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One Leg Up With District Bliss CEO Sara Alepin 1-13-25 · OneLegUpAlex Media

0:00
Speaker 1: Hey, it's Alex Garrett and I'm proud to present this
0:03
Speaker 1: banks to our connection through podmatch. That's right in twenty
0:06
Speaker 1: twenty five. I'm excited to continue with podmatch dot com
0:10
Speaker 1: as I seek out some amazing guests for the Alex
0:13
Speaker 1: Garrett's One Leg Up Network and you can find out
0:16
Speaker 1: more with my affiliate link in the description below on
0:19
Speaker 1: Alex Garrett's One Leg Up Network. Here's your host and
0:28
Speaker 1: Alex Garrett. Hi everybody, I'm Alex Garrett and it is Monday,
0:38
Speaker 1: December thirteenth, twenty twenty five. I had originally slated this
0:43
Speaker 1: interview because a inauguration is gonna hit the Capitol next
0:48
Speaker 1: week and will the district be finding Bliss will find out,
0:51
Speaker 1: But it works out perfectly because the district has found
0:55
Speaker 1: Bliss after Washington Commander's Football got their first playoff win
1:00
Speaker 1: since two thousand and five. And to continue on that Bliss,
1:05
Speaker 1: let's bring on the CEO of District Bliss, powered by
1:08
Speaker 1: pod Match one, Sarah Alipin. She has been kind enough
1:12
Speaker 1: to join my podcast to tell us what District Bliss
1:15
Speaker 1: is and her podcasting career as well. Thanks for joining me, Sarah.
1:19
Speaker 2: Thanks so much for having me. I'm really excited to
1:22
Speaker 2: be here with you, Alex.
1:23
Speaker 1: And I'm sor happy that pommatch connected us. Now I
1:26
Speaker 1: understand you are what the CEO of District Bliss. Tell
1:28
Speaker 1: us your story and also why you join podmatch. I'm
1:34
Speaker 1: curious as well, But tell us your story first.
1:37
Speaker 2: Do you want the full story or do you just
1:39
Speaker 2: want my business? Oh?
1:40
Speaker 1: The full story. It sounds like you're a very collective
1:42
Speaker 1: person new podcasts. You're a photographer, I mean a lot
1:45
Speaker 1: going on there.
1:46
Speaker 2: Tell us yes, So my story is a little different.
1:50
Speaker 2: So I actually was a I was a photography teacher
1:55
Speaker 2: back in the day, and I ended up, you know,
1:59
Speaker 2: because you can't really so I want a teacher's salary,
2:01
Speaker 2: if we're being honest here, My summer job, which is
2:04
Speaker 2: like your side hustle as an entrepreneur, would be like
2:07
Speaker 2: the equivalent was photography. So I started photographing weddings and
2:13
Speaker 2: that kind of thing so I could, like, you know,
2:15
Speaker 2: have my personal income goals.
2:19
Speaker 3: And I ended up getting.
2:22
Speaker 2: Attacked by a student while I was teaching, and he
2:27
Speaker 2: actually damaged the nerve in my leg, and I wasn't
2:31
Speaker 2: able to go back to teaching afterward. But I wasn't
2:35
Speaker 2: just going to like sit around and do nothing so
2:38
Speaker 2: or you know, sit around and whatever the equivalent would be.
2:41
Speaker 2: So I decided to lean into the photography business and
2:46
Speaker 2: I kicked it in a high gear. But I knew
2:48
Speaker 2: I needed support because I wasn't going to be able
2:51
Speaker 2: to do long standing work that was physical without support.
2:56
Speaker 2: So I started trying to go to these networking events.
3:00
Speaker 2: I was met with people who didn't really understand my
3:04
Speaker 2: networking goals because my networking goals were to refer clients out,
3:07
Speaker 2: because that is client care too. If you can't take it,
3:11
Speaker 2: having another photographer to refer to is really good client care,
3:15
Speaker 2: so I was looking for that. I was also looking
3:19
Speaker 2: for photographers that I could pay really really well in
3:22
Speaker 2: order to support me in my photography gigs that I had.
3:27
Speaker 2: But I got a lot of the where you go in,
3:29
Speaker 2: you introduce yourself and then they say, oh, you're a photographer,
3:34
Speaker 2: I'm a photographer, and then turn around and close you
3:36
Speaker 2: out of the circle. And it was really discouraging. So
3:40
Speaker 2: I ended up launching District Bliss as a networking organization
3:44
Speaker 2: where the goal was to come together to collaborate, to
3:47
Speaker 2: support one another, to provide resources and share expertise with
3:51
Speaker 2: one another so that we could really build our businesses
3:55
Speaker 2: in a way that felt good. And we felt like
3:58
Speaker 2: we had a place of like my where we could
4:00
Speaker 2: meet like minded entrepreneurs who really cared about each other.
4:04
Speaker 1: Absolutely. So it sounds like you took that outsiderish kind
4:08
Speaker 1: of nature and did something with it, right, And I
4:11
Speaker 1: feel like that's an inspirational too good. When people are
4:13
Speaker 1: on the outside, they know like, what do we do next?
4:15
Speaker 1: Now you found the answer, didn't you?
4:17
Speaker 3: I did? I did. I'm not one to take something
4:21
Speaker 3: lying down.
4:23
Speaker 1: Well, you know, And I see your podcast host and
4:25
Speaker 1: I don't know. I thought you had some comedy in
4:27
Speaker 1: you as well, because your picture is very funny and
4:29
Speaker 1: I'm like, she's got to be some kind of comedian.
4:31
Speaker 1: And then you do some comedic podcasts, right.
4:33
Speaker 2: Yes, So I have The Wedding Dish, which is my
4:35
Speaker 2: professional podcast, and then I also have Laughing with Gingers,
4:40
Speaker 2: where my friend who is also a redhead and entrepreneur,
4:45
Speaker 2: we do a lot of like trivia and it's like
4:48
Speaker 2: a quiz show and it's very funny and just light
4:52
Speaker 2: and a lot of just entertainment.
4:55
Speaker 1: Well, sir, I got to say now that you're here
4:57
Speaker 1: with us today, your wedding photograph, I mean, I'm sure
5:01
Speaker 1: you're still booking those for twenty twenty five. But tell
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Speaker 1: us what you're why you love it so much? Like
5:07
Speaker 1: what is that a passion of yours? Now?
