Everyone, my name is Akon Agwet and I'm the moderator for Bremen Senate Seat Primary for Chinatown County. Here in the studio or virtually are the candidates, the Democratic Party primary candidates for the Chinatown County Senate. So I will be moderating this forum. The questions have already been preferred ahead of time and it will be my choosing which question to ask in what order is up to me to do that. And we may go through all the questions or maybe some of the question depending on how long the candidates spend their time answering the questions. We have about 45 minutes or so for this conversation or one hour and 15 minutes. I don't know exactly how long it will go but for that matter I will begin. Here in the studio are Senator Thomas Chinanan right there. Senator Ginny Lyons right there. Steve May right there. And Luis Merge right there. And Senator Kecha Ramins-Daw. The rules of the games are very simple. 1.5 minutes or less to answer questions and 30 seconds to revert a question ask of you. And so without further ado I will go with the first question which is the opening statement. It goes like this. What will be different for the people of your district or the state as a whole because you have been elected to this position and what qualifies you to make those changes to happen. For the in common they will answer it based on their experience for the challenges. They will answer it based on what they will bring to the table. So I will go by the lease. Senator Chinanan you have the floor 1.5 minutes. Thank you very much and thank you CCTV for putting this on. It's great to be here and I think it's important for the voters to have these opportunities to hear from us. I have some prepared remarks for this opening statement but I will try not to be too scripted. So I am running for reelection to answer this question because I see more work to do in the state house to make Vermont safer, more affordable and more socially just. I am running for reelection because I want to serve the state I grew up in and the community I love with transparency, commitment, optimism, stability and determination. I have always been a volunteer. In high school I was the president of a key club. In college I was a resident assistant. After college I worked on political campaigns like Howard Dean's presidential run. I was a volunteer firefighter in Williston and more recently I am finishing my last year on my third term on the South Burlington City Council. I was raised to be engaged in my community and to offer service in any way that fits. The state senate called my attention two years ago because I see ways we could get more done in better ways through regional approaches and I ran because I didn't hear enough of our elected leaders advocating for Vermont to grow. I want to see the state house adopt policies that allow current and future Vermonters more opportunities to stay here, live here, work here and thrive here. If the voters give me another term they can count on me to advance policies that do just that making our state more welcoming to people opportunity and investment. Thank you Senator Kinnan and Senator Lyons. Thank you O'Call and thank you very much Channel 17. This is always an opportunity for us and we greatly appreciate sharing our information with our constituents and others. This is a very difficult time in our state and in particular it's a difficult time around democracy but if you look at the Senate one third of the Senate is not going to return. One third of the senators have decided to leave which means that there will be some very large changes in the Senate not simply in individuals and where they're from but also in the leadership that is in the Senate. So I am very interested in continuing my work in health and welfare and climate change and economic, social and environmental justice. We each bring our own individual backgrounds. I am a scientist, I have taught biology, I have done interesting research in areas of human development, in areas of understanding climate change and in understanding basic information about underrepresented folks in our society. So I'm very interested in continuing my work with that background and I think I'm the only scientist right now. I know I'm the only scientist in the Senate. I could be the only scientist in the legislature itself but there's a great deal of work that we have done in childcare and mental health. There's a great deal of work that we have done in workforce development, in our economy, in building an affordable and accessible place for Vermonters and I truly look forward to continue my public service to build my commitment to people as I have in the past. I have been a select board chair, I continue to work on our board of civil authority and I'm very interested in bringing our local government into the state house yet again. So thanks a lot and I look forward to your vote. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Lyons. Steve May, you have the floor. Thank you, Nicole and thank you channel 17 for this opportunity. So I want to piggyback for a second on Senator Lyons comment there that we all are the sum of our past experiences. I'm a clinical social worker and my experience has been overwhelmingly an addiction work. I've worked almost 20 years in addiction in one way or another and that work has been informed by going to many, many funerals. I've seen too many of my clients die as a result of a broken system that doesn't get them the care they need, when they need it, if they need it, when they need it for whatever reason they need it. I'd like to think that my service would be focused around that health care delivery system that would prescribe a prescription delivery system that gets Vermont residents the prescription medicine they need in a way that is affordable and on time. I'd like to think that we can take the best parts of the Portugal model of addiction care and bring them to Vermont. I'd like to think that we can bring the best parts of a single payer system to Vermont. I'd like to think that's my legacy. There's a lot more I care about privacy, for example, certainly in the form of reproductive health care. But I believe that privacy is going to be the civil rights issue of our time and we need to focus on it as a state. And so by the time I'm done, I can look back and see that as my legacy. I would be very happy. Thank you, Steve. And Luis Mudge, you have the floor. Thanks, Nicole. And thank you to CCTV. It's a real pleasure and honor to be here. My name is Luis Mudge. I'm speaking to you from Charlotte. I am by trade. I'm a human rights activist. I've worked all over parts of Central Africa documenting human rights abuses and war crimes. I'm a father of three small boys ages five, seven, and eight, all in the public school system. And I really have a record of service that started after I graduated from college and joined the Peace Corps that extends today to my time on the select board here in Charlotte. I'm running, frankly, because of the redistricting, offers towns like Charlotte a real opportunity to have a representation in Montpelier and not only be seen through the lens of Burlington. I think for too long, the towns in Chittenden County were only represented through that lens. And so I'm running because I see this county as a great place to live, as a great place to raise children. It's beautiful. It's safe. We value education and community service. And I really want to get more people in Montpelier who have an eye towards the future and an eye towards what state we can become. I really want to stress that one of my key points is going to be a priority on climate issues. And that, you know, as we I'm sure we're going to talk about the housing crisis this evening. But really, as we talk about this crisis, we also have to prioritize protecting our open spaces. That's a real priority for me. Finally, a major priority and why I wanted to get in this is because I had three children in childcare at the same time here in Vermont. It is flat out simply unaffordable. I know that firsthand. We need to give early child care providers the respect, dignity and pay they deserve. And we need to take more steps to give these kids this vital service. That's who I am in a nutshell. I look forward to this evening. Thanks for having me. Thank you, Lewis. And Senator Keisha Ram Hinsdale, you have the floor. Thank you, Nicole. And so nice to be with all of you. I'm Senator Keisha Ram Hinsdale. I'm running for reelection as the first woman of color to ever serve in the state Senate after serving also eight years in the House. So I'm going into my past a decade into my sixth year in the legislature, if the people will have me. And I've always worked at the intersection of labor, climate and justice. I serve as the co-chair of the social equity caucus. I've been endorsed by a number of labor organizations, the Vermont League of Conservation Voters, and just a whole host of organizations that we work with in Montpelier. I plan parenthood being one of them as well. I just want to talk about two of the major bills I introduced and helped author and see to passage this past year, because they're very indicative of the kinds of issues I bring to the table. I was the lead sponsor of our landmark housing bill and an environmental justice bill that I worked on for 16 years. The environmental justice bill does put us in the category, finally, of one of the last rural states that did not have an environmental justice policy in place to make sure that we're understanding the intersection of pollution, poverty, and power, and ensuring that people in mobile home communities, which we have here in Chittenden County, or in communities where English is not a proficient language or there's lead poisoning, also have a healthy and clean environment to live in. The housing bill is somewhat related to that. Not everyone can afford to live in a safe and healthy neighborhood. We want to make sure that we build greater housing stock, make sure first-generation homebuyers can afford to buy a house and stay in Vermont, and that bill contains some of the first investments in mobile home repair and accessibility in decades. So those are the kinds of issues that I care about, and I strive to make sure that no one is left behind. It's a privilege to serve in the Senate with my colleagues, and I hope to be returned. Thank you, Senator Kecha, Rams, and I will go straight to question number seven. Burma has passed some racial equity legislation in the past few years. Are you satisfied that the Burma legislature is doing enough to dismantle systemic and institutional racism in the state? Do you support reparations and apologizing for Burma's role in its slavery and systemic racism? Let me begin again with the other order with you, Senator Kecha, Rams, and still. Thanks, Nicole. I have a feeling you might do that. One point five minutes. You are muted. I'm muted? Yeah, you're good now. Oh, okay, great. So I'll try to be brief. I will try. Am I satisfied? Absolutely not. It's part of the reason I hope we continue to recruit more people of color to run for office. Really, we can't have anything about us without us, and so often it's the case that our lived experience is left out of the conversation. We can see that in many statistics. We have the largest gap in homeownership between black and white people in this state that one of the largest gaps in the country. When we look at policing and incarceration, we have an epidemic of incarceration of black Vermonters. We have the criminalization of black teenagers, for example, in Chittenden County, young black men make up two and a half percent of the youth population, but 25 percent of those charged as youthful offenders. I share that statistic a lot because it keeps me up at night. It represents a lot of potential that we're wasting. A lot of young people that want to be part of our future in our state and are in so many ways denied that opportunity. I have fought tirelessly to try and turn that around. As I talked about people running for office, it means a lot to me that my colleagues join me in helping our committee pass two charter changes for Winooski and Montpelier that allow new residents and all residents, essentially new citizens, sorry, non-citizens to vote in local elections. If you look at a place like Winooski, that meant 45 percent of kids in schools, their parents could finally vote for school matters. These things make a huge difference. As well, I'm not satisfied until we start to put real money and resources toward repairing harm, as you