Latest / Be Locally Loved / 016 - Building Community From the Inside Out with Cat Phelps of the Georgetown Family YMCA

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016 - Building Community From the Inside Out with Cat Phelps of the Georgetown Family YMCA · Be Locally Loved

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Be Locally Loved, where we spotlight the people, places, and ideas that help communities thrive.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_02: Moving to a new town can feel overwhelming.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_02: You don't know where to go, you don't know what to do, you don't know who to trust.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_02: That's where BeLocal comes in.
• 0:16
  SPEAKER_02: Like a best friend, BeLocal personally welcomes newcomers and connects them to the best local businesses, restaurants, community events, so they can feel at home faster.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_02: And for local business owners, BeLocal is like a matchmaker, introducing them to new families who are ready to form long-lasting and local relationships.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_02: To grow your business by reaching newcomers, visit reachnewcomers.com.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, today I'm joined by Kat Phelps, Executive Director of the Georgetown Family YMCA, and someone who truly embodies what it means to build community from the inside out.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_02: Kat has spent nearly two decades with the YMCA, starting her journey in Wichita, Kansas, where she led programs that supported children, families, and working parents, everything from early learning to after school care to summer camps.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Along the way, she's helped develop national pilot programs focused on closing achievement gaps, work that speaks to her heart for creating opportunity and access for every family.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_02: In 2013, her family moved to the Central Texas region, and for the past several years, she's been leading the Georgetown family YMCA with vision, consistency, and a deep commitment to service.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: Under her leadership, the Y has grown in awareness, participation, and impact, becoming a place where families don't just sign up for programs, they find connection, support, and a sense of belonging.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_02: She's also played a key role in bringing big dreams to life, helping to raise millions of dollars for the new SportClips Family YMCA, and ensuring that local families have access to scholarships and resources when they need them most.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_02: But what I love most about Kat is that her leadership doesn't stop at the doors of the why.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_02: She has deeply woven herself into the fabric of Georgetown, serving in leadership roles with Rotary International, the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, local schools, and so many organizations that are shaping the future of our community.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_02: In 2025, she was named Citizen of the Year by the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, which feels less like a surprise and more like a reflection of how she shows up for this community every single day.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: At her core, she believes in something simple but powerful that strong communities are built when people choose to serve, best, and care for one another.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_02: And that is exactly what she's doing here in Georgetown.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome, Kat.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for having me.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_02: What an exciting way to spend some time together.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_02: I'm so happy to have you on the show.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_02: As you know, the goal of this show is to just put a spotlight on people, places, and ideas that help communities thrive.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: And you are one of those people.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_02: And the why is one of those things.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we kind of get to see it from both sides today.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_02: Can you tell us a little bit about why you're so passionate about the why?
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's really, really funny.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: I um I'll I'll I'll take this back to kind of a pivotal tipping point in my journey.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So you mentioned that I started at the Y in Wichita.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, I answered a job ad in an actual newspaper, right?
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: They were looking to hire some before and after school, right?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was how we used to have to find jobs.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: You had to read the classified.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I went to the Y and I applied and I had an interview.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: And this was a very young bold cat.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: I remember asking the hiring manager, well, this sounds really great, but how do I have your job someday?
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I mean, most people would have been like, oh, okay.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: But there was really, really something special about those first two or three years at the Y, whether it was the leadership that I was working for and just that Y system in general, you know, I learned a lot about the Y history.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I came from a very rural, like more cows than people part of Missouri.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: And so I grew up in 4-H and I'm a FFA member, American FFA degree.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: I have all the things that rural kids have and, you know, participated in.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: But what was really interesting was here I am in this place where all these people talk about how they go to the why, how the why is where they go for after school or they go for camp or they go work out after work or they play a sport or they learn to swim.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Where I'm from in Missouri, we didn't have a why.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't have a why story growing up.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: We lived too far from the big city to make that drive, you know, and so every experience that I had had to be very community grassroots-led.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: So when we started to experience serving the why mission and learning the mission, and that was one of the requirements of the Wichita Why, was, you know, much like Hugh talks about or talked about at St.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: David's, you know, when we'd go through leadership, was at any given moment, you should be able to recite the mission of the why.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: We were challenged with that.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you start to learn that mission and then you start to actually see it impact and have leaders that help you understand that pathway, it's really inspiring, you know.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so if it's to put Christian principles into practice through programs, through programs that build healthy spirit, mind, and body for all, and we do that regardless of somebody's ability to pay.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: When somebody finally teaches you that spirit, mind, and body concept, the triangle, and then you start to look back at history, you know, and for 175 years, at on any logo of the why, our triangle has always been there.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's the one of the most recognized logos in the world.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's in 128 countries and it's in every state in the United States and all these different things.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And so, but every Y has a triangle.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: And at the root of what the Y does, and when this clicked in my head, I was like, oh, like this is special.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: My my job at its absolute basics.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, yes, I get paid to play kickball and eat snack.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hands down, one of the greatest job description components I'll ever have.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: But the coolest thing that we do is we build triangles.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: We take somebody and we identify which part of their triangle is weak.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: If it's a wellness thing, you're not strong, that's your body.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we have resources to repair that triangle.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: But maybe your spirit is broke and you don't have a place to go, and you're you're a senior and you're just by yourself and you don't have a community, but you find a why and we start to repair that spirit.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: Or the original vision of the why was this kind of modified Bible study GED class, right?
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: So then we also want to sharpen the mind.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So our job as Y staff is to take somebody to look at somebody that walks in and make a decision.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: Do they have a strong triangle or do they have a triangle that we need to work on?
