not much muscle.

Megan (42:07)
I was

trying a bunch of different things while we were kind of settling here. And then when our was born, Etter started working at Starbucks. That was his big entry into the coffee world. Yay, we made it. We finally circled around.

Host (42:22)
I feel like ⁓

Yeah,

I love it. It's everything right like that is. And how you met and this is the richness to the story. This moment right. So you start working at Starbucks. ⁓

Eder (42:30)
The thing is a big conversation. ⁓

And we did for so many years.

Megan (42:40)
that brings

Eder (42:45)
Starbucks.

I was just down the road. They were hiring part-time. I wanted to be home. I think we spent first, when she was born, I spent the first month at home I wanted to be there as much as I could.

Host (42:57)
it's so important. Yeah, that fourth dry muster.

Megan (43:01)
Yeah, and Starbucks had a shift where you were starting super early in the morning and then you were done by like, I don't know, noon or something. So he was around a lot.

Eder (43:06)
Yeah.

Host (43:13)
That's perfect.

Eder (43:14)
Yeah,

they had a very early shift or very late shift. The cleaning one, horrible. Yeah, I'll be done by like 10, 10.30. I just cleaning the... two hours just cleaning the shop. It was a lot of work.

Megan (43:20)
Ha ha!

But this might be interesting to rewind to is when we were living on the cruise ships, coffee was still like very much a daily ritual. we would go to like Cozumel, Mexico and go to the supermarket and buy like a coffee maker, which was illegal on board.

Host (43:40)
Okay.

Eder (43:50)
Like

contraband. If you're to bring a coffee maker, it's contraband. You go to jail.

Megan (43:55)
It's an electrical plugin that heats up and so you cannot have a kettle.

Host (43:57)
like you can't even have a kettle?

But look at you two. That should be a good question. Can you go to jail for it?

Megan (44:05)
straight

Eder (44:05)
or bringing the cattle.

Megan (44:07)
to jail. So he would buy a kettle or a coffee maker or whatever and he would take out the heating element. So we would be in the parking lot of the Gia Gia supermarket in Cozumel Mexico and he'd be taking the heating element out of the coffee maker and he'd put it in with his laptop because when you'd enter the cruise ship they would put your backpack through like a scanner. Yeah. So

Host (44:32)
the

Megan (44:33)
The pot itself doesn't set off any alarms and this just looks like a computer. So he was able to get the contraband in. we would have daily coffee in the morning. The first thing he would do in the morning, he would play like

Host (44:42)
He's a mastermind.

Megan (44:52)
Latin music so happy in the cabin be brewing his coffee and I'm not a morning person So I'd be like turn that down and give me a coffee first and then turn up the music and we would sit in our cabin and our windowless cabin top and bottom bunks and drink our coffee and then in the afternoon and like They all knew they all knew because in the afternoons we would have a coffee again at 3 p.m. And we would always have

Eder (45:07)
Dark.

Host (45:14)
smelt it down the

Megan (45:21)
castmates or yeah they would they would all come over have a picture of Etter brewing a coffee like squatting in our tiny bathroom with the coffee maker making coffee in the bathroom because there was the plug-in yeah.

Host (45:22)
Yeah, there's a light. Are you loitering in the hallway?

Eder (45:36)
the plugin was in there

if you have a kettle on board that's passed on to the next cast and that's passed on the next cast you can you can ⁓

Megan (45:45)
People buy it sell

it to the next cast members because try and get that on through the

Eder (45:51)
Unless you're an officer, a singer, more responsible, they're not gonna burn down your cabin.

Host (45:57)
This is interesting.

Megan (45:59)
There's definitely like a hierarchy.

Eder (46:01)
But the answer is they don't know how to deal with candles.

Megan (46:03)
So coffee has always been like a common thread.

Host (46:07)
So when you would go to port, would you get different, was it a thing to get different beans and stuff like that or?

Megan (46:13)
He usually came with like a stash from Brazil. He'd usually bring like a big chunk of his suitcase allowance was...

Eder (46:22)
One luggage was just full of coffee. But I would buy, I'd go out and buy ports. most in the States I think.

