Finding Your Authentic Self Through Sustainable Actions, Ethical Practices and Spirit Water. Alessandro Tronco
Alessandro Tronco was born in Sicily. At fourteen his mother sent him to New York with five dollars in his pocket. With little experience and lack of financial means Alessandro invested in himself and became a successful entrepreneur. Along the journey he found that material possessions cannot fill the void. Listen how the creator of Spirit Water transformed his life finding his authentic self through sustainable actions.
Transcript
12 Guest 1: The subconscious mind is very powerful.
Catherine:Hello, I'm Catherine, your host of this variety show podcast.
Catherine:Your positive imprint is transforming how we live today for a more sustainable tomorrow through education and information.
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Catherine:your positive imprint.
Catherine:What's your PI?
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Alessandro Tronco was born in Sicily and immigrated to United States . With little experience and lack of financial means, Alessandro invested his savings of five dollars absolutely yes, five dollars into his amazing ambitions of becoming successful.
Catherine:He enrolled at Siena College in New York, run by the Franciscans, and then he began his journey of self discovery, realized how to transform his own life into one of happiness, and he shares his wisdom but also his book, The Buddha Who Drove a Bentley.
Catherine:Interesting title.
Catherine:. Well, Alessandro has so many positive imprints
Catherine:one being his dedication to sustainability he founded Spirit Water.
Catherine:This is such an amazing name given to water, our drink of life.
Catherine:And with that.
Catherine:I welcome Alessandro Tronco to the show.
Catherine:Alessandro.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Hi Catherine.
Catherine:Good afternoon.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Hello.
Catherine:Hello.
Catherine:It's so wonderful to see you you have so much in your background.
Catherine:And I think we need to start with Sicily first of all.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yeah, I grew up in Sicily , it's a beautiful island.
Catherine:, and my dad at the age of five kind of walked in and said, , hey, we're going to move to America.
Catherine:And at that age, you're not really, like, you're just going with the flow.
Catherine:You don't really know what that really means.
Catherine:And so we packed up and we, and we moved to America.
Catherine:And, uh, later on I discovered that my dad had done that, uh, many times in his journey back from America, back to Italy.
Catherine:He was kind of a man torn between two worlds.
Catherine:When he was in America, he thought the answers were in Italy.
Catherine:And when he was in Italy, he thought the answers were in America.
Catherine:So he journeyed back and forth.
Catherine:So yeah, we moved to the States, we moved to Albany, and for the most part, as a, as a kid, we, it was, it was fine.
Catherine:It was, it was, it was good.
Catherine:We learned the language very quickly and there was a few hiccups along the way when you learn a new language at a new school.
Catherine:But we adapted.
Catherine:We adapted pretty well.
Catherine:And then, how you fast forward, I was, uh, 14 years old and my dad again comes in and says, Hey, we're going to move back to Sicily.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Wow.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: And, uh, that journey was a little bit harder because now you have friends.
Catherine:You know what that means and we really didn't want to.
Catherine:We really didn't have a choice at that, that young of an age.
Catherine:So we packed up and we went back to Sicily.
Catherine:We, stayed there about a year we didn't go to school, because when we got to the Italian school system, they said, hey, the English education system is really behind the Italian education system, so you must go back.
Catherine:I can't remember if it was two or three grades, and my mom and dad were like, well, we're not, we're not going to do that, that's kind of ridiculous.
Catherine:So we sort of sat in a room with me and my two sisters, and we didn't really do much for a year.
Catherine:Just kind of hung out with each other, uh, played cards.
Catherine:And, you know, looking back, it was probably one of the greatest gifts I've ever gotten.
Catherine:You know, to spend a year with your sisters uninterrupted, really no TV, you know, before cell phones.
Catherine:But it was also hard.
Catherine:And then one day my mom walks in because she knew there was no future there for us with no education.
Catherine:And so she walked in and she had sold her engagement ring.
Catherine:And she had bought two one way tickets back to America.
Catherine:, by that time I was 15.
Catherine:My sister Marlena was 16.
Catherine:And my other sister Christina was a little younger.
Catherine:She was 14.
Catherine:But she only had money for two tickets.
Catherine:And so, uh, she said, Hey, can you call somebody to stay with for a little bit?
Catherine:Because me and dad aren't going with you.
Catherine:And so we did.
Catherine:You know, I called a friend, my sister called a friend, and we got on a, we got on a flight.
Catherine:And my mom knew, she was very wise, so it must have been really hard for her to, , ship her two kids away to a foreign country with no cell phone, no credit cards.