said, toward reparations, toward land access and home ownership access. The governor is even committed to resources and dollars specifically for BIPOC home ownership and BIPOC land access, and I commend him for that and how far we've come in addressing these issues. It cannot come soon enough and we have much work to do, but I'm glad we're on that path. Very quickly, Apology, are you apologizing for the past role of Brahman in his celebrity? Yes, we worked on reparation, sorry, eugenics, and I also am a big believer in not just apologizing but trying to repair harm. Thank you. Luis March, you have the floor. I'm going the opposite direction. That's fine, Nicole. Thank you. Thank you very much. This is a very relevant question and I really appreciate it. Short answer, no, I don't think Vermont, institutional and systemic racism is going to be so difficult to actually solve and so, no, Vermont, nor this country has done enough and so it is not a satisfactory place in that regard. I agree with many things that Senator Ron Hinsdale said. I would add on to that list the inequalities in healthcare and how that can be broken down on racial lines and how those racial inequalities are so accentuated by looking at our healthcare statistics. I have a long history of working as a very privileged, straight white guy. I have a long history in my organization of working towards addressing systemic racism, of trying to tackle it. I've been very energetic in the town of Charlotte and in my organization on improving diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and making them real and not just sort of icing and icing on the cake and almost sort of performative. I really want them to actually have real teeth. I worked in the private sector. I'm a capitalist. I believe in reparations because I think it's a good thing that capitalists should push for. There's a debt owed and that debt should be paid. The modalities and the mechanisms of how we pay that debt, that's something that we're going to have to iron out but that is where I stand as a first step. I absolutely believe that reparations are something we should move forward on. Keisha Rom-Hinsdale brought up zoning and housing and how we can encourage that amongst our BIPOC community. I wholeheartedly agree with those sentiments. That is something I would get behind 100%. I would love to see more BIPOC for modders own equity in their homes. With regards to final aspects because I think you're going to push me on apologies. Look, absolutely. Reparation will absolutely imply an apology but it has to be more than just a superficial one. It has to come with something behind it. I think an apology with reparations, with real and meaningful reparations would do so. If I was to be elected in Montpelier, I think you'd find I would have a very sober voice on this issue and that I would absolutely look at it from all angles. There's my time. But I would absolutely try to move the ball forward in this regard. Thank you. Thank you so much. I think you covered the question as a whole. Steve May, you are the next. You know, Cole, I think it's really important that we take a holistic view of reparations and I think it's really important that we try and make all of our modders whole. It's critical that this be a welcoming place for everybody regardless of whether you're a Vermont or by choice or you came here under the sword of the sword of oppression. I think that includes thinking about our Avernac brothers and sisters and their history here in this place. I think it extends to the eugenics projects that were held at the Week School. I think it's an all-encompassing story that we have to be prepared to attack in a way that tells the best version of the Vermont story. Thank you, Senator Lyon. Thank you. We certainly have not done enough. I'd like to talk a little bit about some of the things that we have done and then where the gaps lay. First of all, we need to begin with ourselves. As we know, when you look at bias, implicit bias needs to be a matter of changing it. It needs to matter of self-awareness. We each need to understand who we are. That work has actually started in the legislature where we have had some implicit bias training. There's also been some implicit bias training within our Department of Public Safety, but that's insufficient. It's totally insufficient. Last year, we passed a resolution that declared racism as a public health emergency. That opens the door to the data collection that some of you were talking about earlier. Certainly, during the COVID period, I passed legislation that asked for data to be collected by the Department of Health that would evaluate the effect of COVID on racially different racial groups. We're beginning, but our current racial equity director is working with her group to build a healthcare report and to look at racial disparities within the healthcare system itself and to make recommendations. That report was actually due in the winter, but Susanna Davis asked for an extension into January, then March, and the report is still not complete because it's a big deal and it's a lot of work. Do we have enough? Have we done enough? No. We haven't done enough in healthcare. We haven't done enough in public safety. We haven't done enough in a number of areas, including understanding our own biases.  I think that our abnaki heritage needs attention for reparative damages. We need to repair those damages that we've done. I think we need to have a very much broader discussion about how we can improve the lives of people in our individual towns and across the state. Finally, I was going to just add one last thing, and that is very quickly. When Proposition 5 and Prop 2 were introduced, I also introduced a proposal for an integrated proposal of amendment for, I'll talk about it later. Thank you. You have the floor. Thank you. There's so much more work to do on this topic, and dismantling systemic racism is not going to happen overnight. Yes, I support reparations because our government at the municipal, state, and federal level have disadvantaged previous generations of our citizens because of the color of their skin. The financial benefits afforded to previous generations of Vermonters have compounded. It's compounded through the decades to today, so as those family supports and resources were bequeathed to subsequent generations of now subsequently advantaged individuals. Here in South Burlington, we have one of the first plan unit development neighborhoods, Mayfair Park. In their bylaws, they had racist restrictions on who could buy a home there. That was 70, 80 years ago. That has ramifications throughout the generations to today that the Mayfair board that oversees their fire district and some of the decisions over that unit has apologized, and they rightfully should. So similarly, the state of Vermont, I support the state of Vermont and any organization that in the past have disadvantaged individuals based on the color of people's skin to apologize for that behavior. And I also support reparations. To me, the real question on reparations is not if, but how. I don't support cutting checks to anybody just based on the color of their skin, but I absolutely support affirmative action through governmental policy that prioritizes BIPOC communities in small business grants, in housing grants, in community supports, and funding formulas. Thank you. Thank you. It looked like you have generally you have some general agreement or reparation, but the default is in the details, and we will have that conversation at another time. Let's me move to, I don't want, I want to come to the budget. We cannot, in this forum, without talking about the money, but there are also time-sensitive issues that have happened nationally that warrant your voices, and that is gun rights. And the orbit of Ruby Wade as we look at proposition two and proposition five. So if we can bundle this question together, especially on the gun rights, what is your position on, given what is happening around the country, and what can Bremen do to make sure that there is gun safety, and also following that, I would have you fall in your position on what had just happened with Ruby Wade being overturned, and what does that mean for U.S. legislators in Bremen to make sure that that right for women to choose remain protected here in the estate. So two questions folded into one. I will split right in the middle with Steve May, you have the floor. 1.5 minutes. So the first thing that I would say is there's absolutely no reason that an 18-year-old needs to have an AK or a similar weapon. There just isn't. And I certainly have a healthy respect for people who want to use a hunting rifle and pass that down as part of a tradition in their family. I know that there are many Vermonters who do, but as somebody who understands a little something about the human brain, I know that it's not fully formed until you get to your mid-20s. And I think it's certainly reasonable to put limits on who's able to purchase a high capacity rifle or a large capacity magazine. And there's no reason to be making available the kind of armor that folks have been using in some of these attacks. As to Prop 5, I support it. I support it not just because I believe in a woman's right to choose, but because I believe that it's a cornerstone to a rights regime that includes privacy. And it also speaks to gay marriage and whether or not whether or not, I'm sorry, I slipped for a second. Whether or not people are going to have a basic right to privacy in their home and in the health and well-being decisions that they make in their lives. Most folks have some familiarity with HIPAA, but we don't really think about the way that we have a privacy regime in this country. Privacy is siloed, meaning that you get a grant of authority with regard to a specific condition, but you don't get an expressed right to privacy. And one of the things that I care most critically about is making sure that every Vermonter has an expressed right to privacy going forward. Thank you. Thank you, Luis, Marcio.  Do you mind if I go and then I'm going to have to... Please, please, please go. Thank you all for indulging me. So I just want to first of all say they're interrelated issues. The idea in this country that a young man who isn't fully developed mentally yet can access an AR-15 or a weapon of war and a young woman who's not fully physically developed yet has to bring a child to term as a child herself is really the true decline of our society and something we need to fight against with every tool we have available to us. We are not an island in Vermont. We are obviously doing a lot of things to protect Vermonters from these assaults, from a radical Supreme Court on our population. But we have abortion providers in the state I was talking to today who help perform abortions in Alabama. We have people who are talking to folks in other states who are going to need abortion care. And we have to make sure that we provide sanctuary, that we're a safe place to get help, that we create data privacy that extends beyond our borders and advocate for Washington to do the same. So we're going to have to be a part of a lot of these solutions around accessing abortion. We're a gun owning household. You know, there are a lot of Vermonters who are very responsible gun owners, but we also have to remember we're not immune from gun violence. We have one of the highest teen suicide rates per capita and just suicide rates per capita by gun in the country. And we're very deeply impacted by access to guns, not only in that regard, but in terms of trafficking between guns, drugs and people. You know, we're near a lot of urban areas and we have to remember that our part is often easy access to guns. And that feeds our opioid crisis. So, you know, advocating for any solutions we can, I think we have a lot of ideas around abortion access and gun safety in the state. We have to look at how close gun gun stores are to schools. We have to look at the availability of high capacity magazines, the age at which people can buy certain weapons, and fully closing the Charleston loophole, which we didn't have the opportunity to do this session because of the governor's veto. Thanks so much for having me and thank you all. