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Cranking Up the Volume on Real Change · Loud & Lifted

• 0:07
  Welcome to Loud and Lifted. I'm your host Betsy
• 0:10
  Hamm and this is episode number one. I am so
• 0:14
  excited to finally get this launched. If you
• 0:17
  are hearing this, this means that it's real.
• 0:19
  And it's finally out and running. It's been a
• 0:21
  long time coming. Launching a podcast takes way
• 0:25
  more time and effort than I ever imagined, but
• 0:27
  I'm happy that we're finally hitting the ground
• 0:29
  running. So with episode number one, I wanted
• 0:32
  to take a little bit of a different approach.
• 0:34
  Typically, this podcast will feature conversations
• 0:37
  with guests. However, with episode number one,
• 0:41
  I wanted to take a minute and I wanted to introduce
• 0:43
  myself. And I wanted to tell you a little bit
• 0:45
  more about why I wanted to do this and what you
• 0:48
  can expect on future episodes. So let's get started.
• 0:52
  I am a mom of two teenage daughters who are 17
• 0:56
  and 14. So yes, fun times raising them with my
• 1:00
  husband. And I've always been a working mom.
• 1:03
  I spent the first 15 years of my career at Hershey
• 1:06
  Entertainment and Resorts and various marketing
• 1:08
  roles. So obviously big corporate world where
• 1:11
  our job was to get people to the sweetest place
• 1:13
  on earth. I left Hershey about eight years ago
• 1:17
  and I took a job with Duck Donuts. If you're
• 1:20
  not familiar, Duck Donuts is an international
• 1:22
  donut franchise where they do made to order donuts.
• 1:25
  And when I first started at Duck eight years
• 1:27
  ago, it was founder led and they were just getting
• 1:29
  started. It was very small sort of mom and pop
• 1:32
  feel, just looking to grow and expand. And I
• 1:35
  had the opportunity to at first work really closely
• 1:37
  with the founder to help grow and scale the business.
• 1:41
  The last four years that I was at Duck, I was
• 1:43
  actually the CEO, which was an amazing opportunity
• 1:46
  to grow and scale a brand literally across the
• 1:49
  globe. So I left Duck in January. And with that,
• 1:55
  we had almost, well, almost 200 locations open.
• 1:58
  And when I left, this now gave me the opportunity
• 2:01
  to have the time to finally launch this podcast.
• 2:05
  So through my 20 plus year career, I've experienced
• 2:09
  a lot. as a woman in the workplace and even in
• 2:13
  leadership. If we go back to the very beginning
• 2:16
  of my career at Hershey, I was fortunate enough
• 2:19
  at the very beginning to have a boss who was
• 2:22
  a VP of marketing who was a woman. Now at the
• 2:25
  time, she was the only executive VP level woman
• 2:29
  at the company. Luckily, that has changed through
• 2:32
  the years. There's a lot more women in leadership
• 2:33
  at Hershey. But at the time, she was the pioneer
• 2:36
  and she was the trailblazer. And I obviously,
• 2:39
  as an early 20 -year -old woman, looked up to
• 2:41
  her and realized that she was it, right? She
• 2:45
  was the only one representing women's perspective
• 2:48
  at the table. And what was amazing about her
• 2:51
  was that she took her role very seriously as
• 2:55
  an executive woman back in the day when there
• 2:57
  wasn't that many. And she created women's groups
• 3:00
  within the organization where we had a lot of
• 3:03
  professional development opportunities. We got
• 3:05
  to meet other women across the company and just
• 3:08
  really focus on that professional growth, gave
• 3:10
  us some tools and resources that we would need
• 3:13
  in order to succeed as women in the workplace.
• 3:15
  So that really meant a lot to me and stuck with
• 3:18
  me. And to this day, she is one of my mentors.
• 3:21
  And I'm very excited to say she will be one of
• 3:23
  our guests on an upcoming episode where we'll
• 3:25
  get to hear more from someone who, again, was
• 3:27
  really a pioneer in supporting women and helping
• 3:29
  them grow in the workplace 20 -some years ago.