Host (46:28)
Yeah.

Okay, so you're back in Kelowna. You've had your baby. You're working at when did this business idea first percolate into your mind?

Eder (46:38)
So from there Starbucks I quit I went to work for Butterfront Cafe now it's called Abbott Street, right? Yeah behind the hospital and I got a taste for what specialty coffee is

And that's how we stepped into world, I even further than, you know, just applying for Starbucks. then from we all know what happened in 2020. They sold, they shut down the cafe. They wanted to sell are not going to reopen. And the government gave you, what's the allowance? Oh, CERB. CERB, When the CERB

We all lost our jobs and I stayed home for four or five months. And then from there, I got a job at FedEx for a couple months. But then we were having problems with our schedules and our daughter who's gonna look after her. So I quit FedEx and applied for

work at Sprout as a barista.

Host (47:29)
what tickled your fancy? Like it was next level compared to your drop of four?

Eder (47:33)
very

very next level and don't know just the

The amount of people that walk in every single day was just to me compared to my other jobs. And the feedback we got, the team, we had a great team. They still have a great team.

And I really wanted grow into this coffee business. didn't want to do anything else in my life. Just applied, you know, my time to work with coffee and learn more about it. back then, specialty coffee word was, you know, was new. And because of COVID, you're home for so long.

And so many new things, gadgets, tools came up because you're forced to be at home. So you're doing everything at home. And meanwhile, I think I got my first espresso machine when we were doing this lockdown. yeah, I wanted to learn more about it. And I thought Sprout would be the place to go

Host (48:24)
So you purposely applied to Sprouts. Okay, I see. And then in that job, did they offer like educations about their beans and how they're roasting them and all that stuff or was it just

Eder (48:39)
Not in

the beginning, No Sprout outsourced the coffee from another roaster, they don't roast in the house.

I'm to link this with the Boa Vida, the

Megan (48:49)
So you grew at Sprout, you were starting as a barista and then gaining more and more knowledge. think to like seeing the amount of people come through the door is sort of like a window into, well this coffee thing can really bring a sense of community and really connect people and how cool is that to have this one little thing that can really link people together and especially after we'd all been kind of locked down for a while.

Eder (49:04)
it does.

Megan (49:17)
to be able to be, especially at a place like Sprout, which is big, long community tables that you're sharing and like you're breaking bread together and literally, and to see like that kind of community again, I think was also part of what inspired how our business came together. And I remember one day he was working at Sprout for a while. They had promoted him to general manager. So he was really like helping the team and the customer side. He was back to his kind of like,

lawyer, lawyer, what do you call it? Run around. boy. Office boy days of like running all around and ⁓ wearing a lot of hats again. So he came to me one day and he said, I know what I'm going to do. I'm going to build a coffee cart. And I was like, okay, what's a coffee cart? And it kind of started from there. He just, he's the kind of person that when he's decided something and he's made up his mind, he will do it until it's done. Like he will follow through.

So it started with like little pieces of paper around our house with little sketches and ideas of what it was going to look like and bird's eye view of where the espresso machine was going to go and what it looked like with the little flip outsides. And then it turned into bigger pieces of paper to scale of how wide is it going to be? How's everything going to fit together? It was color coded. And then little by little, he started gathering.

the like we had Amazon deliveries coming to the house every day with all these different parts and daily trips to Rona and figuring out.

Host (50:50)
So you built

Eder (50:52)
Yeah, the only thing I didn't do myself was the the frame weld in the frame not that skilled so I paid someone to do that

Host (50:57)
Mm.

So

you got the frame welded to your dimensions? Yeah. And then you built it from?

Eder (51:03)
Yes. Yeah,

yeah, everything else I put together.

Host (51:09)
The bed in itself is really unique.

Eder (51:11)
I had watched so many videos up to that point. I kind of knew what I wanted to do and the sizes and everything. But yeah, I had done lots of research prior to that point.

Host (51:24)
How do you go about moving it around?

Eder (51:27)
It's on wheels, very heavy. Yeah, I have a If we have an event, I go to U-Haul, pick up a trailer, load everything into the trailer, secure everything, drive to the event, unload, set up, Meg is always there, 99 % of the time helping me. So she got to work out too.

