00;00;02;07 – 00;00;19;16
Marty
Awesome. The clock is on top of the monitor now. Okay. Okay. Can I start with, like, what may be the dumbest question. So dumb that we may cut it. I love dumb, just start thinking. Yes. Let’s do it. Your first name is Ariel. Yes. I’m not going to guess age, but does it have any? Do people ask you if that’s because of the Disney character?

00;00;19;17 – 00;00;28;26
Ariel
I so I was Pretty Little Mermaid okay. I was seven years old when the Little Mermaid came out. So you can imagine as a seven year old, how cool it is to have the same name as a Disney princess.

00;00;28;29 – 00;00;30;29
Marty
Pretty much perfect timing. I would think for a seven.

00;00;30;29 – 00;00;37;26
Ariel
Timing it was pretty good and I just got dibs on being her. Like in the pool. I got to be Ariel because I had the name.

00;00;37;27 – 00;00;45;10
Marty
Yeah, this is our first time, like having a conversation. Even though you represent me in the Utah House of Representatives.

00;00;45;11 – 00;00;46;20
Ariel
You are my constituents.

00;00;46;22 – 00;01;02;00
Marty
Think of this as like constituent outreach. You can consider that this is great part of that. And feel free to use the show and put it on your email newsletter that you send out to you. I am. You’re welcome. All right. Let’s let’s start with just some get to know you. You are from where? And you grew up where.

00;01;02;00 – 00;01;03;27
Marty
And just tell us how you got to where you are now.

00;01;03;28 – 00;01;25;07
Ariel
Yes, I am from West Jordan, Utah, and I represent Kaysville Layton in Syracuse. So it’s House district 15 and we love Davis County. But yeah, I’m a third generation Davis County resident. So my my mother and her parents and all of her siblings live in Davis County. And we knew when we came back from grad school, we left Utah for a time that we wanted to land in Davis County.

00;01;25;07 – 00;01;30;12
Ariel
So we were so fortunate that we were able to settle down there and open a business.

00;01;30;13 – 00;01;40;16
Marty
I should know this about the district, you say, and Syracuse. Does it kind of go out to the west? So sort of western Layton that then clips into Syracuse and it’s part of Syracuse, but not all of Syracuse.

00;01;40;18 – 00;01;41;25
Ariel
Yeah that’s correct.

00;01;41;27 – 00;01;58;22
Marty
What a fun district because I’ve lived in probably two parts of that district. In fact, I think I’ve been in the same House district living in this district. So you guys have a business in Kaysville? Yeah. You’re the business side. My thing about this, right? You’re the business side and your husband is the orthodontics side. That’s correct.

00;01;58;24 – 00;02;17;16
Ariel
Correct. But I must say, my husband has a very good business brain, too. So we really work on business together. But yeah, so we I did political science in undergrad at Utah State. That’s where I met my husband. That’s where I started. I started working up at the Capitol, lobbying for the old Merrill Library to get funding for the Merrill Library.

00;02;17;19 – 00;02;40;18
Ariel
And then my husband and I went to grad school in Ohio, and that’s where he was in dental school. And I was able to work for the Ohio House of Representatives, which was fascinating. And then we came back to Utah and opened up an orthodontic practice. Now we have two. And yeah, I run business marketing and development and and he’s the orthodontist.

00;02;40;18 – 00;02;47;08
Ariel
But I do have to say he was. So he was a business undergrad in college. So he’s very business savvy as well. It’s been a fun team effort.

00;02;47;09 – 00;02;49;28
Marty
I know we’re the one offices in Kaysville. Where’s the other one?

00;02;49;28 – 00;02;52;15
Ariel
It is in Farmington, right across from Farmington Junior High.

00;02;52;16 – 00;02;53;04
Marty
Okay.

00;02;53;07 – 00;02;56;10
Ariel
So not in my district, but yeah, district adjacent.

00;02;56;10 – 00;03;02;24
Marty
So you say you two went off to graduate school, did you end up going to school at the same place that he went to dental school, or were you in two different.

00;03;02;26 – 00;03;07;11
Ariel
Two different places? So he was at Ohio State and I was at Ohio University doing an MPA.

00;03;07;11 – 00;03;22;21
Marty
I’m going to ask a question about the rivalry there and how you guys decide, but we’ll get to that in just a little bit. While you’re in Ohio. You you got to dabble in politics there. Like clearly you’ve done some of it while you’re at Utah State or working at the legislature. Yeah. Then you went to work for the legislature in Ohio?