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: And if we need to work on their triangle, which side do we focus on?
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: But if they already have a strong triangle, well, then we just want to build that triangle even stronger.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, and triangles are the strongest shape.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Ask any engineer.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at the pyramids of Egypt.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're still standing, they're just simply triangles put together.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you think about the why and you think about the triangle and that spirit, mind, and body, you you can't help but get excited because that is like fundamental, deep in your gut change that happens in a person's life.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_00: And um, it's fun to go back, and I'm a super big by history junkie.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of a fun habit.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, when you start to unpack and you're like, we invented basketball, volleyball, racquetball, swimming lessons was started at the YMCA, camp started at the YMCA.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: The YMCA couldn't serve the home front and the war front.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: So one of the founding partners of the USO was the why.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like all these things that we've been a part of.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, the very first volunteers were in the Civil War, and President Abraham asked for volunteers and for the why to coordinate people that could go help bandage wounded soldiers on both sides of the line, just treat people and just create that space for all.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, there's this really fascinating history.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're a little bit of a history junkie, it's it's it's great.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: But when you start to understand that you stand on that type of soldier's shoulder, right?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: And that at the core of what we do, that's what it is.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it doesn't matter how many administrative tasks might be on my radar.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: The fact is that all the leadership here at the Y of Central Texas, we still all actively participate in a program area.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our CEO still teaches gymnastics classes on Thursday nights in Round Rock.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: I still teach swim lessons and go support camp.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Like we do everything we do, but we still go make sure that we find a way to build a triangle so we stay really connected to our mission and we don't lose sight of that.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, to bring it full circle, you know, to where we are here in Georgetown, Georgetown hasn't had that triangle building energy that the Y mission brings.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you start to have these little success moments along the way, you know, triangles just build other triangles, you know, and so it's it's kind of this fascinating thing.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's quite where, you know, you were like, that was kind of a weird way to get there.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it's such a simple way for people to see why the why is special, why we've been here so long, and and what makes that history so unique.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: So happy 175 to the why, you know, and here's to another 175 years of evolvement and change.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And um, let's be honest, there's been so much change in that.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: Most nonprofits would not have the longevity or the ability to do that.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: But we reference the why.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: The why is a movement, it is a moving thing.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: It moves and evolves with each community it's in.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: It represents the community that it's in.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: While we have shared values and shared focuses, there is a definitely a living energy that is inside that mission and how we bring it to life.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's a fascinating organization, is how you know, how we've all like, you know, to say, drink the Kool-Aid.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, once you get it, you're like, oh, I just want to tell as many people as we can about this really cool, exciting program.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_02: Wow, 175 years.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_02: And how many are there across the US?
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh wise are in over 10,000 communities.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: There's roughly 2,500 like facility-wise in the United States.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Some wise can be like an association, like an umbrella.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're the Y of Central Texas.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_00: So like Huddow and Round Rock and Cedar Park and Waco and Burnett and Georgetown, they each have an executive director and those would be my teammates.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we all work together to deliver this mission to these 17,000 square miles here in Texas.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas, like maybe uh like where I'm from, the Adair County family YMCA in Kirksville, I mean, it's just them.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So they just have like one cat and a couple program directors, and and that's it.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like they're they're responsible for the whole thing.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I get a little bit more help because we have some shared services that we can all, you know, pass around.
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_00: But um our our impact is massive.
• 11:33
  SPEAKER_00: We know that when we open the Georgetown Y or the Sport Clips Y out here, we expect a lot of participation.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: For example, our Round Rock Y has about 30,000 visits a month, thousand touches a month.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And that's not counting kids under the age of 10 uh or grandparents coming to watch a game on Saturday, right?
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're just coming in.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can imagine when you're seeing that volume of your community.
• 11:55
  SPEAKER_00: You you can't help but start to figure out whose hair is on fire, who needs help, and what, and then they tell us you need to do this.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: We'd be happy to do this.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: Just tell us what it'll be.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: It truly is one of those things that makes a community thrive.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: You talked about when you were a little girl, you didn't have that why story, but now you're raising a generation that's going to have a why story.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the building that you're gonna build.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_02: Let's talk about the sport clips why.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_02: Tell us how that came to be and what's going to happen.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's so funny.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's 2026, and we we always say that um the Sport Clips Y was a six-month story.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: In in 2018, I came to Georgetown to facilitate some programs to manage some aquatic stuff.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I was a lifeguard.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: I still am a lifeguard, you know, one of the many hats that I that I wear.
• 12:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I needed to come out and manage some aquatic operations.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so was doing that.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And they said, hey, you know, kind of have the storefront.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the story goes, that lease was up in December.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I was still managing training and development for a big part of our why.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I was kind of doing both these things and met with Danny Miggs, who is our board chair and former city council representative, and Jeff, our CEO.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: We're having coffee, and I I mean, I gotta thank Danny because at that meeting, Danny looked at Jeff and said, Well, is she our new Y director?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I looked at Danny and I said, I think so.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Jeff said, Let's see what she can do.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why not?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: We we we haven't figured anything else out yet, so let's go for it.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: And what was really great was I didn't know the lease was up in December, and this was in September.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_00: And essentially they said, Hey, we'll give you 12 weeks to give Jeff a reason to keep the lights on.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that was in 2018.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Okay, here we go.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, and my boss at the time, helping me out here, our CEO, said, Listen, you know, we've got a we've got a really small pep grant from the Health Foundation, you know, like we just need to go find kids and serve them.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't try to like run yourself ragged and all these things over here.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_00: We were serving kids in after school, but like, how do we grow beyond that?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, that's when we started, I started looking around, right?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: So that's when we discovered Head Start.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: And we've been bringing weekly PE physical enrichment to Head Start now since 2018.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: So we haven't missed a week there.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: So that's been a wonderful partnership.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_00: We we came in and we had to be collaborators, and I had to really help people undo maybe a competition fear that essentially I'm more interested in working with you.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like the Y is a connector.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: We don't, we're not huge fans of duplicative services, but let's be honest.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: If there's 12,000 kids in Georgetown and you can only serve 100, that means there's 11,000 and 900 kids that need an opportunity to do something.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I won't go after your hundred if you won't go after my, you know, 11,000 and 900, right?