5:09
Speaker 3: It is? I love weddings so much.
5:12
Speaker 2: And it's funny because most people when they find out,
5:14
Speaker 2: they're always like, oh my gosh, that must be so
5:16
Speaker 2: stressful or oh my gosh, you must be dealing with
5:19
Speaker 2: like X, Y and Z. You know, mothers who are
5:22
Speaker 2: this and couples who are this, and but the reality.
5:26
Speaker 3: Is that I don't.
5:27
Speaker 2: I don't really have those experiences because I only take
5:29
Speaker 2: the couples that I really connect to with. So I
5:33
Speaker 2: love it. I love the energy surrounding it. I'm an extrovert,
5:37
Speaker 2: so for me, they give me a ton of energy
5:39
Speaker 2: and really fill my bucket. But it's the relationship building
5:43
Speaker 2: that goes into the entire process of the wedding, not
5:47
Speaker 2: just the wedding day with the couple, because you get
5:49
Speaker 2: to really know them as humans and their story, and
5:53
Speaker 2: then you get to actually take that knowledge of what
5:55
Speaker 2: matters to them and who they are as people and
5:58
Speaker 2: create and tell this story and document this story that
6:02
Speaker 2: then you give back to them that shows you, shows
6:05
Speaker 2: them who they are as humans, not just the day itself.
6:10
Speaker 1: And I don't know if you mix it to but
6:12
Speaker 1: you ever find in your networking group that happens where
6:15
Speaker 1: like a couple gets engaged in the networking group or married.
6:17
Speaker 1: Has that happened before?
6:18
Speaker 2: That has happened before? Yeah, I get a lot of
6:20
Speaker 2: referrals from their too.
6:22
Speaker 1: Amazing. No, that's why it's good to be so connected.
6:25
Speaker 1: So yeah, you know, I know that for photographers is
6:28
Speaker 1: kind of stressful. You got to get the people in
6:29
Speaker 1: the position of that. But you love that, you love
6:31
Speaker 1: sort of being the choreographer, right, I do. I do.
6:34
Speaker 2: And of course my education background is really helpful in
6:36
Speaker 2: that because I had to manage classrooms, which is I mean,
6:40
Speaker 2: managing high schoolers who are in the dark room for
6:43
Speaker 2: half of your classroom. It is, you know, very much
6:49
Speaker 2: like managing emotional dynamics and family dynamics that go into
6:52
Speaker 2: the wedding day and coordinating and the opposing and the
6:55
Speaker 2: timing and all that very similar skill set.
6:58
Speaker 1: All right, Well, I didn't lose fact that you told
7:00
Speaker 1: me you were attacked by a student, so as you know,
7:03
Speaker 1: I cover adaptability talk about the adaptations after that, and
7:07
Speaker 1: I mean it sounds like, were you scared to go
7:09
Speaker 1: back into the classroom or how long after did it
7:11
Speaker 1: take that you actually left the teaching world, if you will.
7:15
Speaker 2: I tried to go back for a really, really long time.
7:19
Speaker 2: I do have PTSD. It is in remission the adaptations.
7:24
Speaker 2: So I really did fight to go back because I
7:27
Speaker 2: loved teaching dark room photography that I would have done
7:31
Speaker 2: that for the rest of my life.
7:32
Speaker 3: For sure. I still am in touch.
7:34
Speaker 2: I photographed so many of my former students like weddings
7:38
Speaker 2: and their maternity sessions and then like their family sessions
7:41
Speaker 2: and stuff. So I'm still in touch with a lot
7:43
Speaker 2: of them, which is really lovely. But it was really hard.
7:48
Speaker 2: There were weeks when I would get like four to
7:51
Speaker 2: five hours of sleep the entire week while I was
7:55
Speaker 2: trying to like force myself to go back into the classroom,
7:59
Speaker 2: which I mean is obviously not healthy for many reasons.
8:02
Speaker 2: I remember on Fridays driving home and I would be like,
8:05
Speaker 2: I don't remember going.
8:06
Speaker 3: Through that stretch of road.
8:09
Speaker 2: There was a lot that went into that, and because
8:11
Speaker 2: it is my right leg, there were issues of course
8:14
Speaker 2: with driving then too, So in terms of adaptations, there
8:19
Speaker 2: was a lot of like figuring out my what my
8:23
Speaker 2: ability was for standing. I had to relearn to walk
8:27
Speaker 2: because you know, if you are compensating. I ended up
8:31
Speaker 2: with tarsel tunnel syndrome because I was compensating, which is
8:35
Speaker 2: I mean, most people know about carpal tunnel because that's
8:38
Speaker 2: nerve issue in your wrists when you work a lot,
8:41
Speaker 2: it's the same, but it's in your ankle. So I
8:46
Speaker 2: was then having my foot drop on the outside as
8:49
Speaker 2: I was walking, and I was pushing off, which then
8:51
Speaker 2: causes all these problems up the rest of your body.
8:55
Speaker 2: So periodically I've had to go back to physical therapy
8:58
Speaker 2: when I realized I'm compensating on the start to get
9:00
Speaker 2: pain in one part of my body or the other,
9:02
Speaker 2: and I'll be like, are you pushing off again? And
9:04
Speaker 2: I'll have to like consciously think about it and then
9:07
Speaker 2: go back to PT if I can't correct it myself.
9:09
Speaker 1: And by the way, if you've been to a wedding,
9:10
Speaker 1: you know the photographers always walk around. So did that
9:13
Speaker 1: impact the actual for you, the actual career of doing that,
9:18
Speaker 1: or did you adapt to being in the wedding photographer
9:20
Speaker 1: during all.
9:21
Speaker 2: This, I had to bring in multiple photographers for weddings
9:25
Speaker 2: in the beginning, even more so than I do now,
9:30
Speaker 2: because you know, now I really know my limitations. Then
9:34
Speaker 2: I was still kind of figuring out if it was
9:36
Speaker 2: gonna if my pain was going to go up to
9:37
Speaker 2: like a nine or a ten, then I was going
9:39
Speaker 2: to have a real problem at the wedding, and I
9:41
Speaker 2: couldn't risk someone else's wedding for me to try to
9:45
Speaker 2: push through that, because, like you know, if you're talking
9:49
Speaker 2: about and ironically redheads have a very high pain tolerance.
9:55
Speaker 1: I do not know that.