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Ramm. Installed and thank you, Luis, for yielding. You have the floor now. Great. Thanks. Look, I think movement on guns is going to have to come from Democrats very much like myself. I'm speaking to you from my basement office. I have a gun cabinet right here. I hunt every year. I own several firearms. I grew up hunting in the upper valley with my granddad. And I take a deer almost every season. I find our gun culture to be very bizarre and obsessed with sort of tactical patriotism. And we need to have open conversations about that. And I've had those conversations. And those conversations are usually better started with someone who is in the gun culture, who actually owns guns and hunts. I also have an intimate relationship with automatic weapons and what they can do in Central Africa. War crimes are almost exclusively perpetrated by small arms. And I spent 10 years documenting these types of crimes. I know exactly what these weapons are designed to do and what they're capable of doing. And having three small children seeing these school shootings that week after week as it seems is just terrifying. We need to do some things. We need to do them concretely. Redlining does work. Weight periods are acceptable and are normal. And most gun owners want it. The fact is most responsible gun owners such as myself do want there to be some movement on this issue. We just need to get to the place where we can have those right conversations so we can try to limit these high-capacity clips, these high-capacity weapons getting into the wrong hands. With regards to Prop 5, look, I wrote an opinion piece in The Citizen two months ago stating that this mattered more now, more than ever. Senator Lyons, I wish to sort of tip my hat to you for all the work you've done on this. I don't want to raise my children in a country in which reproductive rights are not recognized. I was at both the March for Our Lives rally in Montpelier. I was also at the rally in Burlington which Keisha spoke at when Roe v. Wade was overturned. We need to protect abortion providers in Vermont. We need to make sure that people can come to this state and access this service. And all of this is going to start with passing Prop 5 and not being ashamed of it, saying outrightly, as I've done on the record, that this matters now more than ever. Thank you, Luis. Senator Kinanen, you have the floor. Great. So similar to Luis, I am a proud gun owner, but I'm not proud of our country's gun laws. I'm actually ashamed of them. I think we need to start looking at guns in a different way in these discussions. And the corollary I always like offering is automobiles. Automobiles are dangerous. Automobiles are weapons. If war came to our shore, automobiles would be used as a critical component of any sustained defense or rebellion, just like guns would be. But for the wrong reasons, we have not applied the same sensible regulations over gun ownership that we have to our automobiles. We regulate who is allowed to drive on our roads, who has to register our vehicles and how to safely operate them on public roadways. All of these steps have proven over the last 50 to 60 years to reduce unnecessary carnage on our roadways. We need to apply the same regulatory lens on firearms to align our public safety values with our gun laws. I'm not saying we need to take any guns away. I'm saying we need sensible rules over who can access them, buy them, sell them, transport them, register them. If you want to own an assault rifle, you should have to evidence of competency and safety awareness the same way that we require people who drive big, big trucks to get a commercial driver's license. And guns need to be more expensive and so that they are harder to get and that owners would be more motivated to keep them locked up. I think, and I'd love to hear Senator Lyons, who I hold in very high regard's opinion on this, it's time we start taxing guns, the way we tax cigarettes and automobiles to start recouping some of the costs that are put on society by the use and misuse of them. And it also would make them more expensive, thus hopefully driving individuals to want to store them more safely, more securely, which is another initiative. As for Prop 5, I would echo everything Lewis, Steve, and Senator Ron Hinsdale have said, I support Prop 5 because I believe in personal autonomy and self-determination. The woman's right to choose is her right and nobody else's. Thank you, Senator Kinan and Senator Lyons. You are the better left with the, you have the floor. Thank you very much, Nicole. You know, the gun culture in our state is an important one for hunting purposes. But I do think that we have each seen terrible things that remind us about the need for regulations. So closing the Charleston loophole, ensuring there are background checks, and red flag laws are critically important. At a very close colleague who had a mental health problem, her family was very much aware that she should never have access to a handgun. And yet she got one, and that was the end of her life. And so I think that being aware of those things allows us to understand that some of the problems we see associated with gun ownership truly resulting in suicide. It's a huge public health problem. So, and then all of the other things that are related to substance use disorder and on and on. So we have a long road to go, but I do think that we have started the process in the legislature, and I look forward to gun legislation that's going to be proposed during the next session. As far as Prop 5 goes, I decided to put a proposition in an amendment in in the, I think it was the winter and spring of 2018 prior to the 2019 session, because it does take two legislative sessions to get a constitutional amendment put on the ballot. And now it is on the ballot for November 2nd. I'm very excited about that. This is a critically important issue for all of us. It will ensure women's and men's reproductive autonomy going forward, whether it's for contraception or whether it's any other reproductive choice, including abortion. Everyone now is talking about how can we help others? How can I excuse the telephone? I can't control it. How can we help folks who are in states that don't allow for abortion? And I am putting legislation in. I'm sure I'll be working with others to ensure that we can welcome people into our state who can take advantage of our constitutional amendment. And just, I would like to say one other thing about constitutional amendments. The same year that I introduced Prop 5, I also introduced an inclusive equal rights amendment that would have given protection to any individual regardless of race, ethnic background, or other considerations. That proposal was not picked up. And now we are seeing the results of that in multiple attempts at legislation to ensure racial equity. So, but to answer your question, Prop 5 is so critical. It's a beacon for the rest of the country. And we need to vote for it. I'm in November. So, thank you. Thank you so much. I think that as we are going towards time being limited as we as we're running out of time, we should tackle the budget, the money. And we know that given possibly unpresented revenue and expense challenges, Burma faces over the next few years, the key question is how will you propose approaching the budget? And the second leg of that question is, is balancing budget important? And how would you do that? Especially when there are competing priorities, but with limited money? I will begin now with Luis, were you the first person? Have you taken the first shot before? No. Yes. You have the floor. Yep. Sure. Great. Listen, very important question. With regards to the budget now, the general education budgets are projected to be pretty good this year. But as I alluded to before, I do have, I have some experience in the private sector. It was in banking. There's even if we're not heading into a recession, we're certainly heading into a decline. I'll answer the second part of your question. First, is it important to balance the budget? Yes, it's important to balance the budget. It's important to balance the budget on a state level for our bond ratings. But it's important to balance the budget because honestly, legislators should be doing that. I'm sitting on the select board here in Charlotte. Every year we have to set the budget. We have to explain to our townspeople why we decided to make these decisions, make the cuts and ask them to approve that budget. It's a fantastic exercise at a micro level of how budgeting can be done and should be done in Vermont. And that's very much the same ethos that I would take to Montpelier. The fact is, is that we're going to have to do some belt tightening. A lot of the money that we have right now, as everyone knows, is coming from the Fed. It is one of the reasons why we do have higher inflation. It's one of the reasons why it's so expensive here in Vermont in the rising prices. So the next legislative session is going to be, in my opinion, very different from the last one with regards to the economic outlook and regards to what type of decisions we have to make and with regards to the fact that we're not going to have all this money coming in from the federal government. I like the way that this money is being spent. I like that it's being spent on infrastructure, but we are going to have to make some tough decisions. One thing that I would advocate for, if we do have to make cuts and where they come from, is that we work towards getting those explained better to our people. And let me just, I know my time's almost up a call, but let me just give you an anecdote. We do have an education bill that's going to be enacted in 2024. That is actually going to lead to a 16% tax increase for the CVST, Champlain Valley School District, with regards to our education spending. This was never really explained on the town level to us here in Charlotte, folks in Shelbur. This is going to be a huge increase. This is going to, you know, either it's going to affect our ability to run our school the way we want because we might have to make those cuts at the school level or it's going to affect the taxpayer. So what I want to do is I want to have conversations with people across Chittenden County Southeast with regards to the budget, with regards to the decisions that I'm trying to make and explain how that's going to impact their life so they can help inform my decisions. Thank you. Thank you so much. Steve, you have the floor. So, Akul, in general, I'm a Kenzian, which means that in good economic times, I think you should be prudent in bad economic times. I think it's appropriate to act with a sense of emergency. Unless there's a law that requires us to balance the budget, I don't feel like there's a necessity to balance the budget. I do know that we can't keep balancing the budget on the backs of taxpayers and the property tax. We need to come up with new sources of income. That's why I support a universal basic income. We need to come up with new sources of income to source a new revenue stream for the operation of state government. I know that sounds complicated, but basically what it means is that we can't keep using the property tax to fund the way that government works and whether we use a GST like our Canadian friends do that's a goods and services tax or some other mechanism, we can't keep doing the same thing over and over again and expect different results. Thank you. I think Steve and Luis, you have a different here on balancing the budgets. And we may come to that. I want Senator Lyons and Senator Kinnanen to answer these questions, but we may come back to that whether or not balancing the budget is important. Senator Lyons, you have the floor. Thank you, Nicole. So first, I think it's important that we understand that the education funding is separate from the general dollars and funding of state government and funding of our community services. So they're totally separate. And I will just make one comment about education funding that I'm hoping that within the next two years, we will be able to identify an income based budget taxation process so that we are not fully dependent on property taxes. So that's another that's a whole separate discussion as is the waiting issue that was brought up earlier. In terms of the budget, I will say that healthcare represents a significant amount of the budget. I spend a good deal of my time in my committee looking at bills that are introduced that have high expenditures. And then I also have to work with the Appropriations Committee to look and to determine what are the baseline expenditures that we have for our Medicaid or for our child care. And then if we are going to change child care, as we did last session, if we're going to increase the opportunities for people 150% or lower for