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like we'll just kind of work together.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so as we started to unpack those partnership conversations, it became aware that we could do this together.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: Like we could, we could do that.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so, really the fun part really is I was looking for grass.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: So, what do you do?
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: You get on Google Maps and you start Googling.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Danny had called me, this was like a Monday, and asked me what I was doing.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, I'm looking for grass, we should play soccer or something.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_00: And hey, I think I found this like T-ball field out on Williams Drive.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go out there and see if it's still there.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: But on Google Map, it says there's a thing there and there's a church there.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Okay, well, I just wanted to let you know we're having coffee tomorrow morning with George and Barbara Brightwell.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: You you need to you need to meet George and Barbara.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, sure.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll where are we doing this at?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: Doing it at Sinfrani.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: All the decisions from 2018 to 21, we did at Sinfrani.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: That is where the business of Georgetown happened.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: That that just was whether you were meeting here, and then I think Ann Miller with Community Impact, she was over here, and then she'd come over and want to know what you were doing, and then you'd want to know what they were doing, and then you left with four new opportunities.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was just how we did business.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Very collaboratively, very communicative.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Jim would show up from the chamber, he'd be over here, meeting with somebody.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was just that type of dynamic.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So fast forward, I go out and I find this T ball field's covered in weeds, very tall grass.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm gonna ask Danny if he knows anything about it.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we're having coffee with George and Barbara, and we hit it off immediately.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: Because when I came to Georgetown, there was this thought that you had to, you had to get one of the Barbara's to bless you, right?
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: So whether Barbara Brightwell or Barbara Pierce, and thankfully Barbara Pierce, you know, and I have a great relationship.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: She blessed me.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_00: And Barbara Brightwell was like, yes, we're in.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Hey, by the way, we're wrapping this up.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Does anybody know anything about this wellspring church out here off Williams Drive?
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_00: George looks at Barbara and says, I don't know, Barbara, do you know anything about that?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: And Barbara just starts laughing.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Danny goes, Well, I was gonna wait and let them tell you, but like they started that church in their living room.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, that's their church.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, I want to use that T ball field.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: And George said, if you can find it, you can use it.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_00: We don't care.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: And so uh he gave me his like 1979 craftsman lawnmower because he saw me out there push mowing it like every week.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: I had no money to buy somebody to cut the grass.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: That wasn't in the budget, you know?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and so we've been cutting that grass.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: And so now they agreed to be founders.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: And so we backed this up.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: And in 19, we said, well, we need you got to develop a founders group.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's this kind of core, core first group of volunteers, and they really help you navigate and advocate the channels, whether politically or socially, or just kind of keep the tone and they're your your sounding board, they're your fiscal development, they do all these things.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: And we went and visited with this group and we told them all we think we could build a Y in six months in seven meetings.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: Nine years later, they're still with us.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I we just, you know, and so Danny and I went around and we talked to George and Barbara Brightwell, and they're like, yes, we want to help build a Y.
• 17:52
  SPEAKER_00: They have a great Y story.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: George lived at the Y in Houston before he proposed to Barbara because he needed to get paid and he didn't have anywhere else to live.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: And Barbara learned to swim at the Y.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: We visited with Gordon.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Gordon, I think, loved the entrepreneurial spirit of what we were trying to do.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I think he and Betty had did that in when they brought sport clips around.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Doug Groves helped us out, Bob Novello, Elizabeth McFarland, Ron Garland, Karen Wilson, Karen Cole.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we we developed this kind of dream team of Georgetown folks to say, how do we do this?
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: How are we gonna do this?
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And so after a couple failed bond attempts, so yeah, Georgetown's broken my heart a few times, but God opens a window.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: Just find it, just find it.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I remember the first time the bond failed that night.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: It was hard.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I called my boss and I said, What, you know, what do I do tomorrow?
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, do I even go back there?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_00: Are we done?
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't know what to do.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, Well, what's on your calendar for tomorrow?
• 18:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, the Georgetown Collaborative for Youth is at 11:30 and I have this and this.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, The best thing you're ever gonna do is pick yourself up and walk in that room.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: They all think you're gone.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: Walk in the room.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Are we doing it or are we not doing it?