9:56
Speaker 3: Yes, we also require more anesthesia. Yeah, who knew?
10:02
Speaker 1: No, Yeah, that's interesting that you culminated all these facts.
10:05
Speaker 1: That's very cool now is that on the podcast you
10:08
Speaker 1: talk about stuff like this on the show you.
10:10
Speaker 2: Do, Yeah, which is how I learned that. And then
10:13
Speaker 2: of course my doctors have since told me, like, apparently
10:16
Speaker 2: we bleed more. There's a lot of weird things with
10:18
Speaker 2: redheads and genetics and medical stuff, which is so fascinating. Actually,
10:25
Speaker 2: one of my doctors when I was going through this
10:27
Speaker 2: whole thing, when I walked in, he said to me,
10:30
Speaker 2: I was really nervous as soon as I saw that
10:32
Speaker 2: you were a redhead and I was like, oh man,
10:36
Speaker 2: that is that is not what you want to hear
10:38
Speaker 2: from a doctor. Although I did appreciate the transparency and
10:41
Speaker 2: he worked really hard and did help me a ton.
10:44
Speaker 1: Does this effect the way you developed the photo? Like
10:47
Speaker 1: this attack happened in the dark room?
10:49
Speaker 3: Right?
10:49
Speaker 1: Is that right?
10:49
Speaker 3: Or it happened in the hallway.
10:51
Speaker 1: In the hallway, thank god, not in the dark rooman
10:54
Speaker 1: But but did your experience in these, you know, developing
10:57
Speaker 1: the photos in a dark room? Did that change as well?
11:00
Speaker 1: Did this PTZ cause you to think a little differently
11:03
Speaker 1: when you're in that room and it is dark. I mean,
11:05
Speaker 1: I don't know. It just got a scary a little bit.
11:07
Speaker 3: I'm guessing not that that didn't.
11:10
Speaker 2: But the crowds, So if I was like going through
11:13
Speaker 2: the dance floor or anything like that at a wedding,
11:16
Speaker 2: that was really triggering. I had to find people that would,
11:21
Speaker 2: like other photographers that I would, you know, bring with
11:23
Speaker 2: me as my additional I never call them second shooters
11:26
Speaker 2: because for me, they're not. They are they are equal
11:29
Speaker 2: to me. I may be driving the train on this,
11:32
Speaker 2: but they are like as talented. They are people that
11:36
Speaker 2: if I had to lift out of the wedding. I
11:38
Speaker 2: would absolutely trust them. They're incredibly talented and lovely and brilliant.
11:44
Speaker 1: You just found an incredible point about the leadership that
11:46
Speaker 1: you have at these weddings. I guess I'll tell you
11:49
Speaker 1: became a CEO because you found you're a leader, right
11:52
Speaker 1: even you know whatever' was happening with that networking where
11:54
Speaker 1: you found yourself to be a leader, and it's translated
11:57
Speaker 1: in all forms of life now, right, So talk about
12:00
Speaker 1: the impact of feeling that leadership skill and what you
12:03
Speaker 1: would impart to my listeners today when it comes to leadership.
12:06
Speaker 3: Oh, that's a great question.
12:09
Speaker 2: I think, really trust yourself and think about how you
12:14
Speaker 2: can elevate the people around you. So you know, the
12:18
Speaker 2: way I just talked about my other photographers that work
12:21
Speaker 2: with me, You know, they're not second to me. They
12:24
Speaker 2: are my equals, and everything that I do, the goal
12:27
Speaker 2: is to elevate them so that everyone knows they are
12:30
Speaker 2: my equals. In no way are they any less than me,
12:34
Speaker 2: And I think that that is one of my strongest
12:37
Speaker 2: leadership traits. Also, really listening to people when they're talking,
12:42
Speaker 2: not just waiting for your turn to interject and share
12:46
Speaker 2: resource sometimes it's very much like, you know, you want
12:48
Speaker 2: to share a resource and you're really excited because you
12:50
Speaker 2: heard this person has a problem. Listen to the whole
12:53
Speaker 2: thing that they're saying and really absorb that and internalize
12:57
Speaker 2: that and carry that with you because as you go,
13:00
Speaker 2: you know, you may have a callback to that. Like
13:03
Speaker 2: it's very much kind of like podcasting where you do
13:05
Speaker 2: callback between Like if there's an episode that you have
13:08
Speaker 2: that is related, you can do a callback and then
13:11
Speaker 2: people are interested in that other episode. It's very much
13:14
Speaker 2: the same thing. You want to make sure that you
13:16
Speaker 2: are bringing people together and you are uniting them instead
13:20
Speaker 2: of dividing, and you are always bringing people together with
13:23
Speaker 2: you as well, and centering people around where they are
13:28
Speaker 2: in their unique selling proposition or their unique personality and
13:33
Speaker 2: seeing them really as they are and tailoring how you
13:38
Speaker 2: treat them and lead them to what is best for them,
13:41
Speaker 2: not just what's best for you or the team or whatever.
13:44
Speaker 1: Now, District Bliss came out of your experience, but tell
13:48
Speaker 1: us about the company, like how many people do you
13:51
Speaker 1: actually lead within this? And talk about the events. I
13:54
Speaker 1: noticed you do some events around around the country, around
13:57
Speaker 1: New York City as well, So.
13:59
Speaker 3: It's it's so funny.
14:01
Speaker 2: I'm actually based in the DC area, but the first
14:05
Speaker 2: city that we expanded to outside of DC was New
14:08
Speaker 2: York because it's such an easy train ride or bus
14:12
Speaker 2: ride or whatever it is. But it's so easy to
14:15
Speaker 2: get to New York from d C. So it was
14:16
Speaker 2: a very natural fit for us. But we primarily now
14:21
Speaker 2: are virtual. It's been increasingly difficult to get people from
14:26
Speaker 2: DC to leave their house for networking since the pandemic,
14:29
Speaker 2: so we've been leaning into that. I tried to fight
14:33
Speaker 2: against it for a long time, but basically what we
14:36
Speaker 2: do is we are a community of introverted and extroverted
14:39
Speaker 2: business owners who're sick of that stodgy style of networking.
14:42
Speaker 2: We're not about those like shallow handshakes and forgotten business
14:46
Speaker 2: cards that you just end up throwing in your bag
14:50
Speaker 2: and then you never do anything with them. We care
14:53
Speaker 2: about meaningful connections, and we really care about sharing our expertise.
