‘Surviving the Survivor’: Mom and son podcast shares irreverent insights into serious topics

Karmela Waldman was nearly 5, growing up on the border of Yugoslavia and Hungary, when she was separated from her parents as the Nazis invaded Europe.

For her, it started with the ominous knock on the door.

“Karm” ran from her house and was hidden by a nun in an all-boys Catholic school. Her father was killed in Auschwitz. And when her mother finally managed to get her and sneak her into Budapest, more horrors unfolded until the war was over.

Now 82, she co-hosts the irreverent, honest and funny 60-minute weekly podcast “Surviving The Survivor” with her son Joel Waldman, a former national news correspondent. Both live in Miami and broadcast out of a downtown Miami studio.

They have interviewed numerous guests. And recently, Karm felt it was important to share some of the similarities between the atrocities of World War II that she saw and what is happening now in Ukraine. She streamed a serious, live special edition of her podcast “Surviving The Survivor... Ukraine: What Happened to Never Again, Never Forget.”

Intent on not sitting idly by, she recalled thinking that “with the advent of television, the atrocities of war could never happen again, because people would be horrified by the images and it would be a call to action.”

The show featured guests calling in from Ukraine, as well as from St. Nicholas Ukrainian Orthodox Church, at 5031 S.W. 100th Ave., Cooper City, which was taking donations of medications.

A graduate of the University of Geneva, Karmela went on to receive her master’s in social work at Rutgers University. She is both a licensed marriage therapist and Holocaust survivor. Hence, the name, “Surviving The Survivor,” her son said.

The podcast’s magic comes from the chemistry between Joel Waldman and his mom. He’s neurotic. She’s highly opinionated.

“There is no podcast quite like ‘Surviving The Survivor,’” he said.

“Growing up, my mom always used to half-jokingly say, ‘We’re just trying to survive in a rough world!’ When the pandemic broke out, my 25-year background as a broadcast news correspondent kicked in and I said, ‘We need to start a podcast now — so people don’t feel like they’re surviving in a rough world alone!’

“We’re now 60-plus episodes in, with guests ranging from ‘Tiger King”s Carole Baskin to Harvard astrophysicist Dr. Avi Loeb and so many other great guests in between.”

They have also discussed topics such as This Week in Dead and Dying, 3 Questions for Grandma, and My Anxiety is Higher Than Yours. You can listen and learn more at www.survivingthesurvivor.com

Tribute to Ukraine June 29

Join actors, musicians, singers and dancers at a local collective effort to raise humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugee women and children at 7 p.m. on June 29 at Westchester Cultural Arts Center, 7930 S.W. 40th St.

The history and art collaboration is presented by What if Works, Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab, the Ukraine Trustchain, and Roxy Theater Group and Westchester Cultural Arts Center.

Adapted for the stage, “Tribute to Ukraine!” is the poetry of Ukrainian authors Julie Kolchinsky Dashbach, Olga Livshin and Lyudmyla Khersonka, with contributing poetry by Holocaust child-survivor Miriam Klein Kassenoff and Miami-Dade Poet Laureate Richard Blanco.

The poetry will be integrated with song, music, monologues and dramatic scenes rounding out the evening with the final scene from Samuel Beckett’s “Waiting for Godot.” All performers, together with the Westchester Cultural Arts Center, have volunteered to aid the Ukraine Trustchain.

The organization has evacuated more than 32,000 persons while feeding and providing aid daily to thousands more.

To help raise funds, pop-artist Romero Britto, Ukrainian artist Maria Sulymenko, and Polish media artist Jacek Kolasinski have donated paintings for an online public auction. Make donations online and reserve a seat to the live performance at www.whatifworks.com

Apply for 2022 women’s leadership grant

It’s not too late to join the Eat Me Guilt Free “You Glow Girl” grant application to empower female founders to “glow and grow professionally and personally.”

Eat Me Guilt Free CEO and founder Cristie Besu, a Miami resident, hopes to bring together even more women entrepreneurs who will uplift one another and continually rewrite the traditional business narrative.

Aspiring women can apply by uploading a 30-60 second video to https://www.eatmeguiltfree.com/pages/youglowgirl by July 1. The winner will be announced Aug. 19.

In its 2021 debut, the process resulted in more than 320 applicants, spanning industries including food and beverage, skincare and cosmetics, health and fitness, education, technology and software, marketing, fine art, and hospitality. After a review process of finalists, BagValet founder Amanda Sheridan was announced the winner.

“Supporting female entrepreneurs is a true passion of mine,” Besu said.

“We started the grant program to bring to life the true purpose of empowerment, as well as to provide the guidance and resources necessary for female entrepreneurs to live out their business dreams. The responsibility is on us as female business owners to take measurable actions to lift up other women walking the path of entrepreneurship.”

The 2022 “You Glow Girl” grant winner will receive $10,000 to help her business flourish and a one-year supply of Eat Me Guilt Free products to stay fueled.

As a registered nurse and certified sports nutritionist-turned “mompreneur,” Besu started her business in her kitchen in 2013 and used her own savings. Along the way, she realized she wanted to help other female entrepreneurs with the very things she needed help with.

In fewer than 10 years, the Cuban-American mom built Eat Me Guilt Free into a line of baked goods that offer a protein-packed, low-carbohydrate ratio. The products are available at more than 7,500 independent retailers nationwide.

Write to ChristinaMMayo@gmail.com with news for this column.

This story was originally published June 24, 2022 at 12:00 AM.