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Well, we're doing it.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Then you got meetings to go to.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: Just keep going.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so we fast forward through it, and then the founders really said, we're just gonna build a Y.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna do this.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: And we're not gonna wait for another bond package that says that makes it.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: We have dollars that we want to invest, we have the capital, we have the partnership with Wellspring, we have land like this, we're gonna build a Y.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so when they they threw that line in the sand and said, tell the city we're building a Y.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: They can help us build it bigger, but this is what we're gonna build.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's coming.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: There's no more, no more stopping it.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: The train is coming, cat deserves some real walls.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: We're we're doing it.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: We'd had three years of great summer camp.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's time to go.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what led us then to where the city said, well, for this much, we could get this much versus put this big number on the taxpayer and it still takes longer.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where the whole bond to join the partnership came.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: And so that helped us expand our project from where it was to about the 56,000, 57,000 square feet facility that it's gonna be now.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's a it's this evolutionary story, and um we're very excited.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: We've raised just under six million dollars locally here for it.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and what I would describe as a very quiet campaign.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you haven't, I haven't been like, hey, Laura, we're having a big capital campaign.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, this is just um we've developed a board.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_00: The board is amazing.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: We have over 30 board members, and they are all invested and bought in.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And this is just them sharing that story with their network and their network going, this is special.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't want to miss the opportunity to be a part of the first why in Georgetown.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like we want to make sure that we show up at it.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_00: And so, you know, been very blessed with great leaders, great business minds.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: And again, I think it's just been this perfect storm, no pun intended as the thunder and lightning like happening out my window.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: I promise there's no cats running on the roof.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but you know, like there's just it's just truly been a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, communities are not building new Y's.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, my VP built a new Y the very first year he was a Y exec and he's been in the Y now for over 40 years.
• 21:21
  SPEAKER_00: This will be the only second time he's ever done it.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, this is also one of those really big resume building opportunities, you know, to then be able to take these skills that we're learning and apply it to that next generation.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'll do it again in 25 or 30 years.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_02: So is it going to go on the spot where you mowed the T ball field?
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, pretty, pretty much.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: You'll be parking right on top of that T ball field.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so, yeah, I mean, you know, I cut the grass at Gethsemane Community Center because Ron Swain said I could play there, you know, but I needed the grass cut every week, and the Methodists were only gonna mow it every two weeks.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'd be out there, you know, with my push mower doing that.
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then, you know, well spring was like, do whatever you want to out here, but we only kind of keep the area around the church, you know.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So people, you know, were like, oh my gosh, she mowed all the blue bonnets, you know.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we started playing soccer, you know.
• 22:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, it's okay, I'm from Missouri.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I don't, I don't, you know, all the way subscribed to, you know, Texas blue bonnet lore.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: But it's been really, really exciting to see this.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a fun moment right now because we're we're getting ready to have groundbreaking next month.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we are gonna go gangbusters construction for the next 18 months.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then you're gonna be like, has anybody seen Kat?
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Has anybody been to the Y?
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is she still there?
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like, is she alive?
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: Like, because it's gonna be, I mean, it is gonna be on.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it is gonna be, and so I'm really blessed that we've built relationships outside of the walls, partnerships outside of the walls that are gonna pull us out of that why to keep serving the community, both inside it and outside it when that time comes.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: So super exciting.
• 23:03
  SPEAKER_02: So I would love for you to share with our listeners what a what a special place place Georgetown is.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think you you've been in the middle of it now for years.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_02: I think maybe a lot of people listening don't know George and Barbara and they've both passed.
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, could you, I'd love to do a little tribute to them and have you tell the story of how those two people have touched this town and how many things have sparked up because they touched that thing and just how it's helped to make Georgetown such a great place to live.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: You know, George and Barbara were absolutely two of the most remarkable human beings I think I've ever really got to experience and be around.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: And they were connectors.
• 23:47
  SPEAKER_00: That's that's a really important note about Georgetown.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be successful in our community, you have to be willing to connect others first for them to be successful.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's that whole um, and the why I always say the why will give you the why will give you back what you give it, right?
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you go in 110% over time, it's gonna do that same thing for you.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: Georgetown is the same way.
• 24:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna give you what you give it, but it's not, it's gonna make you earn it.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna make you prove it that you can do it.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that that's George and Barbara, is they laid that historical foundation with their peers of this like very gritty, work ethic driven, community first, philanthropic first, help others first mindset.
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: That is what when they they saw attributes in Nancy, that's what got them very excited about rock.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_00: Was it wasn't that they were going to do this because rock was great.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_00: They they believed in that like grittiness and determination that was inside Nancy because her heart was on fire for that passion, for that project.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_00: And what if that passion spread?
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's rock.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: It is a passion spread entrepreneurial project, and Nancy is an amazing leader at that.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: I count my biggest blessing is that George and Barbara connected Nancy and I.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, pretty well help say, like, there's some similarities here, girls.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we can see how hard Kat's working, we saw how hard you were working.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's a there's a grittiness and a passion and a determination that sits in your little souls, and you just need people to help you create those spaces for those to go.
• 25:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you think about a George and Barbara Brightwell and you look at where they left their legacy, everywhere they left their legacy has those similar virtues in there, right?
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: They're always gonna be community-centric.
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be some of the hardest working people you've ever interacted with.
• 25:53
  SPEAKER_00: They did not believe in being lazy, right?
• 25:55
  SPEAKER_00: They believed in loving anyone and everyone all the time, even if you felt, even if you disagreed with them, right?
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that whole sense of let's let's do this together.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think about Georgetown now because it's growing.
• 26:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's a different community.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: I came in 18 and you know, we all said the same thing.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I think even the first time I met you, we're like, okay, great, Laura's here now, close the gate.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like, right?
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like, okay, close the gate.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: We have enough people here, close the gate.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And so, and I think back to leadership Georgetown, the the year I went through 1819.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, you had an amazing epiphany to bring this amazing gift to be local to our community, which has done nothing but elevate and pull people up, right?