poverty for the CCFAP or the Child Care Financial Assistance Program for families, when we did that, we had to ensure that we weren't going to cause this huge imbalance in the budget. It doesn't mean that we can't have increases. That means that we need to take care so that we aren't robbing Peter to pay Paul. The other piece of this is that when we talk about the budget, we frequently think about funding the programs that we currently have. That's important. There are also new programs that we may want to consider that could supplant or replace some of the older programs that aren't doing what they should do. So we have kept our eye on making sure that we aren't willy-nilly adding new programs without evaluating some of the programs that might need some retrofit or to be discarded. And toward that end, we're looking at mental health issues. We're looking at substance use disorders. And by the way, we have a significant amount of money, about $84 million coming into the state over the next 10 to 15 years solely for substance use disorder support and work. That is a huge lift off of our shoulders in the healthcare world. We've also been looking at other ways. And I'm going to stop. I know I'm getting the hook. But so I'll stop there. But there are other things that we've been doing. So thank you. I think you just waved to me. I think I'm last to go. So I'll just take the floor. To balance the budget, there are three options. One, you can cut spending, which Senator Lyons just spoke to. Always a challenge because these programs have been proven to be important to fund. But it's certainly a place to start to always get sharpened pencils and to look at where you can cut. The second way is to raise revenues, fees and taxes. Always a challenge because every dollar has a constituency. But important to know, and this is not my campaign platform, I swear. But I just want the public to know that for the entire Governor Scott administration, they have not adjusted or increased state fees. Prior to Governor Scott, which he's done a lot of great things. This is nothing against him. It's just an administration policy that they have had now for four years. Really four years. Is he in his fourth year, fifth year, sixth year, six years, right? Six years. Okay. So he has not raised fees. Prior to him, there was always a fee bill where we would gradually, incrementally increase based on inflation and cost of services and living, a variety of fees that the state charges. And those are rational assessments. When you want to drive a boat in Lake Champlain, you should register your boat. And that fee should increase. So I am not running to raise fees. Okay. But I will say one thing that we need to do and consider is rationally keeping fees in check, especially in these inflationary times. The third way, and I hope I haven't gotten the hook yet, which is important to really realize is to balance the budget is to foster and encourage economic activities that grow our grand list and taxable activity. Permit reform that welcomes investment like the new on-logic computer manufacturing facility, right by the Whales Tales in South Burlington or Beta Technologies, they increase our property grand list while that helps our municipal tax basis and our education fund. The monies from the commercial basis do go into the Ed Fund. It also brings higher paying jobs in the green tax sector to Vermont, which is increasing our income tax revenues. So smart growth can reduce per taxpayer burden through economies of scales and virtuous cycles of economic activity, especially in the green technology sector. Since I haven't gotten the hook yet, the other thing I'd say is I'm a big fan of rational assessment. So one thing that I'd like to see is using economic incentives and tax policy to tax what we don't like and subsidize what we do. I, for one, support having a sugary beverage tax in order to fund universal meals, healthy foods in our schools. I think a two liter bottle of Coke should cost as much as a gallon of milk, and I think we can get there, and that taxation can be used to foster healthier foods for our kids and balance our budget. So I'm all about rational assessment where you can connect a fee to a government benefit. I think I should get the hook now. So I'll stop talking. Thank you. Thank you so much, Senator Chinanan. I will go to question 11, and we still have a little bit of time. We might get to education and healthcare, but let me go to question 11, and that is we in Vermont, we have a citizen legislature. So you are literally volunteers, if you will. You have to have another job to live. And so this is a part-time job, and not only that, you are paid less than minimum wage. So with all of the things that you have just listed here, is this really doable by part-time people who are working part-time? How do you, could you do this? Or could we have a full-time legislature, which is a career? Let me give you the floor, Senator Lyons, you are the first this time. Thank you. This is a great question, and I think we think about this a lot. For those of us who are in the legislature, we understand that it's a low-paying job. And for me, as someone who has been a college professor and has been able to have a flexible schedule for most of my Senate career, it hasn't been a problem. But there are people we would like to see in the legislature who can't be there. So number one, I think we need to consider how to increase the pay for legislators. It doesn't have to start when I'm there, or when Senator Chittenden or Senator Ram is there, but it should start going forward. It is difficult to be, we are full-time legislators. There is just no doubt. We work every single day of the year. We get paid from January to May, but we work with our constituents. We work with our committees. We send letters. We're involved in committee work outside of our time in Montpelier. So this is an ongoing debate. I think one thing that might help with this is to have four-year terms, at least for the Senate. And that might allow for an expansion of the number of people who are engaged in this process. And then at the same time, I think we really do need to consider how to increase the pay for legislators. There's no healthcare benefit. There are no other benefits. It's simply a weekly pay and expenses. So I don't know if I answered your question. You did. I think you did. Unless you actually go and check, you would assume that the legislators get paid, but literally it's nothing to be honest with you. Steve, may you have the floor? So one of my jobs was to be the National Director of State Affairs for the Hemophilia Federation of America. And what that meant was that I worked with chapter organizations around the country in legislatures to lobby. And so I got to see full-time legislatures. I got to see part-time legislatures. I won't speak to pay, but I will speak to the idea of having a full-time legislature. I think that we would all be best served by having a full-time legislature. The work would just, the quality would be better. Having staff, the quality would be better. With that said, I'd like to see some reforms that go along with it. Some proportional representation, implementation of IRV, some real meaningful democratic reforms to make the body the democratic beacon that I would hope that it could and should be. But there's really no reason that we shouldn't have a full-time body that allows folks to do the people's work. Thank you. Thank you. Senator Kinenen, you have the floor. So I always joke about city councils. A lot of work for no pay and people are always mad at you. So it's a hard sell public service, but the absence, the alternative, is not attractive either. So we need community members to find the time and we need to find ways to support volunteers. So we do get paid something in the legislature, but you're absolutely right. It's $700 a week, which can really hold you back professionally because it's a full-time role for five months out of the year. So I definitely support what Senator Lyon said, is looking at a way to have that calibrate and keep in touch with some or keep track with cost of living, but do it for six years out. So it doesn't benefit any current senators or house reps and it just triggers sometime in the future so that there won't be the politics of us trying to give ourselves raises. But if we want to have more people around the table, we certainly need to look at pay. I do think a part-time legislature in Montpelier can do the job. So right now I could be convinced otherwise, but I don't think we need to go full time. I think we could certainly do it better. I'm a strong believer in continuous improvements, so everything could be done better. I would love to keep looking to Senator Lyons because I hold her experience and seniority in such high regard. About one notion I'd like to see is extending committee testimony, work to the off-session, and hybrid Zoom formats, I think have really made that so that we possibly support that in a much more efficient manner. I'm also intrigued by what I think I heard, I went to a CSG event last summer with other legislatures and they do these mini-sessions outside of the regular session for the regular items. So the items that are just really important for us like the fee bill that we used to do before Governor Scott, those things would be very important. You take testimony, you make it happen, and that way you aren't trying to jam things through near the end of this. So I'm wondering if there's a way to take out some of the things from the hectic nature of this session and to put it into mini-sessions in thoughtful ways to spread it out so that we can be more thoughtful and deliberate in our approach. So there's no perfect way to run a legislature, but I actually am attending another event this coming August, and it actually is focused on one of my intriguing areas is I want to see how other state governments do it. I understand Texas meets for two months every two years, and I don't want to, I'm not saying we should do Texas, but I'm intrigued to compare how we do it to others, and for that I'll stop. Thank you. Thank you, Senator Kennedy. Luis, you have the floor. Just, Tommy, you're saying we should be like Texas? I'm joking, I'm joking, and hearing, Jenny, Senator Lyons, hearing you say no health care, no benefits, low pay, I'm kind of thinking like how do I get myself off the ballot here, and that's a joke as well, that's a joke. Look, to Steve's point, I don't think we're going to get to a full-time legislature in Vermont. I don't see that on the horizon. I just don't see, when I go around and talk with folks, I don't see an appetite for that much money to be spent on a full-time legislature. I think we're kind of stuck with what we got, and what we got is not ideal. I'm running now, one of the also principle reasons I'm running is because I can kind of afford to run now. I'm in that point in my professional career where I still have my day job, but much like Senator Lyons, I'm able to sort of play around with my schedule a little bit. I get up very early, and I'm able to, you know, if I was to be elected, I would be able to serve in the Senate.  