00;03;22;22 – 00;03;35;10
Marty
Yes. What did you learn working there that kind of gave you this view? I think this happens to a lot of us. We grow up in Utah. We have some professional experience or education experience outside of the state. And it kind of opens your eyes to how the rest of the country works.

00;03;35;11 – 00;03;41;12
Ariel
Yes, it was fascinating. First of all, I learned all the four letter words that I didn’t learn in Utah. Now, I knew them before.

00;03;41;12 – 00;03;43;16
Marty
But Ohio. Yeah, that’s.

00;03;43;18 – 00;04;04;19
Ariel
A that’s right. Oh, yeah. Very good. Yeah, yeah. So the dynamics in Ohio were so different because it was a, it’s a legislature that the majority flips back and forth between Republican and Democrat. So the way the representatives have to work together is so different than the way they work together in Utah. And it’s actually a lot more contentious.

00;04;04;22 – 00;04;30;14
Ariel
They also have term limits, but they’re not limited within their body. So they can switch from the House of Representatives to the Senate and back and forth every eight years. So just fascinating watching all that unfold. But also is my first exposure to policy work in in undergrad, it was more lobbying and just learning about the process. So being able to actually dive in and learn about policy was exciting.

00;04;30;15 – 00;04;38;10
Ariel
And I also learned what policies I didn’t want to touch. So when I was like, someday I want to do this job as an elected official and I know exactly what I don’t want to do.

00;04;38;12 – 00;04;43;17
Marty
So you knew early on that this was something you would consider doing at some point, or even wanted to do. You had to run.

00;04;43;17 – 00;05;10;25
Ariel
For office. Yes. So working for a staffer in Ohio, I realized that being a representative is the best job in government. And the reason why is you get to learn about so many fascinating things. You make really impactful policies that impact your state, but also your local communities in areas that are really important, like education and business and economic development and infrastructure and all those things that impact our quality of life day to day.

00;05;10;25 – 00;05;32;27
Ariel
And nobody knows who their representative is. Like, I mean, nobody obviously is not completely true, but I can go to the grocery store. People don’t know who I am. It’s just kind of the hidden layer of government. And I like that, that I’m not completely out in the public eye, but I get to have really meaningful and impactful conversations.

00;05;33;00 – 00;09;13;24
[technical correction]

00;09;13;26 – 00;09;24;20
Marty
Yeah, there you go. Syncs it all up. We’re good not to start over. We’re just going to pick up there. Okay. This is your next question.

00;09;24;22 – 00;09;47;08
Marty
Okay. Are you ready? You also have some campaign experience. And if I understand this right, you’ve worked on a mitt Romney campaign and you’ve worked on a Spencer Cox campaign, and then probably your on campaigns at this point. Tell me a little bit about what what your experience is if I’ve got that right. First of all, with your campaign experience and then what do you enjoy and not enjoy about the campaign side of politics?

00;09;47;11 – 00;10;08;23
Ariel
Yeah. So I actually got involved with campaigns in undergrad because I went to my political science professors and I said, hey, I would like an internship. I was up at Utah State and I couldn’t travel down to the Capitol. I was married at the time and I was like, what are my options? And they said, actually, Jon Huntsman is looking for someone to kind of organize their campaign, the campaign up in Logan.

00;10;08;26 – 00;10;10;29
Ariel
So I jumped on and that was my first experience.

00;10;11;05 – 00;10;12;18
Marty
Back in 2000, two. Thousand and.

00;10;12;20 – 00;10;34;13
Ariel
Four, 2004. So that was my first experience with running campaigns. And it was it was eye opening, learning how to talk to people about policy that I knew little about, and just understanding how really the grassroots works. And then when I moved to Ohio, it was actually a big part of job security. So I did a bunch of campaigning in Ohio.

00;10;34;13 – 00;10;54;23
Ariel
And the thing that I like about it is it really keeps you plugged into the citizenry and really what the community cares about. You have a lot of really open conversations, especially when you’re not the candidate. People are a little bit freer and easier with you. They’re not as nervous around you, and so they really open up about their concerns and their needs.

00;10;54;25 – 00;11;15;09
Marty
Yeah, ends up being an important part of a campaign. The folks in the campaign structure who are more removed from the candidate because you do get that insight, and it’s actually really valuable to any campaign to say, hey, the data may be telling us this, but if you can string together enough anecdotes, you can start to figure out, maybe we’ve got this issue here that we could go focus on or something that we need to adjust.