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: So huge kudos to you.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: Inside my cohort were like um Andy Webb and Elizabeth McFarland and Jim and Tiffany Sturman and I, we're all sitting there.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_00: And the conversations we had were when do you think we'll be able to prove ourselves to this original guard that we've got it?
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_00: That we can we can hold the water on what they created, that we can keep Georgetown, Georgetown.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how long do you think that'll take for us to convince them that we can be these new young pups that can do it?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we don't want to just be at the end of the table.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: Now we're asking, can we be truly at the table?
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: And do you trust us to be there?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what that Y Founders board helped do was validate my seat at the table, but also give me a spot to stop and listen to how they had those conversations, how they developed, how they navigated the political channels, how they strategized about, well, we'll start here and then we'll go here, because if you get this yes, this yes will follow.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_00: But if you get, if this person says no, you'll never even get to this person.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: Like they had those dialogues with each other about that best way to move forward that was beneficial not only to Georgetown, but the project, so both could win.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, you sit in those rooms and you just really, you just try to be a sponge, you know.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I think my favorite meeting that I ever sat in was when the founder said, we're gonna build a why.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: How much money do we have?
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: We said we have$12 million.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, Well, what can$12 million build?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: Mind you, this was five years ago.
• 28:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it could build a lot more than$12 million today.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we said, Well, it could build this, it could build something similar to Huddo.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: And they said, Okay, will it be successful?
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah, and but like, will it be successful?
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: And we said, Okay, well, we'll we'll bring you the performa.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved that meeting.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_00: It was me, our COO, um, Danny, Gordon, and Karen Cole.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_00: And we put the performa up, and Karen Cole and Gordon fact-checked every single formula of the entire performa for like and asked, why do you use this percentage?
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it this rationale?
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Why, why is this the mixed rate?
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Why, I mean, just really super great deep questions.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Questions that I would have just accepted as standard business is what we do.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_00: But to hear Cameron explain why the historical, the break it down.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then after like three and a half hours, they looked at each other and smiled.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: They go, Well, that was fun.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: They go, I think we'll be okay.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like that was and I was just like, so I mean, you know, but you're like, that's what it, that's what it takes, that level of volunteerism and passion.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, this is this is as much their why as it is the community's why.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: And I just, I just get to be the steward that gets to take care of it for the time being, and then hopefully develop the next person that can get it to the next 20 years down the road.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: We we've got a long journey in us.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: So this is just the star.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: Well, what you just described reminds me of when I first moved here and I met Sydney Decker of Hello Georgetown.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, Georgetown is not where you live, Georgetown is how you live.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, What does that mean?
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_02: And she said, Well, we give back, we serve others, we are a community, we connect, like pretty much everything you just described.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_02: And coming from Austin, I did not even understand what that meant.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_02: But now that I've been here for seven years, when I meet a new person or a new business owner, that's the first thing I say is find your people, find your charity partner, start plugging in, start serving, and your connections will grow from there.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: That's kind of like what you just described.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's this whole there's something really beautiful when we let Georgetown guide us.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: And not Georgetown is in like all the all the new and the growth and the this, but like when you you feel that energy that's kind of in her ground, you know, there there's a reason I drive Austin Avenue every morning to get to work.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: Like I feel it.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_00: I need to fill the square.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_00: I need to, I need to feel, feel that.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: Now, she's become a beautiful tourist spot.
• 30:54
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, we locals, we're not going down there on right.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: We don't go Wednesday through Saturday, but we're there Monday through Wednesday because that's when we'll see our friends.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: But there's this sense of um you're a part of something bigger than you are.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: You matter.
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: The decisions you make really matter.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for really smart decision making along the way.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: And and there's just that kind of like call to action, like whatever I do today, we need to make a good decision.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we need to make a we need to make the best decision we can make with the information we have.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: Might always be the right decision, but we need to make it needs to be a good one.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_00: And whenever we meet somebody new or there's a new business in town, I don't have to be their charity of choice.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_00: But to what you said is, but you've got to plug in.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to find because because if you don't find your your place to plug in, then nobody's gonna share your story for you.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there we still do business through word of mouth.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: We still are yeah, we are a handshake community, you know.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like I'm gonna refer you to my friends because I trust them.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: And like when the hell hit my house, this is just funny.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: The hell hit our house.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: We lived in Southeast Georgetown last year when everything got obliterated.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: I literally made one phone call and said, I don't know if I'm gonna use you, but I don't want people like banging on my door.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_00: And within 30 minutes, the sign was in the front yard.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: We're already doing it.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then and we ended up using them, and it ended up being an amazing experience.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: I said, I don't even know the level of damage.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: This place is just crawling with people that I don't know.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's knocking on my door, telling me they're gonna fix my roof, fix my roof.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: No, no.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: If anybody's gonna fix my roof, it's gonna be you.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have time to process that today, but I sure am tired of the knock.
• 32:41
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_00: But that was a call to a friend.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: That was a peer-to-peer.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: That was a relationship that was built through mutual trust, not through a professional experience.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that was awesome.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: You know, and that was finally that personal use of the community gift that's been bestowed on us.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I just think it's special.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I think people like you and I and the people we we hang out with, and then the new folks come into town.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, we just have to pick a day.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Tuesdays are when we all go have coffee, and this is when we do the business.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I know it sounds so cheesy, but like this is it.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: You don't want to miss, you know, you don't want to not be at Lamppost at 10 a.m.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: on a Tuesday because by golly, that table over there is gonna change the world.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_00: And you're just praying they invite me to it.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_02: You know, praying you invite me to it.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, like, yep, you know, and so I just think that that's such a special part of our culture and it will it will go away if we don't continue to fight, fight it back to the forefront.