This is not a system for people who have maybe are on the front end of their mortgage, and who really need to sort of, you know, feel like they're getting everything out of it. These folks, I talk to them all the time, and they say like, we don't feel we're represented. I mean, this is one of the reasons I'm trying to get into this thing. At the end of the day, I really tip my hat to Senators Chittin and Lyons and Ron Hinsdale, because this is, in many ways, this is an absolute service that they're doing, and I think we have to recognize that going into it with our eyes wide open. It's why folks like us also serve on the select board. The select board in Charlotte pays $125 a month. So it's, you know, you're not doing it for the money. You're doing it because you love your municipality. You're doing it because you want to be in the debate. You actually genuinely enjoy having conversations like the one we're having now. You want to have an impact. But most importantly, you're doing it because you want to bring your voice to the table and sacrifice. So to the Senator still on the call, I do appreciate your sacrifice. I am trying to edge one of you out to be in there to sacrifice myself. Thank you. Thank you. I think we have a few minutes to tackle education. If I might have heard you earlier on, there might have been a little bit of debate between Luis Merge and Jeannie Lyons. That was a kind of disagreement, if you will, on education finance. And this is an area I have actually written about. And so right now, the legislature, you know, this is the legislature can make impacts on how education is funded statewide. And we know that it is funded partly through property tax, but also partly through, you know, through taxes, you know, through business properties as well. So it is not exclusively on property taxes. Now, do you see the need for changes to how we fund education which Senator Lyons alluded to earlier? And how would you use your office to more changes forward? And I think that the bill that was passed recently, we raise taxes as Luis Merge said earlier on. So how do you see education being funded? We know that it is more expensive to educate, you know, non-native English speakers. It is more expensive to educate young people. It is more expensive to educate kids who are in rural areas. So those need to be factored into the way we know all of that. But what is the best way to actually fund education? And is the bill that was recently part sufficient? Or is there another way that might be considered, as Senator Lyons said earlier on? So I will just stick to one minute. So back to you, Senator Kinanen. You have the floor. This is a very important topic. And I'm actually proud of what we did do in the legislature this year. I believe the pupil waiting formula adjustments were long overdue. And Aaron Brady, who serves as the Wilson Rappand on the CVSU school board, was very adamantly supportive of this change. I think it does a lot to make it more our formula, which is extremely complex, even fair. So I think it moves us in the right direction. And what's also great and important to the concern I think I heard Lewis raise earlier, our tax formula also currently income sensitizes property taxes. So up to 60 or 70%, depending on how you measure it, of Vermont property owners are already sensitized based on how much they make for their homesteads. So we do have a very fair formula for collecting property taxes on education. And I believe the changes we made have made it fair. But is it perfect? Absolutely not. My biggest criticism and Senator Alliance, I really hope I don't offend the discussions on this, but my biggest criticism of what we did and what I think we need to address in the coming session is we didn't look at how to control or reduce costs by really addressing the formula. We have not focused enough attention on how to ensure that schools are not overspending or not spending it on resources that don't necessarily translate to results. And so that's where I think the state and the education department could do more to look at costs within our schools, because I don't know about I serve on a city council, I hear a lot about property taxes and Vermont is the second highest in the country with regards to property tax rates. So there's things to address there. The other part of this question has to do with the tax formula and converting it to possibly an income based. We have passed a study. So the study over the summer is going to be looking at this to take what was already done a very important study of financing our proper our educations with income taxes as opposed to property taxes. But that's not an easy switch because there are commercial properties and second homes. And so property is one of the property taxes are one of the few ways that we can collect or tax wealth. We tax income, but wealth that actually that sitting asset wealth uses our roads are emergency services. So it's important to recognize that they also benefit from schools and good and healthy schools. So I'm all for income tax on homesteaders. So individuals that claim it as their primary home, how we already defined it in our tax code. I think we need to shift to an entire we're almost there already with our income sensitization. The point is we have a very complex formula. More energy needs to go into it. I got to stop talking. I'm getting the hook. Thank you. Thank you, Senator. Senator Lyons, we go back to the original order. You have the floor. Thank you. Okay. Very quickly. I do think they study on income based education taxation is an important study that will help to help us understand what we can do and what we can't do. Having income sensitivity already is in the formula, but it may not be sufficient to cover what we're seeing from some people who are very land poor and or land. They have a lot of land and they have very little money. And so it's very difficult for them to survive.  And then that has other repercussions for environmental issues. So I look forward to that report. In terms of the waiting study that we did, that was absolutely critical. The weights that we had were older than the hills. Well, I think they were like 30 years old. That does not make sense. And when you're trying to educate children from another culture who speak a different language or different languages, you absolutely need to provide the resources to schools so that they can work with the kids, with the families and with others to integrate them fully into the school and into the new culture that they're in. So I'm a strong supporter of the work that we did on the weights. I know it was a heavy lift for some school districts, which is why we added some funding in to cover folks who schools may not have the threshold for racial and ethnic children. So I look forward to the income-based report. I'm a strong proponent for income-based taxation, for education, with some help from General Fund. So that's it. Thank you, Senator Lyons. Steve, may you have the floor. I also want to thank you, Senator Lyons, for your work on this. I know you worked with Senator Polina and Senator Pearson to come up with good legislation and especially around special education. You did Jolman's work, so thank you. I also want to point out that higher education has been really kind of missing from this conversation. And we need to make sure that we keep Vermont kids here. You know, there's been a long conversation about brain drain and Vermont kids leaving Vermont because they can't make a living in Vermont. And we've got to figure out a way to make it possible for a Vermont, a Vermonter getting an education in Vermont to be able to stay in Vermont. If you get a Vermont education, we should be able to find a way for somebody to work here for five years and pay off their student loan in some small measure and be able to make a life here. It really should be that simple. You know, New York and New Mexico have moved towards totally repaying or wiping out student debt, all student debt. And we should be able to make that same guarantee to every Vermonter. It's shameful that we haven't. And it's a cornerstone of my campaign that we do that within the next five years. Thank you, thank you. Luis, you have the floor. Thanks, thanks. So I brought up, I brought up, as 287, not to be critical of it. I was actually trying to bring it up more in the context and clear that into a good job. More in the context of really on these big bills trying to get more inputs from folks in the district.  Okay, that's that's that's full stop. But to Senator Lyons' point here in Charlotte, we do have a lot of folks who are land poor. The income income sensitivities aside, we do have a lot of folks where this is going to be a fight in which they're saying to me, we might get priced out of this town. We might have to leave and they've been in this town for a long time. I'm hearing the same thing in Heinsberg. I'm hearing the same thing in, you know, other rural towns. So I think we need to look at other options to try to help with education. I think Senator Chittin and Lyons are right on in terms of looking at taxing income itself and not solely relying or mostly relying on property taxes. But look, you're talking to someone with the youngest kid going into kindergarten, I mean, we're fully invested in the public school system. We moved to Charlotte because it's got a fantastic elementary school. That's a sentiment I'd love to hear from Montersay all across the state, let alone Chittin and County. We moved to this community because of its schools, because fundamentally at the end of the day, the health of a community, in my opinion, comes from its schools. It basically represents the investment that that community feels they want to put back into their community. So, you know, you're looking at a candidate who would recognize the need for these difficult conversations around weighted systems and enabling some of the other communities, especially those with our BIPOC communities or non-English native speakers to come in, but also someone who isn't going to be afraid to maybe also lend a hand on addressing taxing income to help make up for that. Thank you. So, we actually have under a five minute left. So, this will conclude our conversation for tonight, but I will give you one point five minute each to kind of make the closing statement. So, very briefly, so that's the town TV even disappointed with me. So, let me begin with Steve May, closing a statement. Friends, thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts this evening. I'm running for the State Senate because I believe that fundamentally Montpelier is broken. And I've entered this race because I'm deeply concerned about where and how our legislature works and doesn't work. I think that we can do better, we shall do better, and we really must do better. The nature of what happens requires that we engage in a long conversation with our neighbors about how we go about the work of public engagement. And I promise to be an ear to each and every one of you. Thank you. Thank you. We are running out of time.  Thanks, Nicole. Thanks to SCCTV. I don't think Montpelier is broken. I think Montpelier is doing, it can always do better. But I really tip my hat to the folks who do sacrifice to serve him on Peelier. I want to join them. I want to join them because I've lived all over the world. I've looked at some pretty horrible places, and I can tell you this state and this county are some of the best places to be on this whole earth. That's my humble opinion. You're looking at someone who is eternally going to be an optimist. So, why do I want to get in? I want to help lend a voice to those folks who maybe have those kids in childcare. I'm going to be the person who feels that pain because I was just there. The folks who want to buy the house and on the front end of those mortgages, I'm going to be the person who's going to be feeling that pain, understand what it's like to be on year four of a mortgage. We need people with an eye towards the future in Montpelier. Nicole, are you telling me that's 90 seconds already? Sorry. I'm joking. I was just into my speech, but it's fine. Thank you very much for having me. Thank you. Thank you for your understanding. Senator Chittenden, go ahead. I'll be really short. You can find out more about me on thomaschittenden.com, and I welcome emails, thomas.chittenden.com. My phone number is very Googleable too. I won't suffer you through by listing it now. Similar to Steve, one of the best things I like about service is hearing from people. I really do like long conversations. When you have an issue, please reach out, or even if you don't have an issue, and you just want to talk. I welcome and drink a lot of coffee, so I am always happy to connect and sit down with anybody that wants to talk to their representatives. Thank you, Senator Chittenden. Senator Lyons, you are the better last. Last but not least, I hope and thank you, Nicole. It's been a great being here this evening. I totally look forward to going back to Montpelier. We have significant challenges ahead of us in the way of climate change, mental health improvements, and child care. We're working on each one of those. We've made some great strides that will be realized very soon as the money and the policies are expended through our communities. I would like to say thank you to the folks who are in Chittenden Southeast. You have supported me in the past. You know that I will work for you. I will focus on the towns that I represent, and it's been truly a pleasure to be in the Senate representing all of you, and I look forward to joining the Senate again for the next session. So thank you all. Thank you so much, Brumantes, for watching us tonight. This is the end of the forum, and we look forward to having another conversation with the candidates either here or on the campaign trail. I will close it for tonight and have a good evening. Thank you. Bye.


