Latest / The Bold Lounge / Erika Hanafin: Bold Together- Why We Thrive in Community

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Erika Hanafin: Bold Together- Why We Thrive in Community · The Bold Lounge

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: My name is Leigh Burgess and I will be your host.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: If you're anything like me, you love hearing inspiring stories of people who have gone on bold journeys and made a positive impact in the world.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: This podcast is all about those kinds of stories.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Every week, we'll hear from someone who has taken a leap or embarked on an extraordinary journey.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: In addition to hearing their stories, we'll also learn about their bold growth mindset that they use to make things happen.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Whether they face challenges or doubts along the way, they persisted and ultimately achieved their goals.
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: These impactful stories will leave you feeling motivated and inspired to pursue your own bold journey.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I believe everyone has a bold story waiting to be freed.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Tune in and get ready to be inspired.
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Today we have Erica Hannafin.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: She is a devoted mom, sophisticated business leader and a startup advisor, as well as a compassionate advocate for women in business.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: She's the CEO and co-founder of Hello Mamas, a community dedicated to supporting every mom's success by empowering every mom with the tools, connections and joyful experiences needed to thrive in all aspects of life, and joyful experiences needed to thrive in all aspects of life.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: Growing up in a family of successful CEOs.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: Erica was enriched with the intricate details of running successful businesses through observation, higher education and extensive experience.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: Over the past 15 years, she has played a pivotal role in growing small businesses across various industries, with a focus on business development, research and data operations, revenue management and an expertise in diverse fundraising models.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Erica's success is underscored by her involvement in four significant startup acquisitions, three of which she was instrumental in leading.
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: Through her experiences, erica has learned that a company's culture is a fundamental piece to its success.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: She's committed to fostering supportive and healthy corporate cultures across the world by empowering women through leadership, collaboration, philanthropy, mentorship and fundraising.
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Bold Lounge.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much.
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: I'm so excited to have you and we're going to jump right into your definition of bold.
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: Oh gosh, bold for me is taking decisive action with confidence, even in the face of uncertainty, which is really hard to do, right?
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: Because it's not just being loud or fearless, it's, you know, intentionality around your vision, your values, but owning that with confidence and owning your ambition without apology, leading with authenticity and, you know, making strategic moves that can create real impact.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: So you said a few key words in there.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: So decisive action, yes, yeah.
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: So you said a few key words in there.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: So decisive action, yes, yeah, with confidence.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: And then I heard the word intentionality and ownership.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: So when it comes to you know, the framework that I created, believe, own, learn, design the ownership piece of really realizing that you have agency in your life is something that I hope women learn.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: Earlier I didn't really take it until 48.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So, like you saying that as part of your definition, I really love hearing that.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: And then the decisive piece, right.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: So to me that means you think thoughtfully and pragmatically and you make a decision and you move, versus getting stuck in that thinking mode, versus taking action mode.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: So I love that about your definition.
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: When is a time that you lived aligned with that definition or live that definition out?
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: Only one time.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: Just one time that you remember, you can tell me 10.
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: I don't, you know?
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: it's funny.
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: I will be honest, right, I would say that to get to that one time has took a lot of confidence and it took a lot of you know, leading with authenticity and being brave enough to to get into that and you know, and build something that was powerful.
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: And now, after having recently sold hey, mama it's I'm kind of in this.
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: I'm kind of figuring out what is it to be bold for me, for me personally, and how do I, how do I follow my ethos and my belief system and my values around?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: You know progress over perfection and strength and vulnerability, challenging the norms.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: You know leadership and innovation, et cetera.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: I would say I'm also kind of in this unique journey around finding my bold moment right now.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: What's next right, my what's next?
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: Yeah, in 2020, and we talked a little bit in the green room about this.
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: That was my.
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: I was unsure, I had not planned it.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: Yours sounds a bit more planned than mine, but mine was unplanned.