00;11;15;12 – 00;11;34;26
Marty
Yeah, we’re going on this. Yeah. All right. So let’s jump ahead to where you make it to the House of Representatives. Okay. You take over for the speaker of the House, Brad Wilson steps down and just walk us through the process that you went through from. Hey, Representative Wilson, speaker Wilson’s going to step down. I’m going to throw my hat in the ring.

00;11;34;26 – 00;11;36;13
Marty
And then how you went through that process?

00;11;36;14 – 00;11;52;04
Ariel
Yeah, absolutely. So I like I said, I, I knew this was the greatest job on earth and that someday I would like to go for it. So I was waiting for an open seat. I reached out to then Speaker Wilson and said, hey, he’s a friend of mine. And I said, I’m interested, so please let me know when you’re done.

00;11;52;05 – 00;12;14;28
Ariel
And I would love to get a campaign together. So he let me know that he would be resigning. And there was a special election, and there were four of us because it was an open seat. So I ran I talked to 116 delegates over the course of a month. I visited their houses, got to know them and literally went to a junior high, gave a speech, they came in person and voted.

00;12;14;28 – 00;12;17;19
Ariel
And and that’s how it happened.

00;12;17;21 – 00;12;24;22
Marty
Kind of happens really quickly, especially when it’s like a speech and then and speeches are usually like, hey, limit it to 1 minute or 3 minutes or something.

00;12;24;23 – 00;12;30;01
Ariel
Yeah, it was a three minute speech. And then they just vote on their paper ballot and turn it in, and they come out and tell you who the winner is.

00;12;30;03 – 00;12;46;12
Marty
Yeah. What did you learn, if anything, through that quick process of like, I’ve got to go meet 116 delegates, or at least enough of them, as many of them as you could to to quickly understand sort of the issues that they had and how they would align with the things that were important to you and made you want to run in the first place.

00;12;46;13 – 00;13;09;03
Ariel
Yeah. Well, first of all, I had only done statewide campaigns, so campaigning to 116 is very different than campaigning to 3 million people. So I learned one that is very valuable to have those personal conversations. And I also learned how important the the House of Representatives jobs truly is, because as they start talking about their concerns, I could run through my head.

00;13;09;05 – 00;13;19;22
Ariel
I’m like, there is a policy that touches that in your life, and there’s something that we can do or maybe shouldn’t do or won’t do as a legislature to really help improve your life.

00;13;19;25 – 00;13;44;05
Marty
It’s tough when you jump in, I imagine, in that situation, because I’m going to make some some assumptions here. You probably understand the issues better now having done a session. Oh, absolutely. Right. Versus then but in that moment you sort of have to you’re sort of I need to show expertise. But I also know I’ve got a lot to learn, but I also want these people to think that I’m going to like, you’re trying to communicate a lot of things and sort of land a lot of planes.

00;13;44;07 – 00;13;47;20
Marty
How is that? How did you do that? How is that? What was your approach for that?

00;13;47;21 – 00;14;06;09
Ariel
Yeah, really, it was telling me about who I was and what my values were. And I mean, I knew a little bit about policy. I followed the legislature because I’m interested and I’m one of those political nerds. But like you said, I didn’t have all the expertise. So really it was saying, you know, I don’t know all the answers, but these are what my values are.

00;14;06;10 – 00;14;28;14
Ariel
And, you know, I’m conservative and I care about family, and I care about small business and small government, and I care about our economy, and I care about education. And so, you know, if you know me, you’ll know that I’m like, I’ll try and go and do the very best that I can with those guiding principles. And so that was kind of my message and how I got elected, I guess.

00;14;28;19 – 00;14;47;17
Marty
Well, it’s a really good and smart approach. Just because you don’t have time to really demonstrate a lot of expertise on a lot of things. It’s like, I care about what you care about, and you can trust me to vote generally in this way. Yeah. And then can I have your vote? And then you go and then you get a chance to prove it with a session and another session and another session in your case.

00;14;47;17 – 00;15;07;10
Marty
So that’s awesome. I want to jump into some of the legislation that you’ve focused on while you’ve been in office. Okay. Specifically, we’ve got this is going to air about the Friday before kids before the week kids go back to school. So I want to talk about HB 273 classroom technology amendments. This is the one that my kids are already bemoaning.

00;15;07;11 – 00;15;10;22
Marty
I know, I know, are you hearing it from your kids as well?