14:57
Speaker 2: So we host roundtables too. So we hose networking socials
15:01
Speaker 2: obviously that are welcoming and approachable, but like roundtables where
15:05
Speaker 2: you can have a business building conversation and get feedback
15:09
Speaker 2: or support or brainstorm or strategy from other people, even
15:13
Speaker 2: questions like about online reputation management, like if you have
15:17
Speaker 2: a client who gave you a poor review, how you
15:19
Speaker 2: handle that situation, which is a bit of a sensitive
15:22
Speaker 2: topic and you don't want to take that to like
15:25
Speaker 2: crowdsource out to everyone, you know. So it's a very
15:28
Speaker 2: trusting group. And then we also have an educational element,
15:31
Speaker 2: because of course we do, because I'm a recovering teacher,
15:34
Speaker 2: and so we have us workshops and things like that
15:37
Speaker 2: that really help support you so that you don't have
15:40
Speaker 2: to do all the googling in the world to try
15:42
Speaker 2: to figure out how to host a podcast or whatever
15:45
Speaker 2: the case may be.
15:46
Speaker 1: Because an educational side to be never left right, That's
15:50
Speaker 1: what I'm hearing here. That's great. Is it fun to
15:53
Speaker 1: teach while on the go, whether it's a wedding. I
15:57
Speaker 1: feel like leadership can also teach. And you know, I
16:00
Speaker 1: love there's a lyric. I like, you know, in teaching
16:03
Speaker 1: you will learn, and learning you will teach. I feel
16:05
Speaker 1: like you benefit in those ways. So do you find
16:08
Speaker 1: that in teaching you are and only learning about the person,
16:10
Speaker 1: but they're learning from you? And is there a reward
16:12
Speaker 1: there for you?
16:14
Speaker 3: Absolutely? And I agree with that.
16:16
Speaker 2: I also think that we learn better ourselves by teaching.
16:20
Speaker 2: So when you teach something, it actually it actually goes
16:24
Speaker 2: deeper into what you know. It becomes muscle memory when
16:27
Speaker 2: you teach it, as opposed to just you know, knowing
16:31
Speaker 2: the fact that you can do this on social media.
16:33
Speaker 2: It's like you're teaching someone else. So now it's ingrained
16:36
Speaker 2: in you. You really know it, and that's a huge difference.
16:41
Speaker 2: But yeah, I mean, I think teaching does is a
16:45
Speaker 2: huge part of leadership because you want to make sure
16:48
Speaker 2: that everyone is at their best, and teaching brings people
16:52
Speaker 2: to their best.
16:54
Speaker 1: You know, I love your positivity and upbeat knowing what
16:56
Speaker 1: you've gone through. How did you keep that spirit going
16:59
Speaker 1: for you through those rough times.
17:03
Speaker 2: I am an eternal optimist, I would say, which is
17:09
Speaker 2: one of the things that is probably helpful. I also
17:13
Speaker 2: have a really good support system and I had I
17:16
Speaker 2: learned very very I learned really well how to set
17:21
Speaker 2: up boundaries and remove people from my life that were
17:24
Speaker 2: not serving me. So if they were people who were
17:29
Speaker 2: you know, depleting an energy that I didn't have, or
17:33
Speaker 2: they weren't you know, it was one sided. And I
17:36
Speaker 2: of course was a people pleaser too, So there was
17:39
Speaker 2: a bit of that mixed in there, and so I
17:42
Speaker 2: had to learn that sometimes people have a place in
17:45
Speaker 2: your life and there it's a beautiful relationship. But then
17:48
Speaker 2: at some point that relationship has run its course and
17:51
Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong with parting ways with that person, and
17:55
Speaker 2: maybe it comes back around and maybe you find each
17:58
Speaker 2: other and it's a better friendship moving forward. But there
18:01
Speaker 2: were there was a lot of teaching people how to
18:04
Speaker 2: treat me also, because people don't know when you.
18:08
Speaker 1: Probably want to ask you like, oh my god, I'm
18:11
Speaker 1: and I'm sure you heard the I'm so sorry for
18:13
Speaker 1: you type of thing, right, you had to say, no,
18:15
Speaker 1: I'm fine, and I'm going to be fine, you.
18:17
Speaker 3: Know, yes, yeah, it's we'll go for it. I think
18:23
Speaker 3: you know.
18:24
Speaker 2: The other thing is, like we do when you have
18:26
Speaker 2: something like PTSD, it is a departure from your personality.
18:31
Speaker 2: So people don't know how to treat you anymore. So
18:33
Speaker 2: you have to kind of teach them how to treat
18:35
Speaker 2: you and that it's okay to ask questions if it
18:38
Speaker 2: is okay, and if it's not, that's okay too, and
18:41
Speaker 2: you know, to let them know like of course you
18:44
Speaker 2: knew just from from knowing me for like ten seconds
18:48
Speaker 2: that it would be okay to ask me questions, but
18:50
Speaker 2: not everybody does, and people get very nervous about it.
18:53
Speaker 2: And I am an open book about it. I'm happy
18:55
Speaker 2: to ship because I think it's important that we talk
18:57
Speaker 2: about that kind of stuff.
18:58
Speaker 1: And so I you have kids, I mean, I'm sure
19:01
Speaker 1: that you don't have kids. No, Well, I want to
19:04
Speaker 1: ask this because as you're talking about all this and
19:06
Speaker 1: asking questions, this attack that happened, I don't feel like
19:12
Speaker 1: it's the only occurrence of kids attacking teachers. I mean,
19:16
Speaker 1: could schools do better? Are you have you sort of
19:19
Speaker 1: drone about awareness, like, Yeah, schools could do better protecting
19:22
Speaker 1: their teachers from this type of thing.
19:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, this could have been handled better for so many reasons.