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: But regardless, it probably still has some similarities of I wasn't sure what's next and because you don't know, you don't map your life out well, you might try to plan it, but it might not go in alignment with what you had planned.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: And I think for me, the biggest thing that I needed to understand at 48 and that's how old I was when we started the company was I could be anything I wanted to be.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: And it was such a weird feeling for me at 48, because I hadn't felt that way since 18.
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: Cause I was in the corporate setting and being in that situation was just not something that you got to choose, because there was a defined ladder right Of what you do and what's next and how you get there.
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: You need to achieve these things and I was a check, check, check type of gal of getting it done and so, like, when I got to that space of what's next, I could be anything and there were just all these opportunities, the one thing that I didn't want to do was limit myself from what was possible.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: So, as you're kind of in that zone of your own, do you find yourself maybe every now and then going, no, I couldn't do that, or maybe that's not possible.
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: Or do you find it like wide open, I'm looking at everything that's possible.
• 6:49
  Speaker 2: You know it's interesting and before we answer that, I want to double click into something that you just said, which is something that is so monumentally important is that I used to feel like and I've spoken on this on a number of times where you live your life in this box right, Like, okay, you go to school, you graduate college, you get a job, then you get married, then you have a baby, then you, you know you work, you know you do all of these things, like you said, you're checking them off and you're checking a box right, exactly, and so you know, this idea and definition of bold is stepping out of that box and and it's hard to do because you do need that, you know you have to do the work, you have to get rid of the negative thoughts in your head, you have to have find the confidence and the strength you need to find your, your, you know your core group or network of people, that is, you know, one few and not the masses, and I've been talking about that for a while.
• 7:55
  Speaker 2: And, to answer your question, I'm kind of like I want to be out of this box and how do I help empower more women, in particular moms, which has been core to everything that I do in my life and have always done since I became a mom, actually was ingrained in me, quite frankly, by my grandmother, who was a CEO in the 80s, who was a CEO in the 80s to really identify what is it that is next for me.
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: And so, to your point, I think there's, I see, like all of these different opportunities and oh well, I know I experienced this personally, or this I keep getting messages from these women who are like how do I do this, how do I scale my business, how do I continue to grow my revenue or even start a business and get funding All of these things right?
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: So I would say that I'm being thoughtful and intentional around what is that next component?
• 9:05
  Speaker 2: And also really putting my foot where my mouth is and making sure that what I am doing is not also creating conflict for me personally, right In in these, in this journey, in this experience of what I am doing, because I also think that it's hard when you're you went through this too as women and as, as moms who are ambitious, who are career driven.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: That's almost like part of our identity, and so you feel, when you're in these interesting transitions, if you will, which is exactly where I'm at.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: You're kind of like well, I don't want to lose my identity of working, or I don't want to lose my identity as being a corporate mom or a startup element, right?
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: And how do I do so?
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Naturally, on this new journey, to ensure that it makes sense for both me, my family and also my values, which is, how do I continue to show up and support ambitious moms.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think for me that's what actually was the highest indicator that burnout was coming or was on its way was when I was out of alignment with my values.
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: So, family relationships, health, those are the biggies, and it was ultimately health that pushed me to that point, in addition to just not being me like it, just I was not myself.
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: So, in the sense of that, like there was this misalignment, and then there was the opportunity to think intentionally but to not limit myself around being curious about exploring.
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Because I think sometimes and I had an interesting conversation even just yesterday with one of the incredible women in my network and she was talking about, you know, when I'm, when I'm trying to explore something new like I feel guilty, I almost feel like I'm not doing it right or I'm spending my time in a way that isn't valuable, and I said, well, I think that's because we don't measure it right, we don't have this oh I learned more about, or I got curious, or, you know, took some time to explore something.
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: We kind of think of that as, oh well, we're just, you know, wasting time or we're not really doing anything, but we truly are.
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: So I think there was this sense of just not losing the curiosity that I wanted her to have, which she hasn't, but I think it was just an interesting conversation about when we're exploring what's possible.