Host (51:29)
ramp though and

I see. Okay.

Megan (51:48)
It's heavy.

Host (51:49)
Did you have to go through different types of coaster wheels on the bottom of it? Or did you nail it the first time?

Eder (51:54)
I did, Option two there. I nailed it the first time.

Host (51:58)
I could see going too small and then needing like bigger more off-road rollable wheels.

Megan (52:04)
They're pretty sturdy pretty sturdy wheels with brakes and yeah, everything was very well thought out I don't think there was anything he really went like ⁓ shoot and had to go back and do it. I think he was quite meticulous in how he was putting things together

Host (52:20)
And how did the name come? It must have been so neat to watch him come home from work at Sprout and seeing this like inspiration and the excitement of it all and be that sounding board over time and watch it come to this idea come to life.

Megan (52:37)
Yeah,

he's not the kind of person that needs to like talk out the steps out loud like I would. He is very much like got it figured out in his brain and it was really fun to see that come into like real life where these pictures that he had drawn on our kitchen table started to turn into, okay now he's got this frame welded together. We got wheels attached, he's got the fronts and sides.

Now he's got a sink cut in, he's got the flip sides, he's like putting all these things together in real time. Which was so awesome and I know the kind of person that he is, is that he will finish it. If he's decided on doing something, it's happening. And it's gonna happen in a very like calm and humble where he's just gonna pick away at it until it's complete.

Host (53:25)
That's actually kind of a big strength to have. How many times do people start a project and they get three quarters or 80 % and then they get distracted and start another project and then you have all these like half-finished projects laying around.

Megan (53:42)
And I think that's what has helped the coffee cart be successful is that been willing to do the work and put down roots when there hasn't really been a whole lot of growth and fruit on the trees yet, if you will. we said yes to a lot of things in the beginning. And we would pack up the trailer. And it would take us a long time because we were still learning how to do this new thing. And we would go and it

maybe wouldn't be super successful the first time we did it or the sixth time that we did it. And so we were learning along the way. was ready to be like, oh, this is too much work. I was the one that's like, it's too heavy. Oh my gosh, we're not making any money. This is hard. This is really hard. he would just persevere. He would just take it in stride. And he'd be like, we're still setting our roots. We're still figuring things out.

job or hurdle that we did was like a lesson into how we could grow or how we could do it differently or how we could streamline things. And we've learned a lot along the way and it's been really cool to see how not like end result oriented. like really enjoying the process of and I think that's what real success is, is to be enjoying.

the enjoying the pathway to the goal that you're after. Being able to withstand some of the struggles and difficulties along the way and still OK on your path.

Host (55:13)
Yeah, I think like what you said there is such a profound statement it's easy to just listen to that and move on but if you actually stop and think about what you just said, I think that's a huge thing that we don't have enough of in our society. It's that... Let me just pause here and get my thoughts like...

I feel as though that because it feels like everything needs to come easy and needs to come right now in our life and is that part of social media and you only see people's success stories or the end and the world we live in you can order something and it can come the next day like everything we want we want it now and this is very broad general speaking but it does feel that our culture is kind of is going that way

what you just said there about success is the journey. If we can shift our mindset, of exactly that, like the success is the enjoyment of living life and just having your goal and, I'm not being very articulate.

Megan (56:18)
No,

I think I think you did I think you nailed it when you said like today is our life too If we're chasing the end goal say our end goal is like a brick-and-mortar cafe. That's thriving like a sprout You know If that's our end goal, but it's gonna take us maybe five ten years to get there and if we're not enjoying the process to get there then what are we doing because

Host (56:23)
Yeah.

Megan (56:44)
If we can't find the glimmers and the joy in the process of becoming, that thing that we're after isn't going to be the thing that brings us joy and success. So the process of watching him become the thing that he's striving for is the good stuff.

Host (56:53)
Thank

It's like redefining what success is. Success is the fact that you're doing it and you're enjoying it. That is successful. You're enjoying what you're doing and you're doing it. You're giving up.