the celebration exchange for media is back again with another episode of EFORM next GEM series where we are celebrating the win of all the PR and COPCOM professionals who made it to the second list of EFORM, PR and COPCOM 40 and 40. So today we have with us Mr. Shashank Sethi who is the Director of Corporate Communications and Marketing at Room Technology. So, welcome Shashank. It is a pleasure to have you with us. Thank you, Navisa. Thanks a lot and a big thanks that you are doing this series. This can definitely help other professionals to listen about how PR can shape up. Okay. So Shashank, I would like to start this very insightful video interaction with you with a small question of how do you feel being a part of this elite list? No, Navisa, a big thanks to exchange for media. I feel really very good. I think after all the kiosks in 2020, this was the last thing which came as a good news for us in 2020. And I feel pleasure that I could make to this list and I'm one of those 40 people who will be the face for communication industry in India for next one year. But this comes with lots of responsibility. Now I think with this tag we have more responsibility to contribute to the communication society. And rightly said Shashank, we have something to celebrate in the year 2020. So Shashank, I would like to have a small insight from you. The market has gone through tremendous changes and we have seen a lot of new marketing interventions coming up and a whole set of new ideas and trends going on in the year 2020. So what according to you are, you know, the new set of skills that might be required or are required right now to sustain in this prevailing market? See, when it's for any communication professional, what I understand is that research lots of reading and data analysis pays a big role. I'm sure people must have seen this during the pandemic. The data mining has played a big role in communication. And after all, on the basis of that, the content curation, because ultimately content is the king and you have to make sure that you are putting the right side of content to reach out to the each stakeholder. When we talk about the consumer marketing, consumer product PR, we have to do separate set of content writing while we do investor piece, then we have to do separate set of content. So content curation, but the backbone of content curation should be research, lots of reading and data analysis. I think rightly said Shashank content has taken over everything else in the prevailing scenario. And also, what would you like to comment on the importance of dynamic messaging that has come up? You know, static messaging has gone to the backstage and we are more into dynamic messaging, omnichannel presence is very much important right now for all the brands and your clients, of course. So your comments on that? See, when we talk about that, the current media scenario is like, we have to be hyper connected with digital world. And we are when we are hyper connected with this digital world, we have to see and we have touch upon each and every part. And for that, I think what we need to do, we need to come out from the traditional PR we were doing earlier. And with this pandemic and doing things virtually, how you have to play on your relationship, how you have to do right set of writing, right set of research and everything. I think each and every communication professional could understand that we have to go with the digital world. We have to go dynamic. We have to go, we have to come out of our comfort zone to deliver the things now. Okay, so while I was going through your profile and I was saying that you have seen both sides of this business, you have worked on the client side, you're currently working on the client side and you're also working on the agency side. So tell our viewers about what kind of changes did you notice or observe during your role at the agency and the clients and how does it feel being on the other side of the table? This is very good question, very close to my heart, I would say. See, I started my career as a journalist, but very soon I shifted to PR industry. And my longest and most of the time I spent in agency side at value 360 communication. And I'm very thankful to my all mentors, Mr. Gaurav Patra, Mr. Kunal Keshav Sinha, Manisha Chaudhary. I'm very thankful that they gave me right set of learning. So while I say about the learning perspective, you get chance to work on different set of clients. You get chance to explore different areas. As a professional, I worked on different areas. I worked on technology, automobile, sports, startups, I explored each and everything. So I think working in agency, you really get good chance to explore yourself to identify to carve out what exactly you like and which set of brand you would like to work on. And soon I moved to the copcom side. The biggest change of what I can say I could see is when you work in a brand, you understand the gene and you understand what exactly each stakeholder in that brand look forward from PR or their communication channel that you really can't carve out from the agency perspective. From agency, you always you always meet the copcom, you always take a brief and you work accordingly. But when you are at copcom side, and I would say nowadays it's not just copcom, it the role has become mark on you have to see it from the marketing side, you have to wear the marketing hat while you are doing the PR. Okay. So also in doing the same question, I'd like to ask you what changes according to you has the client and agency relationship gone through these specific 10 months that we spend in the lockdown or the air of the virus? Yeah, I think in these 10 months, the relation has become far better. I would say the more you have more on the close group, you spend more cycles to understand each other, you spend more and more cycles to understand the needs. Because if we see everything in this pandemic, your time and entirely lockdown period, I think PR is the one channel which really worked very well for each and every brand. Because we had to see that what all going on whether we are taking right set of steps or not, whether it's like workforce, stop working from office, while we are resuming office with how much percentage of employment we are resuming the office, each and every step PR played a big role. And I think in that the agency side and copcom, they worked, they collaborated well, they worked really very well. And you will definitely see that so many good campaigns came out from this. So many companies, so many brands did really very good campaign. We also did one, we did, we came up with our job shield. And during that time, our agency worked really very well. We did CSR project with Delhi Police, Gurgaon Police, Noida Police, Bangalore Police. That's how the close collaboration was there, I would say. Okay, Shashank. So let's break the monotony and let's talk something different from the serious talks. How has been your work from home experience and running a team at home and also managing of course a personal life? How has been that entire experience for you? See, this is one thing, everyone has two perspective to it. One is I'll take the first part now. I really worked, I really enjoyed working from home. I could spend more and more time and we actually explored so many things which we never did virtually. We explored so many new things, so many new tools, technologies. Personally, at our level in our department, we adopted so many new technologies. Being a technology company, it's always on the higher side that we do everything right, set, we address every opportunity with the technology. And I think during this time, we explored a lot on the technology side. On the personal life side, each and every communication professional will agree with me. I think the only issue was that there was no office timing. There was no perfect timing to start the work, and timing for you. So that was the case. But I think I'll take it as a positive side that we could gather so many good learnings working in the lockdown. Awesome. And I think, rightly said, we don't have any start timing and we don't have any log out time right now. But anyway, everyone has gotten used to it and we are all enjoying this phase, right?  And so my question has to be around, are the PR and corporate communication professionals right now enabled or skilled enough to go fully virtual in the times to come? Or do we have the right kind of technologies so that we move to the next level? I think, yes. And I'm saying this, if you see the kind of adoption PR industry has taken, like digital adoption in last five years, I'll not take 10 years, I'll just take five years. Last five years, the digital adoption has been on a very high side. And nowadays, PR agency or a popcorn person, the work is not limited towards the media relation or the media stories. We have to see every opportunity from the 360 degree side. In fact, when any agency work on a, let's say there is a plan for any new project, they are delivering to the client. They always think from the 360 degree perspective, and they always include their digital ideas. And they understand that which all platform they can use. And so many agencies, so many PR professionals, they are using like all digital tools on a very high site. Because we understand our audience. First of all, we have to understand our audience and to reach out to them, we have to go with the right set of platform, platform. We have to adopt that. Of course, I think that we said we have to use all the technologies and all the ways that we can to reach our consumers. So Shashank, moving forward, I'd like to take a fun side for this interaction. You have to list two things that you want to give a thumbs up, that the trend will continue in 2021. And two things that comes down for the trends that you would, you know, would stay back. And we will leave behind for the PR and corporate communications industry. Okay, that's what 2021 you are asking, right? 