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All right, so this is Ken Rose. I am at Classes Without Quizzes and it is October 10th, 2025. Do I have permission to record this interview that we're having right here? Yes. You have my permission to record. And if you feel comfortable, could you just state your name for the record? My name is Andrea Tadic. A-n-d-r-e-a, T as in Tom, A, D as in daisy. I, C as in Charlie.

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Okay. All right, Miss, Miss Andrea. Now, do you live in the area? Yes, I live in Northern Virginia. I lived there for more than 30 years. I also lived for a while in Silver Spring, Maryland. So, yeah. Where are you from originally? I'm originally from Croatia, country now known for The Game of Thrones.

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They love Game-- Are you a Game of Thrones fan? I've read all the books. Oh, okay. But you haven't watched the show. I watched a little bit of the first season, and I'm like, I've already read all of this stuff, so.

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Okay, so you have to keep going. It is an investment. I will say. It, It's-- I mean, he hasn't written the end yet, so we're still waiting. Still, still open for interpretation. So miss Andrea, so like I had said before, we're here at Classes Without Quizzes. So what brings you here today? What are we, what are we doing here today? So I just retired early from the federal government a week ago, and I wanted to do something that keeps my brain engaged. And this is a program for former and current feds, so it's right up my alley. Once a fed always a fed. I'd say it's part of my identity, as I've spent more than thirty years-- I spent more than thirty years in the federal government. So I just wanted to see, you know, what's offered here. I also want to be in this beautiful surrounding and a place that's dedicated to learning. And it's kind of away from the craziness that's D.C. these days.

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Very good. Now, you said that you worked with the feds, as you say, for thirty years. Correct? Is that accurate? That's correct. Okay. And what work did you do with, with the feds at that time? I was with Voice of America, which is a government agency. It's an international broadcaster that used to broadcast around the world in forty seven languages, the last. I worked in our Africa division on broadcasting to Africa, and I managed projects, such as-- we would buy and distribute equipment to our local reporters in Africa. We had reporting centers in Africa. We organized journalism training, and we broadcast to Africa in a number of languages on radio, TV, digital media.

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And my agency was shut down overnight in March. Everybody was sent home. People have been sitting at home for months now. We went from forty seven languages to currently four. Barely any programming is being produced. All the contractors have been fired... Frequent shortwave frequencies have been canceled. Satellite transmissions have been canceled. Federal employees were now, have now been drifted twice. There is a court battle going on. The court has stopped the latest layoff, and we are waiting to see what's happening, what's going to happen. But the prospects for the agency are not good. All right. So, just as a as a blanket question, did you-- you enjoyed your job, you loved your job, you loved everything about your job? Yes. I came into my agency as an intern. I spent more than thirty years in the same building. I went from job to job. I was at some point the radio host, the TV host, the reporter. I worked in public relations. I worked for the program director. And then I ended up in the Africa Division. And Voice of America had a really specific mission, which is to broadcast-- to show US ideals and what the US is all about, by being an example of the free media and to show it overseas. All right. So we definitely see from the way in which you described your work, very, very important. Broadcasting just in general is a very, very important industry, especially you saying that you had over what was it, forty seven languages that you guys had worked with? Blowing my mind immediately. So we can definitely see the impact that your job has on the world. But what has the work that you've done had an impact in your personal life?

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An appreciation for free media, because a lot of-- especially when I was in the Africa division, we worked in countries such as Ethiopia where, you know, there is no free media whatsoever. And in many other countries, media is partly free or not free or self-censoring. Our reporters would routinely get into trouble with local authorities. And that's where I developed the appreciation for the free media we have in this country, or used to have or kind of have now. And the importance of it-- because people base their decisions in life on reliable information about the world that they live in, and if that information is unreliable or skewed or incorrect, people, you know, will be led astray. And a lot of this thing-- this, you know, it will be to their own detriment and they will be hurt. Very much so. And just on the topic of hurt, you know, we are now experiencing government shutdown. Now it's my understanding that you had already retired by that point, so it hasn't really affected you as much as it would somebody else. However, again, working thirty years in the federal government, you've experienced, you know, several government shutdowns as well. So what has your experience been like experiencing a shutdown as we are in right now? So currently I am waiting for my retirement paperwork to be processed. I don't know if it's getting processed because the government is shut down, but I've been through other shutdowns too. The one that-- in the first Trump administration, which was thirty five days, which I think was the longest one ever. And I think shutdowns are very hard on people, young people with families, military families, people with lower grades who live from paycheck to paycheck and through no fault of their own, they are sitting at home and they're not getting paid. Or even worse, they're working and they're not getting paid. So it's an unnecessary and detrimental thing that, you know, the politicians are playing with because they're playing with people's lives. In this particular shutdown, it's even worse because there are these threats from the White House about firing federal employees summarily because of the shutdown. Again, not, not their fault. And also, there are threats that there-- people will not get their payback, which is something that would be deeply unfair. And also, I think, against the current law.

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It's very, very unfortunate. Now, in the past, when you have experienced these shutdowns, how did that make your routine change, whether that be your everyday routine of waking up for the nine to five or just the work in which you are doing, or the way in which you view the state of the country or the state of the government? So some shutdowns, I worked because I was a contractor and we were in broadcasting, so the shows have to go on regardless. But generally, you feel a little discarded during a shutdown because they just tell you, you know, Stay at home, you can't go anywhere. If they know-- you're watching TV all day to see if they're going to reopen the government, you have to report the next day if they reopen the government. So you can't leave or leave town so you feel useless and discarded. And it's a profoundly, you know, helpless situation. You're looking at your savings. They're dwindling. You have, you know, bills are coming due regardless. And it's unpleasant. It's unpleasant, even though, you know, there are shutdown specials for federal employees and local restaurants and banks are going to help, but, you feel victimized, and none of it's your fault because it's mostly having to do with political games in Congress. And there's nothing you can do. So you just wait and wait and hope for the best. Now, with you saying that dealing with the shutdown can make you feel expendable or victimized, as you would say, kind of like cast out, made to feel insignificant. I know that you said that it's a very trying time and all you can do is hope for the best, but do you have any words of wisdom, especially as somebody that has experienced several other shutdowns? Do you have any, any words to give to people that are experiencing that?

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It will be over eventually. So, reserve your strength, patience, you know, focus on getting through to the next day or week, marshal your resources, your financial resources, your personal networks, rely on other people who are in the same situation and are friends to support you through it because I think even harder than just running out of money is, you know, the psychological pressure people deal with, and your routine falls apart. You all of a sudden are sitting at home not doing anything, you know? So it's a psychologically very trying time, but shutdowns eventually end, and, you know, this too shall pass. That's good. And I thank you very much Miss Andrea for speaking with me today. It was wonderful.