19:30
Speaker 2: And some of it was a really unfortunate sip of
19:34
Speaker 2: circumstances that occurred. Some of it was very much the
19:39
Speaker 2: PR machine coming in. And I understand that something like
19:44
Speaker 2: this does impact your school's rankings and ratings, and you know,
19:49
Speaker 2: especially I was in a very good school. So of
19:52
Speaker 2: course they don't want that to have happened. They would
19:55
Speaker 2: like that to just go away. And I think that
19:59
Speaker 2: is a very disappointing thing to learn when you are
20:02
Speaker 2: on the side of the victim, that they that they
20:06
Speaker 2: would rather the PR be the better situation than you
20:11
Speaker 2: be the better situation than supporting you. Supporting me was
20:14
Speaker 2: not the priority, which was really disappointing. And I there
20:18
Speaker 2: were a lot of people I removed from my life
20:21
Speaker 2: that were part of that PR machine. There was also
20:26
Speaker 2: a lot of where there were teachers, other teachers who
20:29
Speaker 2: were kind of burnt out that would say things like, well,
20:34
Speaker 2: it must be nice to have like a permanent vacation,
20:37
Speaker 2: and I was like, it's a permanent disability. That shook
20:41
Speaker 2: like I have a master's degree in this. I it
20:44
Speaker 2: wasn't just a passing fancy that I wanted to be
20:47
Speaker 2: a teacher. This is what I wanted to do my
20:49
Speaker 2: whole life. So now I have to read I have
20:53
Speaker 2: to change my identity.
20:55
Speaker 1: Now you say permanent disabilities that confirm that this will
20:58
Speaker 1: be with you.
21:00
Speaker 3: So I have nerve damage.
21:03
Speaker 2: Technically, nerves can regenerate at a very very slow rate.
21:07
Speaker 3: It's like.
21:09
Speaker 2: Portions of a millimeter per decades. However, and I don't
21:13
Speaker 2: know what the actual Please don't use that as a
21:16
Speaker 2: medical recommendation.
21:18
Speaker 3: All of you listeners out there. I am not a doctor.
21:22
Speaker 1: I was gonna say, what inspired to get back up?
21:26
Speaker 1: I mean, was it the extray scans? Did you keep
21:28
Speaker 1: those saying, you know what, this is where I came from.
21:29
Speaker 1: Here's where I'm going to get to now after this?
21:31
Speaker 1: I mean, what inspired to get back up?
21:36
Speaker 2: I wanted the life that I had built. I wanted
21:39
Speaker 2: the life that I had built with my husband. I
21:42
Speaker 2: wanted I traveled my whole life. My mom was a
21:44
Speaker 2: flight attendant, my husband's a big traveler. I wanted the
21:48
Speaker 2: life that we had built together. And I was getting
21:53
Speaker 2: married when this happened, and so that was also, you know,
21:57
Speaker 2: its own little beast of like dealing with trying to
22:00
Speaker 2: plan a wedding during this was very tough, without with
22:05
Speaker 2: the uncertainty of not knowing what was going on for
22:08
Speaker 2: so long, but whole different story.
22:10
Speaker 3: Happy to answer questions about that, But.
22:13
Speaker 2: It was that I didn't want someone else to have
22:18
Speaker 2: defined my story and defined my life and my relationships
22:23
Speaker 2: and what I could do with that life.
22:26
Speaker 3: So I rewrote it.
22:31
Speaker 1: That's such a powerful one. I rewrote it. Are you
22:34
Speaker 1: writing a book about all of this reinvention you're going through?
22:37
Speaker 1: Or not yet.
22:39
Speaker 2: I guess not yet. I had never considered it.
22:42
Speaker 1: Because that line right now tells me you want to
22:44
Speaker 1: write a book. You know what I love about your
22:47
Speaker 1: brand name district Bliss. We all know DC is not
22:50
Speaker 1: bliss most of the time. So well, do you find
22:55
Speaker 1: that Washington, d C? Does have the creatives the networkers
22:58
Speaker 1: that maybe are overshadowed by the big old capital, the government,
23:02
Speaker 1: you know, I mean there's that.
23:03
Speaker 2: Too, Yes, there's I do find that. And I think
23:09
Speaker 2: we have some of the coolest, like quirkiest, most brilliant,
23:14
Speaker 2: beautiful creators and it's and we're all very proud of DC,
23:20
Speaker 2: which is also very funny because we think of it
23:23
Speaker 2: as being not political, like I mean, and of course
23:26
Speaker 2: it is like you can't escape it. You drive down
23:28
Speaker 2: the street and see the Capitol building. You can't escape
23:33
Speaker 2: politics here, however.
23:35
Speaker 1: But also, yeah, I look at the Capitol as such
23:37
Speaker 1: a beautiful building, you know, I just I don't think
23:39
Speaker 1: of it as politics. While I'm down there, I'm like, oh,
23:41
Speaker 1: this is just beautiful. Look at I mean, come on,
23:43
Speaker 1: it's just it's beautiful. I'm sure you guys have that
23:45
Speaker 1: same mindset as you drive past it. What twenty times
23:47
Speaker 1: a day, I'm guessing.
23:49
Speaker 2: Yeah, and it never loses that luster either. You know,
23:51
Speaker 2: the going to the Library of Congress. I photographed there
23:54
Speaker 2: all the time. It's one of my favorite places to photograph,
23:58
Speaker 2: and it's so beautiful, Like it's just one of the
24:00
Speaker 2: most amazing buildings that you can actually go into. It
24:04
Speaker 2: does not lose its luster for sure. And yeah, no
24:08
Speaker 2: matter how many times you drive across the bridge from
24:12
Speaker 2: Arlington and you see the monuments, you know, you see
24:14
Speaker 2: the Jefferson and the Washington Monument or the Kennedy Center,
24:18
Speaker 2: you know, it's never going to change that. But I
24:20
Speaker 2: think that those are also the things that do make you.
24:24
Speaker 1: Potamic. I love that, you know, yeah, right there, it's
24:28
Speaker 1: it's beautiful. I gotta say, though, in this networking group
24:32
Speaker 1: that you have, are there any aspiring politicians because DC
24:35
Speaker 1: can also inspire that, So any kind of people that
24:38
Speaker 1: want to get into politics that go through district Bliss
24:41
Speaker 1: or is there a separate do you keep that separate?
24:45
Speaker 2: I don't think we have anyone that is an aspiring politician.
24:51
Speaker 3: That's an interesting question.
24:52
Speaker 2: No one's ever asked me that, and I honestly have
24:55
Speaker 2: never thought about it. I don't think we do. I
24:59
Speaker 2: try not to let any of that come into the
25:01
Speaker 2: conversation as much as possible. Of course, if we're talking
25:03
Speaker 2: about weddings, that's it's very hard not to have that
25:07
Speaker 2: pop up periodically. But you know, if we're not talking
25:12
Speaker 2: about weddings, then it might just be a regular conversation
25:16
Speaker 2: about business building. That's an interesting question. I'm very curious
25:20
Speaker 2: if anyone has ever thought about going into politics.