• 33:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: You know, one of the reasons that I created Be Local was to pass on the history, heart, and the culture of Georgetown to the new people so that when they came here, they would feel connected and they would feel educated and they would feel like they belong and that they were a part of something, right?
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_02: Versus just coming in and feeling disconnected and lost and alone.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_02: So I love that so much.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_02: Have you ever heard Ann Kaiser say, if you love Georgetown, it will love you back?
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_02: I think I How have you seen that in this community?
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I've knocked on a lot of doors.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: I've asked for a lot of votes in the last nine years um on, you know, three different bond propositions, and then just, you know, we we have to hustle out here.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nobody just walks in and goes, Well, this is the why.
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: We'd like to do the following things, right?
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, you're constantly um kind of always marketing your programs and your experiences.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: What I think about that is um I think that that full circle for me was really when um there was a really, I mean, you could say it was the citizen of the year.
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was that was a that was a very exciting surprise.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: That was January of that year.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: That was January, you know.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: But also, you know, I think that when you look at the civic leadership aspect that's alive in Georgetown, this is where I don't think people talk enough about.
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think they get involved in a board on a nonprofit and they check that box.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm a board member.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_00: Board member for the why.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Like if you if you look at a lot of our board members, they're also Rotarians.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: They're also active on multiple boards, they're also active on their business front.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: Like we're we're not their one and only because they they they're this, they want to move multiple things forward at the same time.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so when Ann says that, to me, that recognizes that like you can't just move one thing, you have to move it all.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like it all has to come back to it.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so for me, when um when I wrapped up being president of the Rotary Club, yeah, it was our 60th year, and that was a lot.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_00: It was a big, big year.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it was a and that's a volunteer role.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: There's no money there.
• 35:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is 100% volunteer on top of everything else that's happening professionally.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: But when you talk about Georgetown giving it back to you, that year after, it was like I had built up enough goodwill credits with with Georgetown that that I've always known that they finally decided, okay, Kat was good.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: Her heart was good, her her energy was good.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then you started to see success come in other revenues.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: But I think that it's me, we love it here, right?
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we work here, we play here.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: I I hate going past the outlet malls.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, they'll be like, we're having a meeting, be like, where is it?
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: And round round.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: I have to drive south.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: I have to drive south of the outlet malls today.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: Zach, can I teams?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just join virtually?
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 36:40
  SPEAKER_02: I used to joke with Sydney that her car would turn around when she hit the border of Georgetown.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_02: It would come back.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:47
  SPEAKER_02: Like she didn't go outside.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: No, we d I just don't, I don't like, I don't like to leave.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: I like to keep it.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: I like to keep it here.
• 36:53
  SPEAKER_00: I like to be keep it local.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: Keep it local, keep an advocate for all the good work that all the local folks are doing, you know.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: But um it's just so special.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just don't know how else to describe it, except Anne is Anne is exactly right in her sentence, right?
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then it's on my sign behind me.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_02: I don't know if you can see.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_00: It says if you love Georgetown, it will love you back.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I think love, love is the right word.
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: But listen, it's not gonna love you.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like this is not a uh there is no immediate gratification.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_00: It is it is like a husband, it is like a uh marital love, right?
• 37:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like it is, it is it, you have to love it on hard days.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have to love it on good days, you have to love it when it forgot to flip the laundry, you have to love it when it didn't mow the yard, you have to love it when it brought you flowers.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_00: Like, yeah, you have to love all parts of that continuum to get it back.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_00: Georgetown doesn't tolerate people that pick and choose how they show up because we see right through it.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: And those folks come in for a couple years and then they're gone.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: You can probably think in your mind of two or three people that decided to cherry pick how they love Georgetown and they're not here anymore.
• 38:05
  SPEAKER_00: I can think of a few, yes.
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: Right?
• 38:07
  SPEAKER_00: And so you can't you can't cherry pick that.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_00: You have to, you have to accept it.
• 38:13
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I didn't I didn't know what to do when the bond failed.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: I've had two of those, right?
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_00: You get up and you go back.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_00: You love the folks that said yes, and you just decide my mission is to move the hearts on the ones that said no.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: Like let's lean into a leadership, Georgetown.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_02: That's how you and I first met.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: I feel like you could give a masterclass on leadership.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: And part of what we want to do in this podcast is inspire other people outside of Georgetown to learn from Georgetown.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_02: What are we doing here that makes this such a place that we love, that we want to serve, that other people can learn from?
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_02: So can you lean into your leadership skills and how you view leadership and why leadership Georgetown is such an important program and maybe tell us about Leadership Georgetown, because some of our listeners might not know.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I'll start with Leadership Georgetown.
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Leadership Georgetown is a program put on by the Chamber of Commerce.
• 39:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's roughly a 10-month program experience.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Monthly, you get together with your cohort.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: You have the opportunity to hear directly from community civic leaders on different areas of focus from public safety to education to city government, state government, as well as, you know, you might get to go to the dump.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: You know, there's some really cool aspects in there that happen.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_00: And inside that, I mean, it's a group of 30, um, 30 like-minded, community-engaged individuals that have self-selected themselves to be a part of this experience.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_00: And you have to say, I want to do this.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_00: And because of that, you begin to build formations and foundations and friends and networks that you then can leverage your leadership cohort to grow your brand and vice versa, and you complete a project inside that that the class picks that supports a nonprofit, usually here kind of in the central Texas region.