Megan (57:03)
redefining what success is.

And that's

our Boa Vida. Boa Vida is a good life. And we are living a good life.

Host (57:21)
So who came up with the name, that's a great segue into the name of your company.

Eder (57:25)
Yeah. I had what? 20, 30 names and.

Megan (57:26)
I'm a person here.

We had a lot of kitchen table conversations about names and Etter is really good at a lot of things but coming up with the name... No, not my thing. No, there was a lot of like cheesy names that I was like no it has to be something kind of cool or different so we had we had a long list.

Eder (57:41)
Naming something?

Yeah,

it was based on our life. I don't type of work, our daughter, our relationship, living in Colona, our All that came to me as, we have a good life here. No, I do what I love. You do what you love. She's a Pilate instructor. I didn't want to say that in English. Life is good. Cafe.

Host (58:15)
Yeah.

Megan (58:16)
Well, I'm sure that was on the list. I'm sure he put that and I was like, no, you can't say that. That's not a good name.

Eder (58:21)
Yeah, can maybe use Portuguese. I to Portuguese. Boa Vida. Vida, a lot of people know here what that means. Boa, some people know. So that's how the name came up. Boa Vida. Life is good.

Host (58:35)
Oh I like how it ties your background and your culture into it too. That's really neat. you roast your own beans? Who do you get your beans from?

Eder (58:42)
No.

I get mostly through sprout. Yeah, it's roasted in Burnaby. Yeah.

Host (58:46)
Mm-hmm.

Megan (58:49)
Yeah, the owners at Sprout have been super supportive of our. We've had a lot of actually the community of support has huge. out to a lot of other entrepreneurs and they have really helped this is not just an Etter and Meg thing. Like this truly has been a community project because we wouldn't be who we are without.

Host (58:54)
journey.

Megan (59:15)
other people helping us the community that's shown up for us. Like we've had events sometimes where hasn't been very successful, but our friends in our community will come by just because they know that we're there. and when we were working on cruise ships, we would be with people for six, eight months at a time. And then we really never see them again. We'd all kind of disperse. so being in Kelowna for the last like seven, eight years,

We've truly felt like for the first time. yeah, this would be it. This is the longest we've ever been in one place in our adult lives. And so we have finally felt the sense of community over a span of time that has really fostered really important relationships in our lives and in our business.

Host (59:43)
new experience for you.

wow. Yeah, you know, I that didn't dawn on me until you said that. That life you're living is a beautiful chap.

Megan (1:00:04)
Yeah, very nomadic life where you'd be.

Yes, little chapters, but this has been probably the most meaningful chapter where we've been able to foster true connection and community.

Host (1:00:19)
And then Edder had mentioned that you're a Pilates instructor. Yeah, so when did that start? How'd you get into that?

Megan (1:00:25)
So when Eder was injured, he had injured his shoulder. we had a year and a half where we were hanging with my folks in Pendicton. I started doing my Pilates teacher training in that little hiatus because I thought, shoot, if he can't recover from this injury, then what are we going to do when we're not dancers anymore? So I started taking all of these courses. And I got certified right at the very end of that year and a half. And then we went on to our last ship.

got pregnant. so I took a little bit of time to come back to Pilates. So after our daughter was a year old and I was back to work, that's what I started doing because I started teaching Pilates.

Host (1:01:06)
Do you have your own little business or are you under a business?

Megan (1:01:09)
So I

was teaching with New Movement for, I've been there for the past six years. And funny say, I actually just bought my own reformer for my house. We both are sort of doing some entrepreneurial things at the same time. Because I don't know if you know this, but Eder recently left Sprout. Okay, he recently left Sprout because he bought a trailer.

Host (1:01:21)
Congratulations.

No, I don't know this.

Megan (1:01:37)
like an empty shell, just this empty big trailer. And he's been dedicating the last two months to building the trailer into a coffee trailer. So we're expanding from our Boa Vida coffee cart into a Boa Vida coffee trailer where we'll be able to be in more farmers markets and... Oh, congratulations. I know.