25:23
Speaker 3: That's in district bliss.
25:24
Speaker 1: Now, are some of these networkers also aspiring CEOs want
25:28
Speaker 1: to build their business? Are they CEOs already? Like have
25:31
Speaker 1: you seen companies launch thanks to district blifts?
25:34
Speaker 2: Yes, actually, because we've been in business since twenty fourteen,
25:38
Speaker 2: so we.
25:38
Speaker 1: Have quite a bit of a year anniversary just passed. Yes.
25:42
Speaker 3: Yes.
25:43
Speaker 2: So we've had a couple of photographers who when they
25:46
Speaker 2: first it was like their first gig was with me,
25:50
Speaker 2: Their first wedding ever was with me, and now they've
25:53
Speaker 2: photographed like hundreds of weddings. They travel all over the world.
25:58
Speaker 2: We've had so, yes, we've had so much people come
26:00
Speaker 2: out of bookkeepers who have brought on fifteen team members
26:05
Speaker 2: and now they have bookkeeping and operations management and fractional
26:09
Speaker 2: CFOs and expanded their teams drastically and offerings. You know,
26:15
Speaker 2: when you cut a lot of that extra time out
26:17
Speaker 2: and you get to meet the right people, it does
26:20
Speaker 2: really help you build your business so much faster.
26:24
Speaker 1: You know, you're talking about time and taking that time
26:28
Speaker 1: for yourself. Does district Bliss also encourage self care. I mean,
26:32
Speaker 1: I feel like that name Bliss has self care sort
26:34
Speaker 1: of in it, right.
26:35
Speaker 2: It does, yes, And like I if I have to
26:39
Speaker 2: slack the community on a weekend, I will schedule it
26:42
Speaker 2: so that Monday it goes out because I don't want
26:45
Speaker 2: anyone looking at their slack for business stuff on the weekend.
26:49
Speaker 2: We really like keep it very much personal boundaries. If
26:54
Speaker 2: somebody reaches out on the weekend and they're like, I'm
26:56
Speaker 2: working this weekend, I'm like, I hope you take off
26:58
Speaker 2: another day this week then in order to get back
27:01
Speaker 2: some of that personal time or and of course, like
27:04
Speaker 2: sometimes you have to work on the weekends, right, like
27:06
Speaker 2: especially weddings. But you know, if I'm going into like
27:10
Speaker 2: being out of the country for three weeks, I'm going
27:13
Speaker 2: to have to put in a little extra time leading
27:16
Speaker 2: up to that and a little extra time on the
27:18
Speaker 2: back end too, but for the most part, yeah, we
27:21
Speaker 2: bring in like breath work specialists that are really helpful
27:24
Speaker 2: for and like vocal specialists, because if you're a speaker,
27:28
Speaker 2: then you want to be able to like think about
27:30
Speaker 2: where your voice comes from and where you're grounding your voice,
27:33
Speaker 2: and you don't want to be exhausting it. So then
27:35
Speaker 2: you're coming in with vocal fry on like podcasts or
27:37
Speaker 2: whatever the case may be. So it's very much baked
27:40
Speaker 2: in there. We also do a lot of productivity stuff
27:43
Speaker 2: that will.
27:44
Speaker 1: Help your regular networking and outlet. You're right, because I
27:47
Speaker 1: mean I love the networkers up here. I think they're great.
27:50
Speaker 1: I think you can find the community. But it's it's
27:53
Speaker 1: about the follow up. Right now, it sounds to me
27:55
Speaker 1: like you guys don't really just follow up. You can say, okay,
27:58
Speaker 1: here's a resource for you. Here's that's so important. Speaking
28:02
Speaker 1: of you know, podcasts and all that you take your
28:06
Speaker 1: extroverted nature onto the podcast. What's the wedding dish? I mean,
28:10
Speaker 1: is that about gossip that you hear at the weddings
28:13
Speaker 1: or what is that dish? What do you dish out.
28:16
Speaker 2: That's really funny and it would be it would be
28:19
Speaker 2: a whole different show if it was about gossip, which
28:21
Speaker 2: could be equally entertaining. So the wedding dish is is
28:26
Speaker 2: the conversations that you wish you could find those answers
28:30
Speaker 2: somewhere on Google. They're not like the things that you
28:33
Speaker 2: find on the not It's the actual stuff that goes
28:35
Speaker 2: into a wedding from different vendors points of view. And
28:40
Speaker 2: sometimes it's managing family dynamics or managing your own griefs
28:44
Speaker 2: surrounding the fact that things aren't didn't you didn't get
28:48
Speaker 2: to have X.
28:49
Speaker 3: Y or Z that you really were hoping you would.
28:52
Speaker 2: And sometimes it's like just tips or like a lot
28:56
Speaker 2: of the stuff you see on Instagram is styled shoots,
28:59
Speaker 2: which is like if you're looking at a style shoot,
29:02
Speaker 2: which for anyone that isn't baked into this and is
29:05
Speaker 2: curious what that is. It's basically like a group of
29:08
Speaker 2: wedding vendors who would work on a wedding come together,
29:11
Speaker 2: they do one table to the nines, and then they
29:14
Speaker 2: bring in a couple and then they photograph it like
29:17
Speaker 2: it's an event, and it's to showcase like what you
29:19
Speaker 2: would like couples to envision, like this is the style
29:23
Speaker 2: I like, so this is who I want. Whoever sees
29:26
Speaker 2: this is going to come to me, you know. So
29:28
Speaker 2: there's a purpose to it. It's your marketing stuff. It's
29:30
Speaker 2: kind of like aspirational, I guess if that's the best
29:35
Speaker 2: way of describing it. But those tables can cost like
29:38
Speaker 2: it could be a ten twenty thousand dollars table because
29:42
Speaker 2: it's like all these flowers this like, you know, and
29:46
Speaker 2: it's just one table, and those people own those things
29:51
Speaker 2: so they aren't renting them and whatever. So sometimes it's
29:55
Speaker 2: talking about that kind of thing, like what realistic expectations
29:58
Speaker 2: need to be because it's it's really hard when you
30:00
Speaker 2: have an unrealistic expectation and then you have the grief
30:04
Speaker 2: the process that you go through because you can't let down.