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: Sometimes it feels like we're not being efficient or we may not be understood.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: I will definitely say that was something when I left, that it was like people thought all the stuff that I had done, all the things I had done over 20 plus years, fell out of me because I didn't have a particular title and I tried very hard not to be my identity associated.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: You know, have my identity associated with my organization, but it is literally how you introduce yourself, it's how people connect you, and it was one of the most empowering things when I took two huge, incredible institutions with very positive experiences off my LinkedIn.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: They're not even there, and so I'm hoping we're getting better at that, but I don't think it's happening fast enough.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: I'll just tell you that, especially when it comes to women.
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: So, as you think about what's next and what you called a monumental moment, tell me a little bit about what that means.
• 12:22
  Speaker 1: When you say monumental moment, what's your definition of that?
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: What does that look like?
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: Yes.
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: So for me, my monumental moment happened in a startup, working a ton of hours, all of the things Right, and I, quite frankly, was very depressed and was having a really tough time.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: And there was also a lot of newness, because I was used to walking my son to school and then going to work and now I had to drive my son to school and then drive to work, which was weird for me, and I had this stressful moment.
• 13:17
  Speaker 2: And I get my son in the car and Chainsmokers comes on.
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: He loved it because it was, you know, superman and all, the, all, the, the lingo and he's like, mommy, turn it up, let's sing really loud.
• 13:33
  Speaker 2: And like, let's just sing.
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: So we're yelling, and so I turn it up and we are laughing.
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: Like my mood, everything just instantly changed, right, like we're laughing, he's hysterical, we're all the things.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: He's happy, I drop him off, he's excited to go to school now he's happy.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: And I'm on my way to work and I'm like, oh my gosh, that was talk about a mommy mental moment.
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: Like that just completely shook me to my core changed was everything I needed in that moment as a mom.
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: And it wasn't huge, it wasn't quote, by definition mommy mental right, but for me it was a simple moment, but it was so, mommy, mental for me.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: And so that is how mommy mental moments came about.
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: And it's really just you know, moments came about, and it's really just you know, finding those little moments throughout your day that are monumental, and it could be something as simple as turning up the music in your car or sitting with your child for 30 seconds and having a laugh.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: You know, whatever it is, there is a monumental out there, a monumental moment out there, and so that's how it came about.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: And how can we continue to, you know, encourage those mommy mental moments and make that a ripple effect.
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and create more.
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: I think one of the things that happens in our days as we get into what I'll say like a habit or a routine of what we do, whether it's driving to work or going to work when we leave all of that pick up, drop off, as moms, like just going back to certain things that happen and we sometimes miss them.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: And I think, miss those moments, right, we don't realize that was a really awesome moment or that was something super, you know, just something that was a moment in our child's life or our family's life that we missed because we were busy or head down or have our phone in our hand or whatever it may be.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: And so I think just being intentional which is a word you used in your definition about noticing those moments and that comes, I think, just from being present, which is sometimes really hard as a mom.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: You said something about your grandmother ingraining in you the importance of moms or motherhood.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Can you tell me a little bit more about what she shared with you or what's something that's stuck with you from her?
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: Well, actually so my grandmother was a CEO in the late 70s, early 80s for what is now a public company.
• 16:14
  Speaker 2: At the time it was started in her garage and so she ingrained in me the strength of she had five kids my dad was one and ultimately is the person who took over the company but you know, she ingrained in me this ability to one support women.
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: She ended up being a huge advocate for scholarships for women in education and also in the corporate world, the career growth, et cetera.
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: She was on a number of boards, et cetera, and so that was always just ingrained in me was that I could be a career driven woman and an incredible mom.
• 16:57
  Speaker 2: And you know and I'm fortunate to have had that in my ethos for so long, because there is, I can't imagine, not like that's what I just saw I saw that she could run this company and she could do all these things and my, you know, my dad brought us, I grew up in this business and my, my mom, was always doing these things to support more women, and so it was just ingrained in me very early on, and the oldest of four girls, and now I have three boys and one on the way, so it's like, you know, all boys, but I think it's really incredible to recognize that when we can support more women, and in particularly moms, that the outcomes are so incredible.