2021 and the coming years. Yeah. So I would say that now, each and every PR professional need to think from a topical and viral content. And I think the video and digital content will play a big role in that. So the thumbs up, you will see lots of video content, viral content will be coming out from the PR pieces. That's a thumbs up one. The second thing is, I think you will see in next one or two years, one or two years, so many PR professional PR agencies even, they'll come up with so many tools with the use of artificial intelligence and big data analysis. As I said earlier, data analysis has become a very important part for any PR professional life. So I think in the next two, three years, you will see a big jump in that. So that's a second thumbs up from my side. While I say thumbs down, I think first is so many agencies, if they are just working as a media communication channel, they have to come out from their comfort zone. And I think digital agencies will disappear and moreover, PR agencies will convert into PR plus digital. So I would say digital agencies will disappear. That's a thumbs down and PR will merge with digital. That's one. And I think second is the corporate communication function will disappear. Because as I said earlier, the mark on has become new, new black now, I think marketing communication is taking over the corporate communication rules nowadays. Awesome. I think you've summed up very aptly what the trends might be for 2020 and the coming years.  So what two things do you do to keep your team motivated and together? And these times have been really tough and challenging for everyone around us. So it becomes a mandatory duty for a leader to be a part of this team and take them together. Two things that you did to keep your team together and motivated. Yes. So Anapisa, as I work in a startup, so always startup culture is known to be vibrant. And when I'm working at Droom, you can probably see it in Google Droom, walking culture has always considered as the most vibrant culture in startup industry. And what we do is like, it's not just we have to run after our team always for the work. We have to see how we are making work with the fund. So we do host a Friday evening session where some of our member team member doing the stand-up committee for other members. Then there are some members, they do different sort of dance performance. In fact, we did dance performance during lockdown as well. We did. And we call it as a town hall culture at Droom. We even did some of the yoga meditation session as well for the team. That's what we do. And I think that's how you motivate your team. Work is one thing they have to deliver. They will deliver because that's why they are associated with the team. But yes, we only like to make it fun culture while they are working in startup. And that's what startup is known to me. Work with fun is the key mantra there. If I ask you how did Shashank convert a challenge into an opportunity during these challenging times, then what would that answer be? I think biggest one would be the challenge was that 21 days lockdown period. And during that time only, our management came up with the idea called Germ Shield. And we thought that this is the opportunity. This is the right time because what we did is we helped our real heroes. We always consider that Bollywood people are our real heroes. But I think during pandemic, everyone understood the real heroes were doctors, nurses, the police department because they were taking care of us. So I actually took that as an opportunity and created CSR campaign for entire India. And we actually did help. As I mentioned, Gurgaon Police, Jelly Police, Bangalore Police, Noida Police with our Germ Shield campaign. And though it was challenging to step out during those 21 days because your life was on stake, but I did that because it was my responsibility also to contribute to the society. I went to the DC office. I met them. I took all necessary approvals and we delivered everything. Awesome. And we really congratulate you for your efforts that you put up during that 21 initial days of lockdown. Awesome Tashan, we have come towards the end of our video interaction. So I'd like to ask what message do you want to give to your juniors or your colleagues in this profession? Okay. So one message I would like to give to all the, I would say, budding PR professionals is that you should always be committed towards your work. You should know what you are doing and always deliver with the passion because passion, if you're not passionate about your work, your productivity will be done. So be passionate for your work. Give your 100% to work and result will definitely be there. And one thing because lots of PR professionals generally miss out on that, whenever you are doing do good research and do good data analysis, whatever you are doing, whether you are taking care of PR for any brand, data analysis plays a big role. And if you have any challenge, you are really open to reach out to me. I'll definitely help you out with my best skills, how I do data analysis at my level. I'm open for that. You can always reach out to me on my LinkedIn, on my Twitter, wherever you find me. So all the budding PR professionals who are listening to this interaction, please reach out to Mr. Shashank Sethi for all the kind of good guidance and support. Thank you so much, Shashank, for being a part of this next gen series. And we once again congratulate you on your win. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks, Nafisa, for having me. And big thanks to Exchange for Media team to take this ahead.


Hi guys, what is up? Welcome to my channel. So for today's video, I am going to be talking about my experiences with the new Anastasia Beverly Hills and Jackie Aina palette. So if you are interested in hearing my thoughts, seeing this tutorial as well as a neutral look, then just keep watching. Okay, so I feel like in this review, I'm not going to get into the details so much about the colors individually and what they are and things like that just because that's already been presented to you and so many other videos. I also feel that Jackie Aina, since it's her palette, I am going to refer you to her video if you haven't seen it because that is how you're going to get to the best insight of the creation of this palette. And as always, I just want to say that my channel is not about politics in the makeup world at all. It's about makeup and the makeup palette. So I'm just gonna talk strictly about the palette. So let's get into it. Details about this palette. It is available right now on the Anastasia Beverly Hills website. It will be available online and in stores at Sephora August 15th as well as other places as well. This palette is going to be sold globally wherever you can find ABH. This palette is $45 along with the other 14-pan palettes from Anastasia. It is a limited edition and like I said, it is a collaboration with YouTuber Jackie Aina. I really like Jackie Aina. I think I have learned a lot from her about doing makeup on deeper skin tones. So I wanted to support her with this launch and not to mention the palette is gorgeous. So let's get into it. So the packaging is the same shape as all of the other ABH palettes. It has beautiful iridescence padding on it with Jackie Aina and it's a little bit more soft. So I feel like if this were to hit the ground, it does have a little bit of extra cushion there. And then you open it up. It has the mirror. It comes with a brush and then you have 14 beautiful shades. In this palette, you are getting six mattes and eight shadows that are some form of shimmer, foil, glitter, things along that nature. So online, this is described as a collaboration of ABH and Jackie Aina. This limited edition palette features Jackie's must-have colors for gorgeous looks. For this collaboration, I know Jackie just wanted to do a color scheme. That was her. So this is supposed to be a full pigment formula that is easy to blend and delivers high payoff and buildable intensity in both matte and metallic finishes. You're supposed to be able to create so many different looks like bright eyes, neutral looks, shimmering, glam looks, bold looks, smoky eyes. I, by the way, completely agree with that. Also, she wanted to create a palette that was geared more towards deeper skin tones, which I think is absolutely wonderful. It actually made it even more exciting for me to pick this palette up because it could potentially be something that I do end up using in my kit. But I am telling you right now, this does work on a range of many different skin tones. I, as you can see, I am not deep in the slightest and I really love how these colors worked on me. So let's start moving on to the formulas and how they work. So there are three pressed pigments in this palette.  But I have to say, these pressed pigments are quite impressive. They are Supreme, Pinker, and Big Wig. These are the only pressed pigments in this palette and honestly, I think they worked wonderful. They did blend. I did struggle a touch with Big Wig, but I still made it work. It's a purple and I think that's just the nature of purples. All of these three pressed pigments I think are wonderful. The other three masks right here, same regular ABH formula. Good amount of fallout if you're not careful, if you don't tap off your brush. But great pigmentation, great creaminess, and great blendability. They definitely do run deeper. I found myself kind of wishing there was lighter shades, but I know that's not the nature of this palette. Not going to complain about it. I think the color selection for the masks is beautiful. You have some neutral colors, some warm colors, and of course these brighter colors to really play up the looks. So let's talk about the more foiled formula. So Soleil is absolutely stunning. I love it. It's a great creamy formula. Now, I did wear Lituation today and I did kind of struggle with this on a brush. I feel like you kind of need to put some glitter glue down, or you're really going to have to pack it on, use it with your finger. But what I really like about this color is that you can wear it alone. I actually use this as a taupey color just all over my lid. Blend it out with a blending brush, no other colors. I think it would have looked a little bit better had I put a transition color in. But you do have the option to do a one color smokey eye. This one is not as metallic as the other shades in the palette, but it is so pretty. I think this is a great addition, and this is going to look so good on medium to deep skin tones as a neutral everyday color. Xam is a very unique formula in this palette. It's kind of, it's not a pressed glitter, but it does have some chunks of glitter in it. So I do find that the best way to use this is probably to put it on top of a glitter glue. I did use this in my look yesterday, which I teased in yesterday's video, which I love the color, I loved how it looked, but there was a lot of fallout. I was a little bit of a mess, and I just felt like using some glitter glue would add a little bit of extra security and would really make the eyeshadow shine. So I definitely recommend using a glitter glue with that particular shade. The shimmer shades are a very creamy formula. They feel wet and creamy when you pick them up. Wiggly's is absolutely stunning. This applies great with a brush and just with your finger. Of course, you're