30:09
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I know there was a couple that actually
30:11
Speaker 1: was married and like nobody showed up to the wedding.
30:13
Speaker 1: That was just heartbreaking to see. It was all over
30:17
Speaker 1: my TikTok. I saw it. I'm like, how is that possible?
30:19
Speaker 1: But I know it's probably not that deep an expectation fail,
30:23
Speaker 1: but you know, it's just it's one of those things
30:25
Speaker 1: to look out for, you know, And that's that also
30:27
Speaker 1: encourages I'm sure you're not a counselor to the couple, right,
30:31
Speaker 1: but I feel like you got to be if you're
30:33
Speaker 1: in that wedding day team, right. I mean, my mom,
30:36
Speaker 1: a minister of twenty plus years, was only the minister
30:40
Speaker 1: she was counseling them. She had to make sure the
30:41
Speaker 1: photographer was in place. I mean she she worked her
30:44
Speaker 1: tail off to make sure all those were arranged. And
30:47
Speaker 1: I'm sure you have a great flow with whoever the
30:48
Speaker 1: minister is that day to make this a real successful day. Yes.
30:52
Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's very much being the support system and being
30:56
Speaker 2: there and hands on. I think that is one of
30:58
Speaker 2: the things that really said me. A part as a
31:00
Speaker 2: photographer is that I will seek out my couples and
31:04
Speaker 2: check in with them all the time, and even if
31:07
Speaker 2: their wedding's two years away, I'm still going to be
31:10
Speaker 2: in touch with them on a very regular basis so
31:13
Speaker 2: I know what's going on and so they know I'm
31:16
Speaker 2: there if they have questions and it takes me what
31:18
Speaker 2: like ten minutes to answer a question about tan lines
31:22
Speaker 2: or something, and whereas like if you know otherwise, they're
31:27
Speaker 2: just worrying about it and they don't know what to.
31:28
Speaker 1: Do, So it takes you ten seconds to reach out.
31:30
Speaker 1: That's such an important thing, Like it just takes ten
31:32
Speaker 1: seconds to devolove with your couple. I like that when
31:36
Speaker 1: the season is out right, So wedding season not really
31:40
Speaker 1: in right now because it's freezing out and its door stuff.
31:44
Speaker 1: How do you balance that time? Do you find yourself
31:47
Speaker 1: having to focus on District Blessed and when wedding season
31:51
Speaker 1: comes it's full forced wedding photography or how do you
31:53
Speaker 1: balance that when the season is hot and you know,
31:56
Speaker 1: going up and going about.
31:58
Speaker 3: That is exactly what it is.
32:00
Speaker 2: So I build up District Bliss and get everything in place.
32:04
Speaker 2: It's kind of like wedding season is a vacation in
32:08
Speaker 2: a way of like my availability is going to be
32:11
Speaker 2: much more limited to District Bliss. So we still have events,
32:15
Speaker 2: we still have all that, but I close out my
32:17
Speaker 2: calendar for the two weeks following a wedding and then
32:20
Speaker 2: that's my like really focused editing time so that I
32:24
Speaker 2: I Am not bouncing back and forth to other things,
32:27
Speaker 2: and I have all my out of the office stuff
32:29
Speaker 2: set up where it's like delayed response kind of things
32:32
Speaker 2: because I'm not technically out of the office. But I
32:34
Speaker 2: want to set expectations that I'm unavailable. I'm less available,
32:38
Speaker 2: and it's going to take longer to hear back. But
32:41
Speaker 2: my group knows that, you know, they know Sarah's going
32:44
Speaker 2: into wedding season. She's going to be less available for
32:47
Speaker 2: the next two weeks. And I lead with transparency as well,
32:51
Speaker 2: which means I let them know, Hey, I have a
32:53
Speaker 2: wedding this weekend. You're not going to see me much
32:55
Speaker 2: for the next two weeks. You'll see me at events,
32:57
Speaker 2: but you're not going to see me popping into the
33:00
Speaker 2: black channel as much. If you need something, here's how
33:03
Speaker 2: to get the support you need, and here's who to
33:05
Speaker 2: go to on my team. And if you need me,
33:08
Speaker 2: please let me know. I will get to you as
33:10
Speaker 2: quickly as I can communication.
33:12
Speaker 1: That's how you become a leader and a CEO.
33:14
Speaker 3: Am I right, yes, exactly, you know.
33:17
Speaker 1: I I got to ask you this before we wrap
33:20
Speaker 1: up here, and it has been amazing. I want to
33:21
Speaker 1: keep talking, but I know you got to get back
33:24
Speaker 1: to Usten. I want to keep you on for another show.
33:27
Speaker 1: I'd love to have it.
33:29
Speaker 2: We were always happy to come back. Also, you should
33:31
Speaker 2: come to one of our networking socials.
33:33
Speaker 1: It doesn't want Well, I was going to say the
33:35
Speaker 1: partners between New York and Washington? Is it? Is it?
33:39
Speaker 1: Is it transversible? Is that the word I'm looking for?
33:41
Speaker 2: Is it?
33:42
Speaker 1: You know? Does it work both ways? Mean? Do people
33:44
Speaker 1: go up to New York for these events still or
33:46
Speaker 1: is that not happening as much?
33:48
Speaker 2: We haven't done as many in New York lately. It's
33:52
Speaker 2: a lot of the people that we worked with when
33:55
Speaker 2: you know, pre pandemic, there's been so much shift in
33:58
Speaker 2: who's still doing the same thing.
34:01
Speaker 3: So it felt a little bit more.
34:05
Speaker 1: Your weddings ever take you to New York? I mean
34:07
Speaker 1: you ever come up to New York for weddings and whatnot?
34:09
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, I'm usually I'm in New York a couple
34:11
Speaker 2: times a year. Still, it's I'm probably there once once
34:16
Speaker 2: a year just to like visit friends. We still have
34:18
Speaker 2: a lot of friends who live in New York. Yeah,
34:22
Speaker 2: my husband went to NYU for grad school.
34:25
Speaker 1: Oh, very cool, that's awesome. Well, yeah, have you ever
34:27
Speaker 1: been the summer in New York? Would love to come
34:30
Speaker 1: and meet you. That would be great.
34:31
Speaker 3: So, yeah, that would be wonderful. I would love that.