Catherine:You know, we had five dollars to our name.
Catherine:But she was wise to know that if she ships her kids there, at some point my dad would kind of come to his senses.
Catherine:and he would move back to America.
Catherine:What we didn't anticipate was that it took about 18 months.
Catherine:, so I came to America, uh, back when I was 15.
Catherine:We stayed alone, not alone, we were with, with friends in separate houses, uh, for about 18 months.
Catherine:And we've been here ever since.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Your mom sold her engagement ring.
Catherine:Did you know what that meant?
Catherine:12 Guest 1: No, no, at 15 you'd really have no idea.
Catherine:And, and quite honestly I blacked out a lot of it.
Catherine:, I don't really remember getting on an airplane.
Catherine:So, no.
Catherine:Many, many years later, with, with, uh, wisdom, and having my own children, do I really know what that meant.
Catherine:You sort of, at least I did, sort of took it for granted.
Catherine:I wasn't excited.
Catherine:I was scared.
Catherine:I didn't know what was going to happen.
Catherine:I didn't know when I'd see my parents again.
Catherine:And again, communication was sporadic.
Catherine:You didn't have a cell phone that you could take for granted now that you could just pick up your phone and anywhere in the world you could call somebody.
Catherine:I was definitely scared.
Catherine:I had many moments where I was like, I just want to go back to Italy and be with my parents.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: So your mom had some sort of foresight.
Catherine:That's a heart wrenching act
Catherine:12 Guest 1: I have cousins back in Sicily and she was right.
Catherine:They struggle.
Catherine:It's hard to make a life.
Catherine:It's hard to get out of that environment where the government just sort of owns you
Catherine:About 18 months later, my mom came.
Catherine:And my dad came three to six months after that.
Catherine:And then I had an older brother that was a few years older that decided to stay in America when we all left.
Catherine:, it was gut wrenching.
Catherine:Like, you're leaving one brother behind.
Catherine:You were gone with the sisters and my parents.
Catherine:It was quite a journey.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: So, Sicily is it still a place where residents leave because there's not much opportunity
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Those days are kind of gone, the days of people like my dad, migrating out.
Catherine:I'm sure it happens, but not like it did, you know, back in the 1930s and 40s and you kind of get stuck in your environment and when you get stuck in your environment, even though, you know, it's kind of misery.
Catherine:It's weird, but the human mind is weird, and you just kind of get stuck there.
Catherine:And so, you know, people visit Sicily, and they say it's spectacular, and it really is.
Catherine:There's some beautiful places in Sicily.
Catherine:But , if you ever go, , to the inner cities of how they live, it's just difficult.
Catherine:So I would, not many people are migrating out, and it's harder than ever now to migrate out of countries and come to the United States.
Catherine:So it's become, become more difficult.
Catherine:. 01 Main Mic: So you went and you were educated there at Siena College in New York.
Catherine:Is that because of the Catholic upbringing?
Catherine:12 Guest 1: No, it was at the time it was near my house and I didn't have the money to move away.
Catherine:They gave me a good financial package.
Catherine:It was a small school and I thought I would thrive more in a small school.
Catherine:I had a hard time just kind of paying attention in school.
Catherine:So, I thought if I went to a big university with a big lecture hall I would get lost.
Catherine:And so, you know, at the time it was more about the financial aid package and it was a small school and it was close to home.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: You graduated and you became a successful financial advisor in the state of New York, and that's kind of where the money started coming in for you as well as material items and changes in some of your decisions.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yeah.
Catherine:So I, I, I work for a Fortune 100 financial company, and it's been really amazing.
Catherine:So I was an advisor for 12 years, but then, uh, 15 years ago I became a managing partner for the firm.
Catherine:And it's been amazing and it's, it's allowed me to help a lot of people with finances, which is a huge struggle in this country.
Catherine:We're just not very well educated on it.
Catherine:And it's, it's, it's blessed me and my family with with money we can have experiences and we can buy things.
Catherine:But I say along the way I sort of lost my soul on what was really important.
Catherine:And I think that's what brings us to this journey now that I'm on.
Catherine:Which is for me so much more impactful and so much more important than anything I've ever done before.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Yeah, so that's very apparent in your book, The Buddha Who Drove a Bentley.
Catherine:But in your foreword, uh, Gerard Allman Powell said, "all the material possessions couldn't fill the void."
Catherine:So what, what went on there?
Catherine:You had, was it a void of, you just couldn't find happiness, love?
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yeah, you couldn't, I couldn't find any of it.
Catherine:I couldn't find, I mean, you'd have moments of happiness and joy.