• 40:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, hasn't specifically been Georgetown, but that is really where the focus is.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I had the opportunity to go through Leadership Georgetown in uh 2018, 2019.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: That was my year.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then the next year I was asked to join our planning committee.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I spent four years co-chairing Leadership Georgetown with Wendy Cash for the chamber.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: And we survived a lot of different things.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: There was some like chamber leadership changes, and you know, I I really am proud of the work that Wendy and I did because, you know, when you're when you're surrounded with kind of interim directors, they're just like, you ladies got it?
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we're like, here we go.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: We got it.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: We got it.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: And so then been very excited with the evolution that Chantel's brought to it and kind of where it is now.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: So very excited for where they're taking the program because the program is old.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's 2026.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: I think it started in the 90s, you know.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: So, like, this is a long part of Georgetown.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the first thing anybody should go through in Georgetown before they try to tell somebody who lives in Georgetown how to do something.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, like yeah, like, oh, I love it.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: You just moved here.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Now go through leadership Georgetown and then come talk to me in a year.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: You know, because you just don't know what you don't know and you don't you learn how we operate and we as a collective, how we operate.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: When it when you think about leadership and leadership styles, I think that it comes back to I'm an athlete.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Like I love sports, played sports, had the experience to be like the starting person, and had the experience to be the person that was never gonna play because the person, you were the the sixth man, right?
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_00: You were behind the star, you were never gonna get on the court.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: And so I've experienced it in a lot of different ways.
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: What I think I learned in that message was two things.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: One, in life, you have to be coachable.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: You have to be coachable.
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you, if you're the type of person that feels like as soon as your supervisor starts telling you something, you need to then say, Yeah, but I think I need to do it this way.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: Or yeah, well, but like, stop.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's not being coachable.
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_00: Like everybody should be able to sit somebody down and say, here's what we're gonna do, right?
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: And then coach being coachable was right there.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_00: The second part of really leadership in it is there's nothing that I would ask anybody on my team that I won't already do.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: I am a big believer of I take the trash out at 6 30.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_00: If if if if we're working late, we're working late.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_00: We're working late.
• 42:32
  SPEAKER_00: If uh if this needs to happen, we're there.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: I open camp.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: I I'm just I'm at camp every morning at 6 30.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_00: I need that time, right?
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and it's not because I don't think that they can't do it or it's a micromanagement.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: It's really not.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_00: It's just it's a it's a way that I can support my team so then my team doesn't have to try to be there from 6 30 to 6.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_00: I can cover that morning spot so then they can crush it from nine to six.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: It gives them the balance.
• 42:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think when you're in this type of executive leadership, you you kind of put your own work-life balance a little bit.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_00: You allow it to be slightly off-kelter because you're trying to help the one below you keep it kilter while you try to make your job look fun and sexy because like I want them to want my job.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't know that I do a good job of them going, I want all that.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I don't know that I think that right.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: But anybody can lead if you can A, be coachable and coach, and B, try to continue to find ways to create balance for your folks.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: And that is that that genuinely is where servit leadership shows up.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that is doing it alongside them.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and I am not a big fan of like, what are you doing?
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_00: Why are you doing it that way?
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I I hate that.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: I am a big fan of coming behind somebody and saying, just pause for a second, tell me what do you see?
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_00: What do you love about what you see?
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_00: What, what do you think if you could change something about you see, what what would you change?
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'd like to see the That change as well.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_00: How would you want to make that change?
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_00: Do you want me to make that change right now for you?
• 44:05
  SPEAKER_00: Or do you think you've got to do it?
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_00: And then we've built a position of trust where they'll go, I don't know how to make that change.
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I go, This is how you do it.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_00: Just and then you go, okay, now let's read let's revisit that and we status.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_00: So here's the tool, here's the format, here's the red flag six weeks before.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll do that like one time, like two times.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm also pretty notorious to say, well, you can keep doing it the wrong way until you're ready to do it the right way.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then just come ask me.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_00: I I have no problem with you working the wrong way and spinning your wheels.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_00: I can help you go from here to here, but you can just spin as long as you want.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like it's like right now, you're not costing me anything.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is just your learning.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I I, you know, and that's a big part of the why is we try to create these leadership spots to where, you know, this is you and your teammates.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_00: You guys can make it as great or as dull as you want it.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: These are where you get to play.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: This is where we operate.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then this is what you you can't change.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_00: These are the non-negotiables.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, I I hold accountability and compassion in these two buckets, and then we give you space to fail and grow in this third.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's a lot of fun because a lot of people thrive and they quickly take it to the next level.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then you see a lot of then you see folks that they they don't thrive.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, I'm glad we discovered that now.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and so it's I don't think there's a right or wrong.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think you got to overcommunicate, you know, my my you got to know your 5%.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: What is your 5% flaw?
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know mine, I know what my weakness is, you know, and I have to make sure that everybody knows that I know that this is my weakness and that you still would rather pick me, knowing my 5%, than pick somebody brand new and we don't even know their 5%.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's uh, you know, that's that promote from within, grow your own.
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: Why would you go hire somebody else from somewhere that you don't even know?
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know, you just their resumes makes them sound like they're amazing, but you don't know they're five percent.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_00: But does Kat's five percent drive us that crazy that we still wouldn't want that 95%?