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: The you know, the business outcomes are incredible.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: We're contributing to GDP in huge billions I mean, we're talking billions, not millions of dollars and so I'm fortunate that I had that recognition early on.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: That it was entirely okay and that is something that I always went back to as my internal core strength when I was going through maybe these transitions, if you will, or career pivots, if you will, throughout my journey.
• 18:22
  Speaker 2: Your earlier point it's quality over quantity.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: It's, you know, it's that presence.
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: It doesn't have to be the hours of the day sitting next to somebody.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: It's the intentionality behind that, the quality time that you're creating with your kids, and understanding it took me a while that balance is progress.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: There's.
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: There's no such thing as work-life balance.
• 18:52
  Speaker 2: It's a myth, it's like a lie that we're told.
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I've never used, I've never liked the word, it's so temporary.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I use alignment, if we've got to use any word, because I think you can stay in alignment longer, like your car, but it does get out of alignment.
• 19:07
  Speaker 2: It's out of alignment and talk about a box.
• 19:09
  Speaker 2: It's not fair for us because that does lead to burnout, this idea that, oh, we have to be in balance, everything's perfect, it's in balance Ultimately.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: No, there's going to be days where your work is 80% of your time or your family is 80% of your time, and that's okay.
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well there's so much we don't see.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I think that's the hardest thing for me right now, I think at 53.
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: So, as I'm an entrepreneur, year five and every year I say is a different emoji.
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: So we were talking about simplifying and that's one of my goals this year.
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: But I think there's a lot of, and I don't know if it has to do with social media.
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: I think it's part of it, because you only see the good stuff.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: Usually on there, people are private, you don't want to show vulnerability, but there's a lot of things, I think, behind the scenes of the hard work that as moms, you know, I know I'm a mom of a 28 year old, which is not the same as a mom of an eight year old there's different challenges and you know, I have the blessing of actually she's, you know, co-founded our company together, so we're together a lot.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: But I think, you know, when you think about just the rules of how we define success or what success looks like, I think it is interesting what people assume or what people think, and I, you know I've I recently had a conversation with another entrepreneur and I made a post about it, but I think it can be very lonely, you know, at times or it feels that way.
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: I don't know, erica, if you ever felt lonely out there.
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: Even in a community of you know, millions of women that you've created over time, you know it can feel lonely.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: Have you felt lonely in this environment before?
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: All the time, okay, all the time.
• 20:49
  Speaker 2: And I will tell you, I have never felt more lonely than when I was leading a company and then also going through probably my biggest transition in life, which was a divorce at the same time.
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, what was interesting is that I hit it.
• 21:12
  Speaker 2: I couldn't tell, I just it was like something for me that was talk about, you know, afraid.
• 21:19
  Speaker 2: I was afraid that I was failing.
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: I was, I couldn't believe that.
• 21:24
  Speaker 2: You know, for me this was quote by definition failure, and that's not who I was, because that's not in my box, right.
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: That was this moment.
• 21:33
  Speaker 2: So it like crushed all of my beliefs that I had believed for so long.
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: And then I had to figure this out and I will never forget that I was literally about six months into my two-year divorce.
• 21:48
  Speaker 2: At an event.
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: Finally, I shared, we were going around the room and I just I was like I'm going to just be vulnerable in this moment and I'm going to share what is going on with me, not just professionally but personally, and I get goosebumps when I talk about this, about this, the, the power of these women that all of a sudden just realized like, oh my gosh, thank you so much for sharing.
• 22:26
  Speaker 2: I, I'm going through this, or I've been so afraid to talk about what's been going on in my life, or my business is failing and I just I couldn't own up to it.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: Like it just changed the whole conversation from, yes, negative things were coming up but into a positive, and we all realized in that moment that we were all trying to do this in isolation.
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: And then it talked about the strength of there.