Catherine:But there was a void.
Catherine:I just knew there was something more.
Catherine:And some of, a lot of my decisions that I was making, I knew they were not good.
Catherine:They weren't good for me.
Catherine:They weren't good for my family.
Catherine:They weren't good for the universe They certainly weren't decisions that God wanted me to make And I kind of just justified them away, so I just knew there was a void there was more To what I needed from life, and I knew that Buying the next shiny watch wasn't gonna resolve And I knew that buying material things just wasn't going to resolve.
Catherine:\ Well I drive a Bentley and really the title comes from this.
Catherine:That most people think that money is evil.
Catherine:And most people think you have to choose between God and money or spirituality and money.
Catherine:And it's not true.
Catherine:Like, God wants us to have all the material things in the world.
Catherine:He really does.
Catherine:And God wants to have a lot of money, but not for the reasons we think.
Catherine:You know, God wants us to have a lot of money so we can be abundant and give back to others.
Catherine:And so the title of the book is , it's not a choice of do I choose God or do I choose money or possessions?
Catherine:It's both for the right reasons, and that's where the title came.
Catherine:It's you don't have to sell everything
Catherine:to be a really good person.
Catherine:You don't have to sell anything to believe in God.
Catherine:You don't have to be poor to believe in God.
Catherine:Yes, money and the wrong people is pretty evil, but money with the right people can do a lot of good.
Catherine:So that's where the, that's where the title, uh, came from.
Catherine:And, and my journey was my journey back to God.
Catherine:It was just believing in a God and just spending so much time with God and really getting connected to what does God want from us.
Catherine:And you know, lately it's not a popular topic.
Catherine:If you talk about God, it seems to be a bad thing.
Catherine:, And it proves that this world is going in not a very positive way, it's all around us.
Catherine:You don't have to look very far to look at the evil that's happening.
Catherine:So for me, it was grounding back to God and just listening, What does God want me to do?
Catherine:I was born raised Catholic, so we would go to church once in a while.
Catherine:Not often I was baptized.
Catherine:But then sometimes God finds you.
Catherine:I always knew about the Catholic Church, then going to Siena to the Franciscans.
Catherine:But...
Catherine:I believed in it, but not, not really because I was doing a lot of things that God wouldn't want me to do.
Catherine:It has nothing to do with anything that I own.
Catherine:It has to do with the message that I'm portraying to myself, to my family, to my girls, to my wife and what we're, what we're building.
Catherine:And, you know, the Spirit Water, which we haven't talked about yet, was really a family affair.
Catherine:I have three daughters and a wife and, and we wanted to create something for the world, , that was really good.
Catherine:And people say, well, what's the, it's just water.
Catherine:Right?
Catherine:And so, we'll get to that,
Catherine:01 Main Mic: So your transformation has become the Alessandro Tronco that we know today.
Catherine:And how did your friends and your family take your positive imprints?
Catherine:12 Guest 1: I will tell you, in life, uh, we have very few friends.
Catherine:We have a lot of acquaintances, but we have very few friends.
Catherine:, and your family's your family.
Catherine:Your family will love you no matter what.
Catherine:And so mine certainly did and my real friends have embraced me and they really liked the new me.
Catherine:Especially when you bring a message of a positive imprint.
Catherine:Right.
Catherine:They want that for you and they want that for themselves.
Catherine:So yeah, my, my friends have been amazing.
Catherine:I will give you an example where it's really difficult for people.
Catherine:, I stopped drinking alcohol.
Catherine:Uh, when I had this transformation, and for some people that's really difficult, Yeah.
Catherine:I just realized like give me one positive thing that happens when you drink alcohol.
Catherine:So, why was I doing it?
Catherine:I was doing it to mask my emotions.
Catherine:I was doing it to mask feelings.
Catherine:I was doing it so when I did something that wasn't ethical and moral, it could like, not let me think about it all too much because I was you know, intoxicated.
Catherine:And yeah, show me, tell me one good thing that happens when you drink alcohol.
Catherine:You know, who's ever woken up from a night of, , heavy drinking and say, you know, I made some amazing decisions last night.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Uh, Note To Self.
Catherine:Note To Self.
Catherine:Ahahahaha!
Catherine:Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Right?
Catherine:Right?
Catherine:Or, I feel amazing this morning.
Catherine:I had this, , epic night of drinking, but I woke up this morning, , ready to, , be an amazing person.
Catherine:Society's very good at at letting us do things that aren't good for us.