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, we'll take her five percent crazy all day long.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, we can coach that.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: She's coachable, she'll listen, she'll try to grow.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that that's really probably if you work for me, that's the that's the leadership that you get.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_00: And you get this like very passionate, very excited, very structured, very task-oriented, obsessive list maker.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I am a metric junkie.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_00: If you walk in here right now, there are like 12 different pieces of paper on the wall, and it says, this is where we are, and this is the goal.
• 46:36
  SPEAKER_00: And every morning I expect those things to change.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, if if we if we will not be accountable to the things that are not in front of us, and as a leader, you have to keep those things in front of your people.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_00: You know, that's why it says 5.9 on a goal of six million.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_00: That's what I'm chasing, right?
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: And how are we moving that?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: What are the two things that I'm doing today to create positive change on that number?
• 47:02
  SPEAKER_00: Like, and and that's that's what it is.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: It's just this continual growth in that area.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it's a lot of fun.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's not a clear science.
• 47:11
  SPEAKER_00: I've tried to think through it a lot of times.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I I've got a degree in organizational management and leadership, and I've got my master's degree in OD.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I I could probably walk anybody through any plan change initiative, and you probably changed in this phone call and you didn't even know it in OD world, we'd say, good job, cat.
• 47:27
  SPEAKER_00: That was a job well done.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_00: But, you know, there is a huge learn by doing, learn with doing, and just trying to execute it to very, very high level, at least to the level that we can get to.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: And um, I never accept that this is as good as it is.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's always my uh mantra is uncomfortable people are not great.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're uncomfortable at work, then that means we're on the road to greatness.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: But if you're comfortable, then we're not gonna grow.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: We're not gonna serve more, we're not gonna do more.
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: And if we believe the why mission is good, then why wouldn't we want to do more good?
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: And that is that is the drum I beat.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: You could beat that drum, you could sub your business.
• 48:05
  SPEAKER_00: If be local is good, then why wouldn't we want to do more be local?
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you just, and then if you're comfortable doing what you're doing, then you're obviously static.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as you're static, then you're not relevant.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: And as soon as you're not relevant, you're out of a job.
• 48:19
  SPEAKER_00: You're closed.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so there is this drive of uncomfortableness that has to exist.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_02: Love this, Kat, because we have a variety of different people listening right now.
• 48:28
  SPEAKER_02: We've got citizens of Georgetown listening, we've got business owners listening, we've got citizens of other towns across the country listening.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I think that you've shared today your mindset, your beliefs, your experiences, why you earned citizen of the year this year, like how that all came full circle for you and how you planted yourself and connected yourself to this community.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you've really blessed people today.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_02: Is there anything else that you would like to share before we sign off?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_00: Just thank you.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_00: Just thank you to the founders and to the board and to the why and to you and to the community for continuing to make Georgetown beautiful and thriving and special.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_00: And thank you to the gatekeepers who are trying to hold that for us.
• 49:16
  SPEAKER_00: And a challenge to those that are new to come come have coffee, to reach out, to connect, to, to be in the room where it happened, because in Georgetown, everybody gets to be in the room where it happens.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: You just you have to choose to be there.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_00: And uh a challenge, maybe for you and I, Laura, is that we continue to make, whether it's a coffee shop or what have you, we continue to make it a room where it happens, that it that doesn't happen, like that we continue to keep that cultural peace because I miss it and I can see it starting to fade.
• 49:48
  SPEAKER_00: And so that tells me that if I miss it, then others miss it.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: And so then we need to, we need to pull it back to the forefront and really try to dive into that.
• 49:57
  SPEAKER_02: I think that every city across the US that's listening to this podcast that's worried about what's gonna happen as my city grows.
• 50:04
  SPEAKER_02: Like, how do I keep the the heart and the culture that we all love, like why we lived here, how do we keep that from changing as our population grows?
• 50:12
  SPEAKER_02: And I think you've given us a lot of ideas and insights around that.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_02: So thank you, Kat.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_02: How can people get a hold of you?
• 50:18
  SPEAKER_02: Where can they learn more about the why and like what's happening with that?
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Head on over to ymcacts.org forward slash Georgetown to learn about the programs we've got going here.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: Stay tuned in 27 to be local to learn more about the why come into town as we get ready to launch a lot of marketing efforts around the new facility that'll be opening at the end of the year.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if the white car is parked out front, then this is old school.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_00: That means I'm here.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_00: I'm at 3010 West Williams Drive.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just right down the, I'm literally in the same shopping strip as HTO.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_00: Walk into my chaos, grab me for five minutes, ask me some questions, let's build some face-to-face friendships and uh let's see what we can make happen.
• 51:00
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody can send an email, but stop by and say hi and let's get to know each other.
• 51:05
  SPEAKER_00: So come find me.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, I'm gonna be, whether it's rotary or civic engagement, you will find me bouncing around and normally in a t-shirt and shorts, but we're just here living life, having fun, raising babies just like everybody else.
• 51:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's gonna be a great day in Georgetown, Texas.
• 51:23
  SPEAKER_02: All right, everybody, that is the Citizen of the Year 2026.
• 51:27
  SPEAKER_02: You've just learned from her.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: There we go.
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Kat.
• 51:32
  SPEAKER_02: Such an honor to have you on the show.
• 51:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for spending time with us today.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 51:36
  SPEAKER_00: Have a great day.
• 51:37
  SPEAKER_00: Bye, everybody.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_02: Bye, everybody.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for joining us for Be Locally Loved.
• 51:41
  SPEAKER_02: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with someone who cares about building thriving communities as much as we do.
• 51:50
  SPEAKER_02: Until next time, love where you live.