Eder (1:02:00)
Public events.

now with the cart we're so limited we can only do private events because I haven't gone through Interior Health. So with the trailer I'm gonna be able to have everything in there that they want to see Interior Health to get a permit.

Host (1:02:16)
congratulations.

you. Yeah. Is it so are you what's your timeline hoping to be is kind of

Eder (1:02:21)
It was two months, but I think ⁓ I got a little thing with the electrical. might have to take the walls down again. first, next week, I'm going to go to the city of Kelowna, talk to the guys there, see if I really need to do that, take the walls down again to expose the electrical or not. If it's not, keep the walls there. It's going to be, I'm looking at maybe another month to finish the trip.

Megan (1:02:46)
Because of course he's doing it all himself. Why would you hire an electrician when you could YouTube it?

Eder (1:02:52)
yourself.

Maybe I watched the wrong channel. ⁓

Host (1:02:54)
Save

a little bit of money if you can.

Megan (1:02:56)
Yeah,

so he's been he's been doing it all himself and another Yeah, it's super fun. It's like another chapter in seeing him again produce this dream into reality But it is a lot. It's a lot of work And a lot of little hurdles along the way and figuring figuring out things

Host (1:03:02)
It's fun to learn.

Eder (1:03:13)
It's a lot of work.

Host (1:03:19)
trailer at home? Like are you able to work on it at home? Yeah. Okay. I didn't know if it was like somewhere else you had to... perfect.

Eder (1:03:24)
Yeah, it's parked right behind our house,

garage and it's just a mess everywhere, things on the floor. I've been doing that for the last two months. The goal was to get it done within two months. But then it's summer, our daughter was off school. She was going to work. I had to be with her. I'm not just going to be working on the trailer and then my daughter doing something else and watching movies.

Host (1:03:39)
Yeah.

Exactly. Yeah.

Megan (1:03:46)
It was a big juggle.

Eder (1:03:48)
Now that school started again, that's gonna free us more time to dedicate to our craft.

Host (1:03:54)
it's so exciting. Are you gonna use the same green for the trailer? you that green color you have on your coffee cart?

Eder (1:03:59)
The same one.

I was thinking about it, yeah, I might. I want to put something on the outside, not just leave it, you know, as white as it is, put some something that is green or maybe yellow. And that brings back to the Brazilian colors, the flag, the Brazilian color flag.

Megan (1:04:19)
the color of his pajama pants when we first met.

Host (1:04:22)
The checkered ones? They were green. ⁓

Megan (1:04:24)
bright green and yellow.

Eder (1:04:26)
Yeah. So I might have something green on the exterior. Cool.

Host (1:04:32)
very exciting. With the coffee festival coming up a few days away, because it will be by the time this airs, are you able to somehow get your cart into the packing house? you're gonna roll it right in?

Eder (1:04:46)
You've

done a few events there. Oh, sweet. It's very easy. Go up the ramp.

Host (1:04:50)
Right?

Well, you never know if you can make that corn.

Megan (1:04:54)
yeah, that's our he built our house is really small. Yeah, our house was built in like the 1930s. And so he built our coffee cart to fit through the very narrow frames in our house. ⁓ so she can turn on a dime. So that's the beauty of the coffee cart is that. Yeah, it can fit indoors. We've had.

Host (1:05:10)
The sides fold down.

design

Megan (1:05:19)
like four guys carry it down a couple flights of stairs to get into an event that we were doing. We can do it inside outside. So that's kind of the beauty of having the carts really versatile to where we can set it up.

Host (1:05:31)
Yeah. very cool. This is very exciting. Yeah. Is there anything else you wanted to touch on while you're on the podcast?

Eder (1:05:35)
It is.

Do you?

Megan (1:05:41)
I think we covered it.

Eder (1:05:42)
We talked a lot on the cruise ship thing. just, I don't know, I want to highlight again where we live, the people we meet, people that have helped us to move forward to get where we want to get and all the support we've had. Yeah, it's been amazing.

Host (1:05:58)
I think that's a nice note to end her. Should we wrap her up? Thank you for bringing the coffee. It's absolutely delicious. I love it. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.

Megan (1:06:03)
My gosh, thank you so much.