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: You don't need to do this in isolation.
• 22:51
  Speaker 2: You can do this in either shared spaces or within, you know, within strong networks, and there's no reason for you to need to feel lonely in those moments, but all the time, like being being an entrepreneur, is lonely.
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it can be.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: I think it's just interesting the assumptions that get made.
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: So I always tell people check in on your strong friends, check in on your friends that are killing it, because I do think that there's a lot that they're doing that you don't see.
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: I think the more we can do that as women and men, but I think particularly women, because I think we can I don't know, at times I think we can feel threatened or competitive or compare ourselves or think we're imperfect or whatever it may be like name it.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: We've probably felt it.
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: But just remember that and just start from a base of kindness and understanding.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: And, like you said, you had that vulnerable moment because you felt like it was time probably for you to let it out and it was a group that you could do it with.
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah, but I wholeheartedly agree, and you also need to do the work yourself.
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: Oh, give yourself, grace, I can check in all with whoever I want to check.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: You know everybody.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: I'm like, oh yeah, everything's fine on my side.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, everything's great.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: No, it's not great.
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: Like tell me where you're being challenged right now or what's keeping you up at night.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: Right, those are the things.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: it works both ways, I think there's a lot that we can do to actually support each other and, you know, commit to also giving ourselves a little grace too right, when you think about working mothers and women who are defining their success today, in 2025, what are some of the things that we need to think about differently?
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: Or think about, you know, in the forefront of what we're doing now, versus maybe how we grew up or maybe how you know we, we move through a particular space or place in our, in our life, when you know, early on, when we were, you know, just being a mom or just becoming a mom, anything that you're seeing as a trend, you know.
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: I think that what is really incredible is that now we're seeing entrepreneurial moms don't need permission to lead, they're taking action.
• 25:04
  Speaker 2: But what is also interesting on that is we're taking action.
• 25:10
  Speaker 2: We're, you know, we're doing all of these things and there's a still such a lack of resources or tools or guidance.
• 25:21
  Speaker 2: You know everything from educational components to.
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: You know, yes, there's tons of mentorship programs, but you know the right ones to accelerators or funding, to amplifying your business in different ways.
• 25:36
  Speaker 2: It can be really overwhelming, right, it's very overwhelming.
• 25:40
  Speaker 2: That's also what's really hard is because, you know, one in four women-owned businesses is owned by a mom and yet we're still challenged with access.
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: It's really fundamentally access to these different opportunities, and so I think you know that's a space that is open and I hope that that's a place where we can see some turnaround.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: Do you think there's competition?
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: Because I look at even just all the memberships that are out there, like all this I mean, and I've been in so many since 2020.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Like, I think before then I didn't really have time or I couldn't afford it or I wasn't able to commit to it right Time-wise or money-wise, but just wanted to explore community and how to create community and a lot of them like do so much, but there was like a little piece of this or a little piece of that or, in some maybe a large piece that we're missing, and I think I just see a lot of competition of that versus collaboration.
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Now, it is a business and I totally get it, but I wonder if it's possible for us just to work together more.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: And I'm just going to say that in general, it doesn't have to be a membership, but do you see more competition from your side, or do you see people being are already maybe at that space now to collaborate?
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: I can see both pockets right Pockets.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm a huge and maybe this is just like my cautiously optimistic personality, which is I am a huge believer in collaboration and I think that there's plenty of space for others to collaborate and to you know, to grow together.
• 27:31
  Speaker 2: But I can also see how that can feel oftentimes like there's a lot of competition and I think that that comes around more so when we're thinking like I can't compromise right or I can't.
• 27:48
  Speaker 2: You know, I'm not going to compromise this challenge in my journey, whatever it might be for something that might actually drive more impact right.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: So I think that's part of it.
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: I'm a huge believer I always will be in community.
• 28:06
  Speaker 2: I think it's important that you find a community that works for you, and community can mean something different to everyone.