going to get the best results with a finger, but this is such a gorgeous color on Jackie, so I know a lot of you are going to like it. Shookington is a little bit of a struggle. I used it with a brush today and it applied beautifully, but it's just a color you're going to have to kind of work into the skin, because if you just apply it, it's going to kind of rest on top of the skin. But if you kind of melt it in, use the warmth of your skin or use some pressure from the brush, it works just fine. I think it's a beautiful color. I'm very excited that she kind of has the matte version of it in here, Bigwig and Shookington. These two are going to create a gorgeous purple smokey eye, but I do really like this color. Just be aware that you're going to have to work it into the skin. Trust issues is a little bit chunkier than I would prefer, so just be careful with application. It's kind of a clear shade that doesn't have too much of a base to it. For this type of shade, I would use it more so as a lid topper, or potentially with some glitter glue underneath. I think that's the way to get best results with it, because it can come off a little bit chunky, and if you apply it straight with a brush, it can get a little bit messy and just look not as nice as it has the potential to look. With Dwarlas right here, I cannot get this to apply with a brush very well. It just applies very scattered and just doesn't look that good on the lid, but if you use your finger, that is how you're going to get the best application. So the shade is gorgeous. It's like a green-gold color, but it definitely needs worked into the skin and applied with a finger to get it to work, but it is stunning. That's like what is the inner part of my eyelid right now. I'm obsessed with it. And then the last shade to talk about is Sponsored. This is kind of that brown with a blue shift kind of color that a lot of different eyeshadows have, Think Club by MAC, always such a fun color. So this is like Hope with a teal twist. Now I have it on the center of my lid. You can't really see it as much because I wanted it to be more of a fade, but it is absolutely stunning. I think the formula of it is really beautiful. Again, apply it with your finger. But oh my gosh, I can't wait to put this shade all over my lid with a brown in the crease. So I think that is just a really fun element that was added to the palette and on chocolate skin. It's going to be stunning. So if you can't tell, I'm loving all of these shadows. Some you just have to be aware of how to apply them and the best way to apply them. But that is pretty typical for ABH. Sometimes they just require a little bit of extra thought. So if you are OK with that, the quality of this is awesome. And I think when you apply them right and how they need to be applied, you are going to really like this palette. So let me go over the color scheme of this palette. I think Jackie Aina did a fabulous job. I love the layout of it. I love the thought behind this. And I feel like you really can create so many different looks with this palette. And it just looks very easy.  So if you want more of a warm, wearable eye, I would stick more onto this side. You can use these warm colors with this green gold shade. That's going to be stunning. Or if you want a really simple look, use ginger and sole. Just together, that's going to create a really pretty everyday look. You can create a pink look right here and maybe put Soleil on the lid or Wiggly's. And then trust issues with just one matte transition color, whatever that may be, is going to create a really pretty everyday glittery look. Obviously, these two were made for each other. And I just feel like it's set up in a way that makes sense. And the looks that you can create are really endless. I feel so inspired from this palette. I think this is wonderful. The only color that I would take out in my opinion, because I don't really care too much for the formulation, is trust issues. But you know what? I still really like it. So I don't want to complain that much. I think this is a wonderful palette and Jackie did a fabulous job. So I did create a look in yesterday's video and it was just a quick little thron, but you guys asked how I did it. So I did film it for you. I thought this would be a good look to incorporate because it was super easy and it's super neutral. And you know, for my neutral lovers, I feel like this is a great way to show you that this palette can be wearable. So what I did was I started with ginger as my transition shade. And I just applied that all over my crease. Now, all my light skin is a touch dark. But what I was really impressed by was how well it blended in my crease and just out and it really faded from blending. That really did match my complexion and then took credit, which is a matte chocolate brown, which is an essential color in any palette, in my opinion. And I just use that in the outer corner again, blended. Absolutely beautiful. Added some great depth to the look. And then I finished off with Xam all over my lid. Now, I just used my finger to apply it and I got a ton of fallout. It was really pretty once it was on, but I wanted to use that glitter glue like I mentioned earlier. And I felt like that would have made all the difference, but really gorgeous, simple, everyday brown look. You guys seem to love that. So I did want to mention how I did that. Now, let's get into the fun look I've created for today's video. I wanted to try out a lot more colors and just create a really fun look. I started off with the shade Supreme and I applied that on the inner half of my crease. What I really like about this color is it is the perfect crease color for basically any colorful look if you're staying within the color scheme of the palette. Blended out beautiful. It's not too crazy colored and it was very complimentary to the look. The next shade I went into was Pinker. I used that as my transition shade to create the fade that I have up here. So I just put it right in the middle of the crease. This shade I felt like wasn't the most flattering to my texture on my eyes, but I mean, that's just me looking very far deep into it. And then I took the shade Big Wag and I would say I did struggle a little bit with this, but struggle is a strong word. It just didn't apply as easily as other shadows, but I applied that to the outer corner and winged it out. Really did not go light with that color. Just really belt it up and applied it to the outer corner, blended it out, and then the outer corner of my lid. Really liked that color though. Just be aware that it wasn't as seamless on the lid as I would want it to be, but it's a purple shade, so that's pretty hard to find anyways. I then just created a quick, simple cut crease and then I went in with the shade Dualos right here and I applied that to the inner third of my eyelid. I started off with a brush, wasn't that successful. Then I went in with my finger and then I took a brush to kind of get closer to the edges, but this shade is stunning. It's the most beautiful green gold. Green golds are very in right now and this one is just stunning. Then I took the shade Sponsored because I did want to implement it into a look because it is a unique color and I just used my finger and padded that into the center of my lid. It complements the green gold shade very well and I felt like it was a good transition into the purple. Then I took Shookington right here and I worked that into the outer third of my eyelid right on top of the matte purple. Like I said, it needed to be worked in, but it is really pretty and I just want to create bright purple smokey eye with that all over the lid. It's going to be beautiful. You don't come across shimmery purples with that tone very often. For my inner corner, I used Soleil and then I topped it with a bit of trust issues to add a little bit of extra glitter, but Soleil is such a smooth bright metallic color, a beautiful inner corner color, a beautiful light color as well. Like I said, trust issues isn't my favorite, but it really did add that extra pop to the inner corner. I basically kind of did the same thing with the matte colors on my lower lash line and then applied a little bit of Shookington right in the center of my lower lash line and then I used a purple eyeliner in my waterline, so that's what's making my look extra purple and that is how I got this look. So overall thoughts on this palette is I think it is a beautiful release. If you support Jackie, I don't think that you would be disappointed with this palette at all. I know it is a very popular palette, so most of you guys are probably picking it up already, but if you're on the fence, I think it's wonderful. If you like neutral looks, you can get neutral looks with it. There are some colors that are going to get you out of your comfort zone, but it's not too crazy. Like this palette can be colorful, but they're more like muted colors. Nothing is extremely bright or neon. It's a great way to transition into using more brighter colors, or this is a great evening palette to go out with at night because this can create some really stunning smoky eyes or just some more unique eyes that I feel like you would be more comfortable with at night. So I love this palette. I think it is beautiful. It is inspiring, and the quality is fantastic. And not to mention, I really do think this is a perfect palette for deeper skin tones, which is what Jackie Aina wanted and she succeeded. So that is all I have to say about today's video. Thank you guys so much for watching. If you aren't subscribed to my channel already, I hope you take the time to do so, and I will see you guys in my next video. Bye, guys. Have a good one.


Hello, everyone. I am DAV National Commander Butch Whitehead. For months now, the nation's attention has been fixed on coronavirus outbreak. But as the VA begins to slowly and cautiously open its doors to in-person appointments, there's another issue we should be keeping in mind. The VA is our hospital, yours and mine. But too many of our fellow veterans have reported experiencing sexual harassment while at VA facilities. This is simply unacceptable. Sexual harassment in any form, be it cat calls, whistling, inappropriate remarks, or physical contact, must not be tolerated, and we all play a part in bringing it to an end. Our words and actions matter, and courtesy goes a long way in making sure all veterans feel safe and welcome at our VA facility. Veterans have the benefit of richly diverse and uniquely bonded community. We must look out for one another just as we did in service. Please be safe as you begin to venture back out into the world. And remember, respect begins with each and every one of us.