34:34
Speaker 1: I'm going to I don't know if I should mentioned
34:36
Speaker 1: her honor, but if you ever know my mom, Lauri's
34:38
Speaker 1: wue Brockway, she's a minister of twenty years. Do you
34:41
Speaker 1: know my mom at all?
34:42
Speaker 3: I've heard her name.
34:44
Speaker 2: I think she came to one of our events, like
34:45
Speaker 2: a million years ago. Well it's not a million years ago,
34:48
Speaker 2: but whenever, probably twenty sixteen.
34:51
Speaker 3: I want to say she came back.
34:52
Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, she's now got her public a master's in
34:55
Speaker 1: public history, so she's now going into another kind of realm.
34:58
Speaker 1: But when I talk weddings, think of her because she's
35:00
Speaker 1: my mom. And you know, the photographer got a great
35:03
Speaker 1: picture of her and I when I was really little,
35:05
Speaker 1: and uh, we keep that picture this day. So we
35:09
Speaker 1: know Ben Ayson. I don't even know who Ben Ayson is,
35:11
Speaker 1: but he's a weaf photographer here in New York. And
35:14
Speaker 1: the cool thing is, I don't know if you do this,
35:17
Speaker 1: but I noticed some of my my mom's couples come
35:19
Speaker 1: back when they have reunion here and they bring back
35:22
Speaker 1: the wedding photographer too, back to the side of the wedding.
35:24
Speaker 1: I think that's so cool, like a bowernowle and whatnot.
35:27
Speaker 2: So I love when people do that. Yeah, that's it's
35:30
Speaker 2: one of my favorites. I usually if I photograph weddings,
35:33
Speaker 2: I end up photographing maternity sessions if they're going to
35:36
Speaker 2: have children, or like family sessions and like they'll come back.
35:40
Speaker 2: I have couples who live in Hawaii who will fly
35:43
Speaker 2: back here for their annual family photos. Oh, which is
35:47
Speaker 2: just like the sweetest, it's the best.
35:50
Speaker 1: Well, i'd be remissive. I didn't end the show, but
35:52
Speaker 1: before asking if I didn't end the show by asking,
35:55
Speaker 1: how do we get in touch with you? How do
35:57
Speaker 1: people who are out there wanting to get married soon
36:00
Speaker 1: or have a wedding, you know, planning idea? I want
36:03
Speaker 1: to get in touch with you? What what's the best way?
36:05
Speaker 2: So my photo business, because they're technically two different businesses,
36:09
Speaker 2: is photos from the Hardy h a r T. Why
36:12
Speaker 2: my maiden name is Hartenstein and that was my nickname
36:16
Speaker 2: growing up party and I'm a big punny girl. So okay,
36:22
Speaker 2: my Instagram is at photos from Heart h a r T.
36:26
Speaker 2: And then if you're looking to do some networking, which
36:29
Speaker 2: I hope you will be coming to do soon, I'll
36:31
Speaker 2: send you a free ticket for one next month. It's
36:35
Speaker 2: District Bliss dot com and our instagram is at District
36:39
Speaker 2: Bliss events and you can find the wedding dish on
36:41
Speaker 2: both of those websites.
36:43
Speaker 1: And one last thing, why did you join podmatch? I'm curious.
36:46
Speaker 1: I always like to ask my friend from podmatch why
36:48
Speaker 1: they joined us here.
36:50
Speaker 3: I for I spoke at Podcast Movement, yeah.
36:55
Speaker 1: And I was supposed to go to that this past
36:57
Speaker 1: year in DC, but didn't happen. I'm was a fun
37:00
Speaker 1: event though.
37:01
Speaker 2: I spoke at the one in Nashville No so yeah,
37:05
Speaker 2: which I had never been in Nashville, so that was
37:07
Speaker 2: really fun. But that was We spoke about recording live
37:11
Speaker 2: to tape, which is like where you don't actually edit
37:15
Speaker 2: other than equalizing and leveling the audio. You don't cut
37:19
Speaker 2: out anything. You just let it fly as it is.
37:23
Speaker 1: And I do with my podcast. I don't believe it
37:25
Speaker 1: should be edited. Just a raw conversation, you know what
37:28
Speaker 1: I mean.
37:28
Speaker 2: So I get that it builds authenticity. I was going
37:31
Speaker 2: to ask you that was why I was defining it
37:33
Speaker 2: for the audience. I was going to ask you if
37:35
Speaker 2: you also record live to tape, because I suspected you
37:37
Speaker 2: did based on the way you have such a converfational
37:40
Speaker 2: style and then you really engage with your audience in
37:43
Speaker 2: that way. I think it brings people in and makes
37:45
Speaker 2: them more dedicated listeners to record like that. So I
37:49
Speaker 2: met somebody from pod Match there and so we signed.
37:52
Speaker 2: I signed up on a whim and then I happened
37:56
Speaker 2: to log in the other day and that's how we connected,
38:00
Speaker 2: and boom.
38:00
Speaker 1: The rest is history. As they say, well, guess what,
38:03
Speaker 1: I'm going to subscribe to your both podcasts and follow along.
38:06
Speaker 1: As I say, I like your personality and I like
38:10
Speaker 1: your energy, So keep it up and good luck with
38:12
Speaker 1: everything in twenty twenty five, Happy New Years. It's too
38:14
Speaker 1: late to say that. I think it's too late to
38:16
Speaker 1: say that.
38:16
Speaker 2: I don't think it's too late to say that. I
38:17
Speaker 2: think we get to say it for all of January
38:19
Speaker 2: and I feel the same way. Thank you so much
38:21
Speaker 2: for having me on.
38:22
Speaker 3: This is so fun.
38:23
Speaker 2: You're just so wonderful and I'm really glad that we
38:26
Speaker 2: connected there.
38:27
Speaker 1: Alipin District Bliss CEO, thanks for joining us today. Thank you. Hey,
38:32
Speaker 1: it's Alex Garrett and I'm proud to present this thanks
38:34
Speaker 1: to our connection through Podmatch. That's right in twenty twenty five.
38:39
Speaker 1: I'm excited to continue with podmatch dot Com as I
38:42
Speaker 1: seek out some amazing guests for the Alex Garrett's One
38:45
Speaker 1: Leg Up Network, and you can find out more with
38:48
Speaker 1: my affiliate link in the description below on Alex Garrett's
38:52
Speaker 1: One Leg Up Network