Catherine:And if we look back at the pandemic, and if we think about what happened, uh, they said to us, only necessary businesses can be open.
Catherine:And they said liquor shops are necessary.
Catherine:And we said, that makes sense.
Catherine:Alcohol is not a poison, and it is a poison.
Catherine:So water, it's a, it's a purest form.
Catherine:, it comes from the sky.
Catherine:, water is what heals us.
Catherine:And, but now you can't have water.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: this.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: It sustains us.
Catherine:It sustains life, doesn't it?
Catherine:Trees can't grow without water.
Catherine:Vegetables can't grow without water.
Catherine:, we die very quickly without water, and we're forgetting that.
Catherine:And so that's where the water company came from.
Catherine:You cannot live without water.
Catherine:At the end of the day, , talk about a positive imprint.
Catherine:If you drank water only you'd feel better.
Catherine:You'd have a much more clarity in your mind and you'd have a very positive imprint on the planet.
Catherine:And then we put it in aluminum cans because aluminum is, uh, recycled almost all the time.
Catherine:And plastic is not.
Catherine:Plastic is very dangerous to the environment.
Catherine:But we're used to drinking plastic bottles, which I think will go away in the next decade.
Catherine:So aluminum is where it's at.
Catherine:And the name matters, spirit.
Catherine:So, my belief has always been, , words matter.
Catherine:What you put in our brain matters.
Catherine:So, your podcast, your positive imprint, there's a reason why it's called that.
Catherine:Because words matter.
Catherine:And so, spirit water, , can we just get back to, good, wholesome, , messaging when it comes to advertising.
Catherine:. I said let's do it.
Catherine:And then magically enough, as I talked to people, some people will, the way it started was, some people say to me, well, I know a guy that runs.
Catherine:a company locally that you should meet.
Catherine:And then I meet that guy, and he says, well, I know a company that will actually manufacture the water for you, or bottle it for you, but you don't have your own mountain yet.
Catherine:. So this water particularly comes from northern Georgia.
Catherine:There's a rainforest there, and it's just water.
Catherine:And then it's filtered through two miles of granite, and if you test it, it's really amazing water.
Catherine:But there's nothing in it.
Catherine:It's from God, it's from the sky.
Catherine:And so, that's where it came from.
Catherine:, it's been such an amazing journey.
Catherine:So I have a daughter that just graduated college.
Catherine:I have two that are still in college.
Catherine:They're all amazing boyfriends and my wife.
Catherine:And this, this is being done out of our house right now.
Catherine:And, , but that's not going to be for long.
Catherine:This water will be all over the world.
Catherine:, how do we ship the water?
Catherine:How do we set up a website
Catherine:We have to be really careful.
Catherine:about what we're buying and what we put in our brains every single day.
Catherine:The subconscious mind is very powerful.
Catherine:And again, I go back to the name of your podcast.
Catherine:There's a reason it's called Positive Imprint.
Catherine:And, and so, the spirit name is going to be very powerful.
Catherine:We need to get back to a world of healing.
Catherine:And right now we're not there.
Catherine:But I do believe a shift is coming.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: I love that we need to get back to a world of healing in Every way that we can think of.
Catherine:So what about water rights?
Catherine:How does that work with the company?
Catherine:You're in New York, and you're using water over in Georgia.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: So the attorneys figure it out.
Catherine:You know, they, they they have the right to sell water to other people.
Catherine:But I am going to at some point here buy a mountain in the Adirondacks, which is if you're not familiar with New York, the Adirondacks are a lot of beautiful mountains with a lot of amazing water.
Catherine:So at some point we're going to have our own.
Catherine:Spirit Mountain that'll that'll provide that water.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: so you need to go get that mountain and get started because spirit water awaits the shelves.
Catherine:And , globally, and I, I think that number one, having it , the aluminum is a fantastic idea.
Catherine:Yeah, I don't understand the, the plastic
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yes.
Catherine:Money.
Catherine:Catherine, it's money.
Catherine:So plastic's cheap.
Catherine:Aluminum isn't.
Catherine:So when it comes down to it, when you, when we think about decisions that are made, most of the time, unfortunately, it's money.
Catherine:It just costs more money.
Catherine:Our bottle is it's a twist top.
Catherine:So you can refill it.
Catherine:We're not saying you should always buy spirit water because you can reuse the bottle over and over again.
Catherine:And so that was on purpose.
Catherine:You can refill your bottle if you have good water nearby.
Catherine:And most people do.
Catherine:Most people in America do, not the world.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: What's your logo like for spirit water?
Catherine:Hmm.
Catherine:Mm.