00;15;10;24 – 00;15;31;10
Ariel
Well, they know because I this has been a passion project for me for years since I’ve had kids in the education system is really just exposure to screens and making sure that we’re balancing that appropriately. So I had a I had one child who really struggled using technology in the classroom and is more and more science comes out.

00;15;31;10 – 00;15;55;04
Ariel
We know the data shows that the use of technology doesn’t necessarily translate into proficiency. And so really the goal of 273, it’s called the Balance Act is to, first of all, have some good guardrails around the use of AI. And AI is one of my my favorite areas. I like to delve in that policy area. I like to talk about that policy area.

00;15;55;10 – 00;16;20;01
Ariel
And it’s just it’s embedded in everything we do now. And education is no exception. So putting gargoyles around AI, putting guardrails around the tech tools we use, but then also asking LEAs to balance their use, especially in those in those K through three ages when kids are so young and their their brains and those synapses are developing to really develop those fundamental skills in reading and writing and critical thinking and math.

00;16;20;04 – 00;16;24;19
Ariel
So it’s really just taking a smart approach to how we’re using technology in the classroom.

00;16;24;20 – 00;16;28;20
Marty
Is this the same legislation that deals with keep your phones out of the school as well?

00;16;28;21 – 00;16;40;03
Ariel
This is different. So yeah, so there’s the cell phone ban. And then this is the balance act. They are two different. But they did run in conjunction with one another because our goals are the same. And that is just to be smart in the use of technology.

00;16;40;04 – 00;16;55;24
Marty
It is it is a tricky policy to try to figure out, I imagine, from someone in that position, in your position, because you have the idea that you want to prepare students for the world they’re going to live in, but at the same time, how much of that do they need to learn how to use while they’re in school?

00;16;55;24 – 00;17;14;09
Marty
Versus how much of the fundamentals do they need to get before they move on to those tools? What was your approach on that? Obviously, you had some ideas about where you thought things should be, but as you talk to educate or students or any other groups, I just love to hear a little bit more about the process you maybe went through to say, this is where I think we should land on this.

00;17;14;10 – 00;17;36;00
Ariel
Yeah, yeah. I mean, obviously a bill from beginning to end changes dramatically, right? So I started off with one idea, and then I brought the stakeholders to the table. And this is what many legislators and policymakers across the gamut do. We bring the people. So we had industry teachers, parents, students, administrators. We brought them to the table and then said, okay, here’s my idea.

00;17;36;00 – 00;17;56;09
Ariel
How does this work in in reality? And what are your ideas? And obviously there’s all very different. So trying to balance those. That’s the hardest part of this job is bringing stakeholders together and trying to get it right and get everyone’s input and make sure everyone is kind of happy. I like if everyone’s like a little unhappy or kind of happy, I think I’ve done my job okay.

00;17;56;11 – 00;18;08;15
Ariel
But yeah, so we brought them all together. I mean, just lots and lots of meetings of discussion and sometimes repetitive discussion to really get to that point where you’re like, you know, everyone’s kind of happy. You’re kind of mad.

00;18;08;16 – 00;18;14;26
Marty
Yeah, I should specify the kids are mostly complaining about the cell phone thing. I don’t think it’s true. I don’t think about the AI, but.

00;18;14;28 – 00;18;29;07
Ariel
I will say, I mean, we did what we were like. We don’t want them to get on YouTube or Minecraft or whatever it is like. We don’t want that to be the default. Like, oh, you’re done with your work will then go, go play Minecraft. So that’s where the kids are a little bit like, oh man.

00;18;29;08 – 00;18;35;02
Marty
Yeah. And as a parent I’m the same way. No, you’ve got plenty of time to do that after school. Trust me, the kids take time to do things like.

00;18;35;04 – 00;18;35;22
Ariel
Please go read.

00;18;35;22 – 00;18;48;10
Marty
A book or just talk to the person next to you. Nice. Nice little change there. Yeah. What about our teachers? Pretty much on board with this. Have teachers. What sort of input did they have to say? Hey, we like this direction because we need a better balance.

00;18;48;18 – 00;19;09;20
Ariel
Yeah, for the most part, teachers were enthusiastic, excited about it. When we as a state create a policy, it kind of gives teachers cover when they have to enforce those policies and especially when kids are upset about it. So the teachers have been generally supportive. The K through three teachers were of course nervous because it’s going to change how they teach most of all.

00;19;09;23 – 00;19;14;07
Ariel
But as the policies rolled out, I’ve gotten really positive feedback.

