Elise Dudzinski

Thank you for the introduction. Yeah, I mean. I obviously have always been in a role where I'm a bit behind the scenes. So, you know, doing my best when we were at WWE together to make you look your best, right?

Yes. I can also say, though, that I constantly would eat what we like to call shit sandwiches.

20%.

Many. Yes. Many. You totally said that. But we ate them together. We did. Delicious.

Yeah, well, it's all right.

Because I'm used to being behind the scenes, this is new, very new to me. But I'm going to embrace it. This is true.

hopefully if not i'm sorry like great i better be good today um but yeah i mean never pictured this so i just feel like i need to put that out there because i'm i'm here to be me that's right that's right that's the best that's the qualification right yeah oh yes so what are our our two rules potentially three rules

Yes.

Great guy. I did just kick him out over rule number one, but it's fine. Okay.

Poor Steve. He's so red.

He's just getting comfortable.

He's still really upset. We'll move past it, Steve. Yeah. Yeah.

No, but let's do it. So as Steph said, I worked with her at WWE, and now we're- An executive and working mom. Yes. I am. And learning from the best in my early stages of being a mom. You know, I got to look up to you and how you make it work and how you feel guilty when you're at work and also when you're not at work.

Learn what not to do.

Both.

It is. It definitely is. Other than this right now. In this moment specifically.

That is a fun fact. Yeah. But I am married to my amazing husband, Ryan, who is holding down the fort while I am here.

All week. Yes. God bless. And my in-laws. But he and I met in college. We have been together ever since. And we have two beautiful children. My son, Chase, is five and a half. And our daughter, Liv. is one and a half. And since this is the beginning, I'm just going to kind of put myself out there.

So when we, without totally like slobbering all over myself, when we were, I was 33 weeks pregnant, we found out that Some stuff was going on with my daughter's growth and we were told that she had skeletal dysplasia and that it might potentially be lethal, which no one ever wants to hear. And for the next six weeks, which, by the way, like the final weeks of your pregnancy feel like two years.

So now let's just be stressed for six weeks.

wondering you know what what she's going to be and who she's going to be and she um she we could have got tests done while she was still in my belly we decided not to because we figured no matter who she is we're gonna love her but we you know I had some time to kind of mentally prepare and go through every possible emotion um and she was born uh one week early with dwarfism

It'll literally be the clip from Power Slap.

There you go.

Yeah, I know.

So she is a little person, which is the craziest thing because we have a son who's five and a half years old and he's a normal height or, you know, average height kid. And we didn't know that that was possible to have a little girl with dwarfism. But I mean, she is happy and healthy and she has changed our lives for the absolute best.

Formerly.

Yes, without a doubt, we were chosen. And there was, you know, moments where I went through, like, this is not a life I ever pictured for myself. Why me? And he was like, it needed to be us. Um, and we have just learned so much. We, we have, you know, become a part of this community that I never even knew existed. And, um, she's, she's going to be great. I mean, she's the cutest. She is amazing.

Oh my gosh. With her happy feet. Oh my God. Yes. She like clicks her little feet together. It's her cutest. Um, yeah, so she's, she is amazing. And I think. And her story has changed us in the best possible way, right? Like, no matter how bad you think stuff is going for you, like, it could always be worse.

Yes. I'll work on that. Gmail. I feel like it's tricky to change. Yes.

And her story has changed so many people already, our friends and family that have come together over her and her differences. And Chase, we're, you know, trying to explain. He's pretty young and we're trying to explain. And he now says, like, my sister's different, but she's perfect.

Oh, my God, it's the cutest. She's a little bit spicy, so she bites him, slaps him. I mean, brother and sister. We'll get there. But, yeah, I just think her story and what we went through is a very important thing for me to put out there because it – has really shaped who I've become as a parent and as a person.

And I would be wrong to not share that from the day, the literal day that we found out the news, You and I were supposed to go to lunch and I something in us for some reason we canceled it. And from that day, you were literally with me every step of that journey. You came to meet her in the hospital, which is the coolest thing. Ryan still was like, do I need to walk her in security? No, no.

Don't make me cry. You were supposed to make me cry. It felt right because you called me sweaty. I needed to. It says a lot about you as a person, and not everyone knows that, and they will get to know you a bit more, I think, through this opportunity, but a true friend from the day I found out and every step of the way.

Not today. We started.

It's like, oh, everyone stop listening because they're just crying and loving on each other. Yeah. Yeah.

So thanks for that.

I was born in Massachusetts. What part? Swansea. Where? I grew up in Fall River.

Uh, yeah. Where, Mass? On the way to Worcester, yeah. Well, I was in grad school in Worcester. Oh, okay. Yeah.

Oh, okay.

I thought you were saying where, and I was like... That's a trick question.

So I wasn't following either. I was like, wow, that's a very... It's right next to Palmer. Yeah, yeah. That's right away, because when I was in Worcester, that was one of Worcester, Ware, Palmer. There's a few other places that I drive all the time to. Okay. Yeah.

And there's a Mickey Ward in the yellow shirt there in the front.

Yeah. And my uncle is actually, I think it's closest to me at this point. Yeah. So he, yeah.

God, I don't remember. They were part of like the U.S. Olympic boxing team.

Yeah. So we, we were kind of talking about doing this with you and.

I honestly don't know, which is the worst. But he... It was part of their training, I think. So I don't know exactly where. They were in Colorado at the facilities there. Colorado Springs, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So he was like a... He ended up with like a bronze in the training, but so didn't make it to the Olympics, but it was like a big deal. I was born in 89, that's when he stopped. So growing up, it was like we'd watch videos and stuff of him, but I'd never actually saw him box, right? And it was very cool to be like, I'm doing a book report on my uncle who...

At one point, there was like a billboard that said, welcome to Fall River, home of the U.S. Olympic boxer David Govind.

Which is really cool because it was not the greatest city and that kind of gave him a little hope. So that's my... Gave a lot of people hope. I mean, yeah. So my cool tie to boxing, and they did a remake of this photo, which I don't have, but it's the same group of guys all doing this four years ago. They look very different. Very different now.