Catherine:Cool.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yeah, so it's changing right now., but it's a picture of the outdoors and a tree in the middle of it, but we just changed it actually.
Catherine:It's going to be a mountain, a beautiful mountain, and it's going to have crosses on the mountain.
Catherine:, 01 Main Mic: well, spirit water sounds nourishing, of course.
Catherine:It's water of life,
Catherine:And there's a website, it's drinkspirit.com where , listeners can get more information on not only Alessandro, but also Spirit Water.
Catherine:So there's a quote, that's in your book.
Catherine:The book is fiction.
Catherine:And the quote is, some people are too hard to love.
Catherine:And, and then the person in the book, the character, Katerina says, well, loving people who are difficult is part of the journey.
Catherine:Those quotes and the learning that takes place you mentioned that you have friends.
Catherine:But you have a lot of acquaintances, we want to build relationships, we want to share knowledge, and that is part of our journey, is loving people who are difficult sharing ourselves.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: You know, I just, I love the name of your podcast.
Catherine:I just, we just need to communicate.
Catherine:The world needs more positivity.
Catherine:And it's not just in words, it's in actions.
Catherine:And it's, and it's in what we sell and what we represent.
Catherine:Words matter, how you act matters.
Catherine:You know, my book takes you through a journey for, with a guy that just was lost.
Catherine:These 15 lessons that have been taught during this journey, if you follow those 15 lessons, which are hard to follow, you know, , people that are hard to love are hard to love.
Catherine:And so I'm not saying it's easy, but if you you religiously try to follow those 15 lessons in the book, you're going to be much more fulfilled.
Catherine:And you will leave a positive imprint on the world, and your family, and your loved ones.
Catherine:It's a really important message.
Catherine:Like, it's a really important message in the time that we are living today.
Catherine:And I hope that people, , take me up on it and read it.
Catherine:And try to follow those 15 lessons, which are very difficult.
Catherine:I struggle with those, uh, most of my life.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Okay.
Catherine:I think we all struggle and we all have different struggles and that book again is The Buddha Who Drove a Bentley.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yes.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Awesome.
Catherine:Well, I , everything , that you've talked about today and I'm anxious to have spirit water
Catherine:when do you anticipate getting it out there globally or nationwide?
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Yeah, so people can buy it now.
Catherine:You know, I go slow because I don't want, I want it done right.
Catherine:And so there's no hurry for me.
Catherine:. I'm going slow and we're being strategic on who we want to sell it to.
Catherine:And we want it done right.
Catherine:And so, uh, in due time, very soon.
Catherine:But people can buy it now.
Catherine:They can go on the website.
Catherine:They can buy four cans.
Catherine:They can buy a case.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: And that's spirit water.
Catherine:Thank you so much.
Catherine:And Alessandra, I've so much enjoyed hearing your journey from such an interesting background of your immigration.
Catherine:And then going back to Sicily, but , you come with this huge package of positive imprints and positive imprints that have affected you and inspired you throughout your life to get you to where you are at today.
Catherine:So we always end with last inspiring words and what you just said about the podcast, I really appreciate that and I thank you so much for those words.
Catherine:And there are over 200 episodes of Positive Imprints, from around the world with amazing positive imprints like yourself, Alessandro.
Catherine:So, what are your last inspiring words?
Catherine:12 Guest 1: you.
Catherine:Yeah, let's change the world.
Catherine:Let's change the world.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Alessandro Tronco, you are doing that.
Catherine:I thank you so much for your positive imprints and everything that you're doing and all of the things that are upcoming with Spirit Water.
Catherine:12 Guest 1: Well, thank you for having me.
Catherine:It was a, it was a real pleasure for me.
Catherine:Catherine.
Catherine:01 Main Mic: Thank you.
Catherine:Your positive imprint.
Catherine:What's your PI?
Catherine:Learn more about spirit water at drinkspiritcom and learn to have it all.
Catherine:Alessandro's book the Buddha who drove a Bentley is available on Amazon Barnes and noble.
Catherine:And of course, other bookstores.
Catherine:And your positive imprint has been on an unexpected hiatus.
Catherine:And I do apologize for that.
Catherine:After losing Maka, we took off for Europe and while in Europe, there was an unexpected occurrence with my laptop.
Catherine:Thankfully.
Catherine:Oh, my gosh, thankfully, that has been taken care of now.
Catherine:While I was in Europe,
Catherine:I met so many positive imprints and I will be sharing them with you.
Catherine:Thank you for listening, your positive imprint.
Catherine:What's your
Catherine:PI.