00;19;14;09 – 00;19;27;26
Marty
If you could summarize it like how do you generally feel about AI in the classroom specifically? Do you think of it somewhat as a tool, somewhat as a threat? Some of them we just haven’t figured out yet, because it seems to change more quickly than you can actually pass legislation monthly.

00;19;27;27 – 00;19;54;20
Ariel
I mean, even from week to week. So I have AI policy calls on education once a month and every month it changes. And the tools that and how far they’ve come has changed. So I. All of the above. I think it’s a great tool. I went to a conference this week where we were teaching teachers how to use AI to lesson plan, to do administrative work so that they can be freed up to have one on one time with students.

00;19;54;20 – 00;20;22;12
Ariel
And that’s extremely valuable. But there are a lot of pitfalls with AI, especially student facing AI, and we’ve got to get that right before we turn those tools over and unlock them for students. So I’m generally pretty hesitant on student facing AI, but 100% behind teachers use of it. It’s such a mixed bag, though. I mean, we all have our excitement and our fears and and it’s across the board, so and we’re just going to have to adapt.

00;20;22;16 – 00;20;33;18
Ariel
Our world is going to change and it already has. But it’s going to continue to change and evolve. And we are going to see dramatic change in the next few years. And we’re just going to have to adapt as a society. But it’s exciting to be part of the conversation.

00;20;33;19 – 00;20;36;02
Marty
Not a kind of bill that you can just pass once and say, okay.

00;20;36;04 – 00;20;36;09
Ariel
Not.

00;20;36;10 – 00;20;56;16
Marty
One bill, because I is going to continue to change. I want to talk about one more policy area that you’ve been active in, which is combating child sexual abuse material. Yeah, Csam for short, because I don’t want to keep saying that all the time. Yeah. What? Tell us what you did. Like the problem that you saw and what was the approach to to the legislation you passed?

00;20;56;17 – 00;21;18;11
Ariel
Yeah. Well, so the time so three years ago was when I started entering the legislature. So that was kind of when AI was booming. And you could use AI to create artificial images and some that were pornographic and child sex abuse material. So I call it see, Sam and I kept hearing more and more about it, and I just said, there’s got to be something that we can do a little more we can do as a state.

00;21;18;11 – 00;21;37;24
Ariel
So I just got together with policymakers and other people in the legislature who are already working in that space and said, you know, what are some things that we can do to just lock this down a little bit more? So after those conversations, we were able to come up with a few fixes that will really help give our law enforcement the tools they need to help really go after people who are creating this.

00;21;37;25 – 00;21;39;21
Ariel
Yeah, pretty terrible material.

00;21;39;23 – 00;22;01;13
Marty
Yeah. AI technology use guardrails around that. Csam those are not like little issues. Like you kind of jumped in with both feet. Did you feel like that was an intentional thing? Not necessarily. You took on those issues, but like I’m not afraid to get in and lift the big issues and go champion what you want to get done on those?

00;22;01;14 – 00;22;21;29
Ariel
Yeah. Well, I mean, there aren’t very many small issues in the legislature, so it just they’re the things that were interesting to me and the things that I could see there was need for attention. And the interesting thing about the legislature, and, you know, this, is that people kind of pick their lanes. Most people don’t delve into everything.

00;22;22;02 – 00;22;38;17
Ariel
And so those were just kind of the lanes that were of interest to me, really. When I think about what am I passionate about? And like, how do we protect kids? How do we protect our citizens? And so those were just kind of natural fits. And and also they were areas that people weren’t working in at the time.

00;22;38;19 – 00;22;53;15
Marty
I guess what I’m getting at is that they, they. It’s not just that they’re big, but they can be they can be controversial in some ways. And you’re always going to have some people are going to be very outspoken about it. Like, I think you take something that a lot of people in Utah would say relatively common sense.

00;22;53;15 – 00;23;22;02
Marty
We want to take materials out of the library that may be inappropriate for students of certain ages. Right. And suddenly that turns into your banning books. Yeah. Even though those books are available, you can go buy them. You can go check them out at your public library. Most likely you just can’t have them in the school. So it’s an issue like that where you could say, hey, I’m going to go, I’m going to go tackle something related to Csam, or even if it’s technology and people, even if the vast majority agrees with you, you’re going to have very loud opponents.

00;23;22;03 – 00;23;35;09
Marty
In some cases, yes. And that doesn’t seem to have scared you away from taking on issues like that’s what I’m getting at. It’s like, did you when you did that? You’re like, I know what I’m up against. Or were you at all surprised with, like, I could get some backlash on some of this, though I know the majority may think it’s common sense.