• 28:15
  Speaker 2: You know it could be something as simple as your mom group is really a community your mom, your PTA at school soccer team soccer.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah, exactly, my baseball community, my yeah, I bet yeah, it's recognizing that that community is really just bringing people together.
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: Connection, right.
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: We talked a little bit about that.
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: I think, ultimately, like you said, people can just like bold, they can define it personally what community means to them, and they can be in 10 different communities because each one fills a need or clicks in with something that they can connect into right or the people they can connect into.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: So I think that's one of the harder things at times for women is to either find it or find how to be part of it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: You know, and making sure that it's feeding you and nurturing you, however you need is what's most important in there, and I always think ones that look at us as 360 degree human beings are my favorite, right?
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: It's not just because I'm a title or because I'm a this or had x number of years of experience.
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: Those are all really important things and I know they're important.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: But, like I'm a mom, I'm a sister, I have parents who are almost 80.
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: You know, like you know I, you know there are lots of things that you know we, we have layers.
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: So I think you know, when it comes to community and connection, you know I, you know there are lots of things that you know we, we have layers, so I think you know when it comes to community and connection, you know, making sure that you are able to find your people Right, and I think that's what it's about.
• 29:45
  Speaker 2: It's definitely about that, and I also say it's a reciprocity.
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: It's you get what you put in.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Right.
• 29:53
  Speaker 2: You know, we forget about that and it's one of my favorite words, I feel like it's my thing in 2025, because, really, reciprocity is everywhere right it's in your friendships, it's at home, it's in all these things.
• 30:05
  Speaker 2: What you put into something is what you're going to get out of it and and I think sometimes we forget about that because we go in thinking, well, I want it to do this for me, versus you know, am I going in there and having real honest conversations?
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think for me it's about the impact of that and you know you get what you put in If you connect, if you come to the events, if you engage in the virtual community, if you answer the poll, you know, like that's how we get to know each other Right, and then ultimately it's talking to one another and having those in-person connections I think are just some of the best moments of a community too.
• 30:44
  Speaker 1: So just remember that I think too, and then again I just say, you know, with asterisks, of give yourself some grace.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: You know we realize you're busy and those types of things, but being able to commit to yourself is probably one of the hardest things that, as women, that we do.
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: Right, you know, my time is important.
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: I need to make time for certain things that I like or things that I want to do, and sometimes we put everything else first besides ourself.
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, and that's a societal pressure as well, right.
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: That's why they say, put your oxygen mask on first, because you do want to make sure that you're making time for you and whatever that is that fills your cup.
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: What are your non-negotiables?
• 31:24
  Speaker 2: How are you showing up?
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: What is it that's going to serve you best and that can change day to day or month to month, or whatever it is, but you are ensuring that you're not sacrificing your time in that way.
• 31:40
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: So, as we close out and you know, one of the things I talk about with my community and those that follow me is like figuring out the what's next and not putting limitations on yourself.
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: What advice or guidance would you give to a mom out there who's at the point of like, just trying to figure out her what's next at this point in your life?
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: Just start.
• 32:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just start.
• 32:03
  Speaker 2: You know there's, all it takes is one action and to get to that next point, so you have to start.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: Yeah, don't wait to feel ready or have everything checked off the list or those types of things.
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: Yes, it's, it's done, not perfect, let me tell you, because that's where you get the most incredible feedback and insights and you know, understand, like wow, I didn't actually.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: I thought I was going in this one way and this is what totally came out of it.
• 32:31
  Speaker 2: How exciting is that.
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would say start messy and probably a little scared, right, Definitely.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being on the Bold Lounge and sharing your bold journey with us that inspires.
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: Thank you for having me.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Bold Lounge podcast.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: Through the continuum of bold stories vulnerability to taking a leap you will meet more extraordinary people making a positive impact for others through their unique and important story.
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: By highlighting these stories, we hope to inspire others and share the journey of those with a bold mindset.
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: We hope you've enjoyed this podcast and look forward to sharing the next bold journey with you.