• 3:33
  So when I left Hershey and the big corporate
• 3:35
  organization and started at Duck, I realized
• 3:38
  that there weren't a lot of women in leadership
• 3:40
  roles within franchising or with even in the
• 3:43
  restaurant industry. So what's crazy in the franchising
• 3:47
  industry only 16 % of CEOs presidents founders
• 3:51
  are women now That's not a stat from 20 some
• 3:55
  years ago. That's a stat from a year, two years
• 3:57
  ago. So it's crazy when you go to conferences
• 4:00
  and you realize at that leadership level, there
• 4:03
  aren't a lot of women. I had the opportunity
• 4:05
  to have a lot of exposure within the industry
• 4:08
  because I was a CEO and I was a woman and I spent
• 4:11
  a lot of time doing podcasts and talking at different
• 4:14
  events because I found it really important to
• 4:16
  capitalize on the opportunity that I maybe had
• 4:19
  a bit louder of a voice being a woman in the
• 4:22
  industry. Now, the great thing is, whether it's
• 4:25
  in the restaurant industry or in the franchising
• 4:27
  industry, they've started women's groups who
• 4:30
  are actually impactful. In the restaurant leadership
• 4:33
  and franchising, there's groups that give women
• 4:37
  a voice. They put on amazing conferences and
• 4:40
  are really helping to acknowledge the fact that
• 4:42
  we need to have more women in those executive
• 4:45
  roles. So I love that, and I completely support
• 4:48
  that. And you know, I also think about the fact
• 4:50
  that we're just on the heels of International
• 4:53
  Women's History Month, Women's Day. And as I'm
• 4:56
  sure you all saw, there are a lot of posts about
• 5:00
  supporting women and women in leadership. And
• 5:02
  it's very cheerleader -y and very rah -rah, which
• 5:06
  is great. It's great to see that optimism and
• 5:09
  that excitement around women in the workplace.
• 5:13
  However, the problem is it needs to be more than
• 5:16
  one day and it needs to be more than one month.
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  And while it's really great to post about it,
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  we need to actually do something about it. And
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  we need to have actions and behaviors that align
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  with supporting women. because one thing I found
• 5:30
  through my career is that women don't support
• 5:32
  other women. You know, we talk about the glass
• 5:35
  ceiling and we talk about the boys club and we'll
• 5:37
  just pause right there and acknowledge that the
• 5:40
  boys club is real. It definitely exists. It is
• 5:43
  very strong. And I can't even be mad about that,
• 5:46
  because at the end of the day, men have found
• 5:50
  a way to support each other. And maybe sometimes
• 5:53
  they're too loyal. And it certainly sucks when
• 5:56
  you're on the outside of that circle or that
• 5:58
  club. But it exists. And the reality is, we don't
• 6:02
  have a girls club. And it's funny, when I first
• 6:05
  started talking about wanting to launch this
• 6:06
  podcast, probably years ago at this point, I
• 6:09
  wanted to call it There is No Girls Club. because
• 6:12
  there is it. And don't get me wrong, there is
• 6:15
  a lot of amazing women out there. As I mentioned,
• 6:17
  there's amazing groups that are out there that
• 6:19
  are being formed, that are actually making an
• 6:22
  impact. But at the end of the day, there needs
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  to be more. There needs to be more women who
• 6:27
  are amplifying voices and being supportive. And
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  we need to do it all the time. We can't just
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  do it once a month or one time in a month out
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  of the year. It has to be just how we operate
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  as a society. So this podcast is intended to
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  bring light to that Let's talk about the issue
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  why it happens and what are we gonna do about
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  it? How do we make it better? How do we treat
• 6:52
  each other better? How do we lift each other
• 6:54
  up and amplify that support? This isn't intended
• 6:58
  to be a bitch fest. Although I'm sure there'll
• 7:00
  be a little bit of that But we want to talk about
• 7:02
  the good. We want to talk about the bad We're
• 7:04
  gonna probably talk about the ugly and then let's
• 7:07
  talk about how we can hold each other accountable
• 7:09
  to just do better Now, I know what you're thinking.
• 7:12
  This isn't just a podcast for women. Men, this
• 7:15
  is important for you too, and you may be thinking,
• 7:18
  well, why? But you all have women you care about,
• 7:21
  and it may be your girlfriend, it may be your
• 7:24
  wife, it may be your daughter, but at the least,
• 7:27
  it's your co -workers. So a lot of times this
• 7:29
  is going on and men don't even realize it. And
• 7:32
  it's been very interesting as I've talked about
• 7:35
  this topic to men. You can kind of see the wheels
• 7:39
  spinning like, well, Okay, I had no idea that
• 7:43
  that was an issue, but now that makes sense.
• 7:47
  So again, it's bringing light to something, but
• 7:49
  then let's talk about what we're gonna do to
• 7:50
  it. And at the end of the day, we really do need
• 7:53
  men's support as well in order to make this better.