00;23;35;10 – 00;24;01;02
Ariel
A little bit of both because of my policy work prior to the legislature. Being a legislator, I did know that I’m like, I know how special interest groups work, and I know that there will be people coming out of the woodwork to talk to me about policies. And I was surprised at how vast it was and how quick it happens and how many conversations you have to have.

00;24;01;04 – 00;24;17;02
Ariel
I definitely got a lesson in conflict management very quickly. You know, when you’re at home with a two year old, it’s very different than working across the table with, you know, big tech. So it was there was definitely a growth in that area for me.

00;24;17;05 – 00;24;20;13
Marty
I suppose both can throw tantrums if they don’t get what they want. That’s true.

00;24;20;15 – 00;24;20;27
Ariel
That’s true.

00;24;20;27 – 00;24;22;16
Marty
But I can’t any group or a two year.

00;24;22;16 – 00;24;26;26
Ariel
Old I can’t time out big tech. So as much as we try.

00;24;26;28 – 00;24;44;06
Marty
Tell me about the upcoming session. I mean, we’re not really there yet, but I know after Labor Day things start to pick up. So I’m wondering, as you look ahead to the 20, amazing to say, the 2027 general legislative session, what do you sort of have in mind that are some issues that you’ve got your eye on or some bills that you’re thinking about?

00;24;44;07 – 00;24;45;25
Marty
This is going to need my special attention?

00;24;45;27 – 00;25;11;21
Ariel
Yeah. So I will continue to work in the AI space. So in the legislature we have a legislative AI task force. I sit on that with other members. And so we’re actually going to get together soon and decide who’s going to tackle what in AI. Also looking at education, really expanding access to to literacy and particularly looking at pre-K.

00;25;11;23 – 00;25;32;13
Ariel
If you look back in the past couple of years, we’ve tackled literacy as a legislature, and an important piece of that is actually getting our kids before they get into kindergarten. So the kids who are getting to kindergarten now more than ever need more preparation. So they’re showing up and not not knowing their letters. And that hasn’t happened before.

00;25;32;14 – 00;25;44;01
Ariel
So this is kind of a new trend in education. So we really need to find those kiddos and get them more prepared. And that’s going to be part of our overall literacy initiative. So that’s kind of what I’ll be focusing on this next session.

00;25;44;02 – 00;26;05;13
Marty
One thing I’d love to ask elected officials in general, but members of the House or Senate in particular, you will hear from constituents on a number of issues during the session. How do you balance between I’m hearing from this person and so they’re loud and they’re getting my attention because they’re talking to me. But how representative are they of the broader group?

00;26;05;14 – 00;26;13;02
Marty
Right. Is this the squeaky wheel that wants the grease, or is this hey, this is an actual problem. How have you how have you approached that during your time in the legislature?

00;26;13;03 – 00;26;34;26
Ariel
Yeah, that I mean, that is one of the trickiest, trickiest parts is really understanding your constituency as a whole. And what do they want as a whole? And it’s hard because you send out mailers and you send out surveys, and it’s typically the same group of people who respond. So luckily for me, I’m a very social person and I try to have as many conversations as possible.

00;26;34;26 – 00;26;51;21
Ariel
If it’s in grocery stores, if it’s at community events. I try to be accessible to my constituents and have as many of those conversations with people who would never talk to me or would never think to call me, to try and get a broader picture of how my constituents feel on different policies.

00;26;51;22 – 00;27;20;02
Marty
Yeah. Were you at all? I mean, you’ve worked in this space as a legislative assistant or as a worked in politics for a long time? Yeah. I imagine it didn’t surprise you when you would send out a survey and it would get limited feedback. Yeah. And that’s kind of a tough thing, I would think, because you’re sort of saying, well, I’m either left to guess what the people who haven’t responded to think, or I have to just assume that they like the job I’m doing because enough of them voted for me that I got here in the first place.

00;27;20;02 – 00;27;22;12
Marty
I imagine it’s a really tough to to balance that.

00;27;22;13 – 00;27;35;08
Ariel
Yeah, yeah, it really is. And the surveys are valuable. But yeah, you’ll get maybe a good response is like 50 to 100 responses. So I mean 50 out of 40,000 people. It’s tricky.

00;27;35;11 – 00;27;36;02
Marty
Small percentage.

00;27;36;03 – 00;27;41;06
Ariel
But it gives me a little glimpse. It does help inform my decision making. But it’s definitely tricky.