• 7:57
  As I mentioned, I have high school teenage daughters
• 8:00
  and you see that mean girl behavior at a young
• 8:03
  age. I always go back to the fact that when my
• 8:06
  oldest was four and was in preschool, she started
• 8:09
  to be sort of attacked by somebody who had that
• 8:14
  mean girl behavior at four. I remember being
• 8:16
  so upset about the fact that it started so young.
• 8:19
  So let's talk about that and let's give our young
• 8:23
  girls the ability to be able to know how to handle
• 8:26
  that because let's be honest, there's going to
• 8:28
  be mean people your entire life. Guys, girls,
• 8:31
  doesn't matter. But how do you deal with that?
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  And for those who turn into the mean girls or
• 8:36
  boys, how do we eliminate that behavior or at
• 8:40
  least lessen that behavior for the next generation
• 8:43
  because the reality is my girls are not too far
• 8:46
  away from entering the workforce and and my goal
• 8:49
  is to not only help the current generation but
• 8:51
  also their generation like let's leave them a
• 8:54
  workplace that is more optimistic and positive
• 8:57
  and supportive than we found it several years
• 9:00
  ago. And I think the other thing that we'll talk
• 9:04
  about moving forward is women not supporting
• 9:07
  each other isn't just in the workplace. That's
• 9:10
  primarily what we'll be discussing on this podcast,
• 9:13
  but it's happening in other groups. It happens
• 9:15
  with stay at home moms. It happens online. It
• 9:18
  even happens in so -called friend circles or
• 9:21
  maybe even within your family. So again, let's
• 9:23
  talk about that and how we can do better and
• 9:25
  how we can rise above. I think we all know a
• 9:29
  lot of the mean girl or the women not supporting
• 9:32
  each other behavior is tied back to confidence
• 9:35
  and of course a lack of confidence which leads
• 9:37
  to jealousy which leads to the bad behavior.
• 9:40
  So we're going to discuss that. I've just read
• 9:42
  a great book about confidence and I'm hoping
• 9:44
  that we can have the authors on an upcoming episode.
• 9:47
  So speaking of episodes, since it won't be me
• 9:49
  just talking at you, what can you expect on the
• 9:52
  upcoming episodes? Some of our content will include
• 9:56
  Women overcoming barriers in male -dominated
• 9:58
  industries, the importance of mentorship and
• 10:01
  how to find one. I am a huge advocate of mentors,
• 10:04
  so we'll talk a lot about that. Strategies for
• 10:07
  building a powerful network of women, the lack
• 10:09
  of support starting at a young age, which is
• 10:11
  talked about, and speaking up and owning your
• 10:15
  own power. One thing I think you'll hear a lot
• 10:18
  about is the circles. And as I mentioned, not
• 10:21
  only is your circle who you work with in your
• 10:23
  professional circle, but who is in your friend
• 10:25
  circle. I have been lucky enough to have not
• 10:29
  only an amazing group of friend friends, but
• 10:31
  I have an amazing group or two, maybe three actually,
• 10:34
  of professional friends. Some are women that
• 10:37
  I worked with years ago and still keep in contact.
• 10:40
  And we are such a great group of being supportive
• 10:43
  and cheering for each other, even to this day,
• 10:45
  and even though we all don't work together. So
• 10:47
  you need to find those circles. And if you don't
• 10:49
  have one, then let Let's talk about the strategies
• 10:51
  to build one, because you need that support.
• 10:55
  So our guest lineup is exciting. We'll be talking
• 10:59
  to CEOs of large companies. We're going to talk
• 11:01
  to small business owners. We're going to start
• 11:03
  to whip. We're going to talk to women who started
• 11:06
  their own business, women just getting started,
• 11:09
  women who helped build our confidence. And I
• 11:11
  may even be brave and have my teenage daughters
• 11:13
  on. And let's talk about that teenage drama and
• 11:16
  mean girl behavior that we see. So there's my
• 11:20
  introduction or maybe we'll call it a commercial
• 11:22
  for what's to come on the upcoming episodes Episodes
• 11:27
  will be released twice a month and you can follow
• 11:29
  us on Instagram And of course subscribe at YouTube
• 11:32
  and any place that you listen to podcast. I am
• 11:36
  so excited to kick this off Let's turn up the
• 11:39
  volume on real support real stories and real
• 11:41
  change and let's get loud and lifted