00;27;41;07 – 00;27;53;29
Marty
Communication is a two way street, and you’re essentially saying you’re not getting a lot of feedback, at least not broad feedback. Yeah. So how much more important does that make it for you to communicate effectively to your constituency?

00;27;54;04 – 00;28;16;01
Ariel
Oh, absolutely important. And I will tell you, I don’t do social media. So I am not great at social media. And some people are whizzes and they enjoy it. I do not enjoy it. So I try to be as open with my newsletter, with my constituents saying please contact me if you have something you want to say, please contact me and I try to do my best to reach out in person.

00;28;16;03 – 00;28;23;08
Ariel
I am well aware that there is a tool that I’m not utilizing. But completely.

00;28;23;09 – 00;28;37;20
Marty
To a certain extent. I mean, that could be a good thing or a bad thing, right? Like, it does close off, but it also can sort of communicate, hey, I’m taking this like I’m not here to make myself a social media star. Not the people who do that are necessarily doing that. But there’s a give and take with any of that perception that could be along the way.

00;28;37;22 – 00;28;50;16
Ariel
Yeah, yeah, we all have different approaches, but it is an effective way to reach the masses, but also an effective way to get beat up as well and get sucked in. It’s just such a time waster. So I try to stay off as much as.

00;28;50;16 – 00;29;05;14
Marty
Possible, really can, but it really can’t be. All right, we’re running close on time. So how about we finish with the lightning round, which was about 5 or 6? Fun questions. Fun question is do and see where we go. All right. Question number one. Rate these in order of best to non best okay. Breakfast lunch dinner dessert.

00;29;05;17 – 00;29;14;15
Ariel
Oh dessert number one. Dinner number two. Breakfast number three. Lunch number for.

00;29;14;18 – 00;29;20;03
Marty
Lunch comes in last place. Dessert. That in first place. What’s your favorite dessert.

00;29;20;04 – 00;29;24;17
Ariel
Oh. Creme brulée okay. A good creme brulé. Oh, man.

00;29;24;23 – 00;29;25;28
Marty
All right.

00;29;26;01 – 00;29;28;17
Ariel
That crispy topping. Just kind of crack it. So satisfying.

00;29;28;20 – 00;29;31;10
Marty
Breakfast comes in number two. What’s the breakfast of choice?

00;29;31;11 – 00;29;35;27
Ariel
Yeah, I just like eggs and pancakes. Okay? I just love them.

00;29;35;28 – 00;29;48;06
Marty
Fair enough. You work in I’m going to say broadly, the dental field. I know it’s worth the kind of the same in the dental field. Do you deal with teeth? Teeth are important. Yes. Are you a soda drinker? And if so, which soda is best?

00;29;48;07 – 00;29;59;00
Ariel
So I do not drink soda. I drink spindrift, though, because I love the bubbles. What is that? So it is just a flavored water. It’s my flavored water of choice. It’s like a Lacroix. Okay.

00;29;59;04 – 00;30;00;03
Marty
But a carbonated water?

00;30;00;04 – 00;30;09;28
Ariel
It’s a carbonated water which my younger self would just absolutely turn her nose up to because I thought it was gross. But as you get older, you have you have to find you have to find your pleasure somewhere.

00;30;10;00 – 00;30;16;00
Marty
Okay. Yeah. Is it a soda free home at the house? Is it kind of like so? Because of teeth?

00;30;16;01 – 00;30;26;25
Ariel
We are protective of teeth. So all our soda is sugar free. So we have root beer and it is. It’s sugar free root beer. We have Sunkist at sugar free Sunkist.

00;30;26;26 – 00;30;38;20
Marty
I’m a very much a sugar free soda guy as well. Okay. Ohio versus Utah. Which flag shape is better. And I think I’m saying this right a burgee or a rectangle?

00;30;38;24 – 00;30;39;26
Ariel
I like the rectangle.

00;30;39;26 – 00;30;40;28
Marty
Did I say it right. Yeah. You know the.

00;30;40;28 – 00;30;51;20
Ariel
Term I don’t know. Actually, I don’t know. Here’s the thing about the rectangle. It just fits beautifully in all kinds of marketing materials. Wherever you’re going to put it, you have to work around.

00;30;51;20 – 00;31;09;10
Marty
We may have to put up an image because Ohio’s the only state, the only state. I mean, it definitely. Stands out. It has. I looked it up. The term is Bourguiba ge. I don’t know if I’m saying it right. It is also called a swallowtail pennant, which is two points on the end of the not just a triangle.

00;31;09;13 – 00;31;10;27
Marty
Okay, so the rectangles is better.

00;31;10;28 – 00;31;11;07
Ariel
I like.

00;31;11;07 – 00;31;32;14
Marty
The rectangle. I want to ask you which Utah flag is better? I know better than that. Thank you. Okay, a little more Ohio. You studied in Athens, Ohio, at the Ohio University? Yes. Your husband went to dental school at the Ohio State University? Yes. So he is a Buckeye and you are a bobcat? Yeah. Which is better, a buckeye or a bobcat?

00;31;32;16 – 00;31;33;14
Ariel
A buckeye?

00;31;33;16 – 00;31;34;16
Marty
A buckeye is better.

00;31;34;17 – 00;31;34;29
Ariel
Here’s the.

00;31;34;29 – 00;31;35;27
Marty
Thing about football team.

00;31;35;29 – 00;31;49;21
Ariel
Here’s the thing about the Buckeyes is they’re they’re always in the top four. And college football is so much fun to watch. And so it’s fun to have a team that is consistent and always in play. And so fair enough. So we’re Buckeyes.

00;31;49;22 – 00;31;58;16
Marty
All right. You have wanted to be in politics. You’ve been in politics. You’ve been in business. One job that you’ve never had that you would love to try.

00;31;58;18 – 00;32;05;03
Ariel
Oh, I would love to be an economist, but I’d also love to be a singer.

00;32;05;08 – 00;32;05;24
Marty
Okay.

00;32;05;25 – 00;32;06;07
Ariel
So those.

00;32;06;07 – 00;32;09;09
Marty
Are sounds more fun. Very different ends of the spectrum.

00;32;09;10 – 00;32;12;01
Ariel
Two very different things. But those are two jobs I would have loved to have had.

00;32;12;02 – 00;32;14;22
Marty
Okay. If you’re a singer, what kind of music are you singing?

00;32;14;22 – 00;32;22;24
Ariel
I would want to be. I would want to be a Broadway star. Oh, I do not have specific. Like I don’t have great singing or acting talent, but it just sounds really fun to me.

00;32;22;26 – 00;32;26;09
Marty
Bonus question favorite Broadway show?

00;32;26;11 – 00;32;29;07
Ariel
I mean, Hamilton, it’s cliche.

00;32;29;10 – 00;32;30;00
Marty
Political answer.

00;32;30;01 – 00;32;43;21
Ariel
I know it’s Hamilton, I know I, I love, I like wicked, I like all the classics. Hairspray was my first Broadway show that I saw, so that’s one of my favorites that, I mean, Hamilton wins the day.

00;32;43;26 – 00;32;55;27
Marty
Okay, so give me one recommendation. You can pick a book, a podcast, a TV show, a movie, anything. Pick one. Give me something that that I or that the audience should tune into or check out that you’ve checked out.

00;32;55;28 – 00;33;08;06
Ariel
Okay, so I love Theodore Roosevelt. He is a political hero of mine. I would love to find today’s Teddy Roosevelt. The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

00;33;08;13 – 00;33;17;20
Marty
Very good. Good choice. Last question. What is the best piece of advice that you would give your younger self right at the moment, when you were walking into the Ohio house for the first day?

00;33;17;21 – 00;33;39;09
Ariel
Oh, that is a great question. I think I would say to my younger self, enjoy the moments while you’re in them because you are going to accomplish your goals. So don’t stress too much about getting there. Like you’re going to get married, you’re going to have kids, you’re going to get your job like so. Just enjoy the time that you’re there.

00;33;39;10 – 00;33;46;02
Marty
Yeah, I would say take more pictures. Yeah. You know, it seems like if we grew up before phone, you didn’t take as many pictures. And now I think, yeah.

00;33;46;05 – 00;33;47;25
Ariel
I have pictures, no pictures of that time.

00;33;47;25 – 00;33;48;21
Marty
That would be a good answer to.

00;33;48;23 – 00;33;51;07
Ariel
Yeah, that is a great representative.

00;33;51;07 – 00;33;56;24
Marty
Ariel, thanks so much for taking the time. Thanks for representing. Kaysville is fighting 15th. Thank you I appreciate it.

00;33;56;24 – 00;33;58;00
Ariel
Thanks for inviting me I.

00;33;58;00 – 00;34;01;03
Marty
Appreciate it. Thank you for being here.